“I think she secretly likes her breasts,” Christy said. “She complains they’re too big, but I think that’s ’cause guys pay attention to them instead of the rest of her. It really annoys her that she’s so smart but everyone tells her how pretty she is.”
“Yeah, I get it,” I said. “Lots of women have that problem. It’s like guys think women can be one or the other, smart or pretty, but not both.”
“Well, Brooke’s both. She may be one of the smartest people I know, and that includes you and my father and even her parents.” She flipped the page without waiting for me to reply. “She didn’t want me to sketch her this time, but I made her do it anyway.”
Brooke was reclining with her legs spread, one knee up, one to the side.
She cupped her breast and pinched her nipple with one hand. Her other hand was playing with her pussy. She was shaved, and Christy had drawn her so realistically that my mouth actually watered at the thought of going down on her.
“I know what you mean,” Christy said. “I just thought the same thing.”
“Are you sure it’s okay to show me these?” I said after a moment. “I know she said you could, but… they seem pretty intimate.”
“It’s okay. She wanted me to. She really likes you. She just gets scared in person. Besides, I… um… sort of have a plan.”
“Oh?”
“I thought we could call her and tell her we’re looking at her sketches.
She should be home from school, and she usually has a glass of wine to relax.” Christy glanced at the clock and worked out the time in San Diego.
“Yeah, she’s definitely home by now. And for the record,” she added, “a glass of wine seemed like a good idea for us too. I’m not feeling scared or anything, but I always feel a bit naughtier when I’ve been drinking.”
“Fine by me. Are you ready to call her?”
“In a minute. Just a few more sketches.”
We leafed through several pages. Most had smaller sketches of Brooke in different everyday poses, nude or semi-nude. The last one was a full page of just her face. She was looking directly at us, and Christy had captured the intelligence behind her eyes and smile.
“This is how I think of her,” Christy said. “I know you probably want to see more of her body, but this is the real Brooke, the one I love.” She looked at me out of the corner of her eye to study my reaction.
“She’s very pretty,” I said after a moment. “But she looks… I dunno…
lonely.”
“This was the day before you got there. She knew you were coming, that you’d take me away. She wasn’t upset, but—”
“She knew she was losing you. Only temporarily, but still…”
“I knew you’d understand. She was worried you’d be jealous, but then she met you. She really likes you. And… if anything ever happens to me, I’d
want you to be with her.”
“Seriously? Never mind. Nothing’s going to happen to you.”
“I know, but I want you to know how I feel. Don’t get me wrong, I love Wren, but she doesn’t need someone to take care of her. Besides, she has Trip. Brooke needs someone. Right now that’s you and me.”
“I understand.”
“I knew you would. She also needs you for another reason, Mr. Good Thing.” She grinned sidelong but then her expression fell. “Fletcher’s been calling her. His other ‘girlfriends’ found out about each other and now they won’t have anything to do with him.”
“Good for them!”
“Yeah, you can say that again. But he’s been calling Brooke and trying to get back together. She really likes the attention, but she knows he’s bad for her. Unfortunately, her resolve’s starting to weaken. That’s where we come in. She needs a good, hard you-know-what, if you ask me.”
“Fucking,” I supplied.
“Exactly. She has a couple of vibrators, but it isn’t the same. I used to think it would be, but it isn’t. I… I don’t know if I can explain it. There’s just something about feeling the real thing inside you. That’s why I don’t want to use rubbers or anything else. I want to feel you.”
I leaned over and kissed her.
“I’m sorry it’s danger week for us,” she said quietly.
“Eh, we’ll survive. It’s a good thing you like swallowing, though.”
“Mmm, I love it.” She pulled back a little and studied me. “Brooke does too. Maybe not as much as me, but she does it. And… she’s on the pill. She wants you to come inside her. She’s still a little shy in person, though, so you’ll have to go slow with her. I sort of want you to go slow too. I’m pretty sure I can watch and not feel jealous, but I won’t know till we try. I didn’t have a problem that time with Wren, but you didn’t have sex with her.”
“No.”
“And I know you think I’m silly, but blowjobs aren’t sex. Not for real.
Penis in vagina, that’s sex. It’s… a lot different for me. It isn’t just body parts. It’s spiritual. Okay?”
“I understand.”
“But you know how much I like to watch. I get all hot and slippery just thinking about it.” She chuckled darkly. “If I can do it for real and not just in my head, it might be worth watching you and Terri, even though I know she
doesn’t want anything to do with me. Oh, don’t look so surprised! I know how you are. If you weren’t with me, you’d already have another notch on your bedpost.”
“I dunno about that,” I protested, “but yeah, I’d probably have slept with her by now. I’d like to think she’s girlfriend material, but you’ve ruined me.”
“Ruined you?”
“Yeah, for every other woman. Now that I’ve found you, all the others are just… I dunno… diversions.”
“Mmm, you can say that again.” She waited expectantly. “Go on, say it again.”
I laughed and said, “You ruined me. Every other woman is just a diversion. There. Happy?”
“Yes, thank you.” She leaned in for a kiss.
I pulled her hand to my semi-hard shaft, and she began stroking it.
“Someone approves.”
“Someone also thinks you need a good, hard you-know-what.”
“Fucking,” she said with a grin.
“I thought you’d never ask.”
We called Brooke about forty-five minutes later. She was reading an assignment and already on her second glass of wine.
“I just wanted to give you a call and see how you’re doing,” Christy said.
They spent a few minutes catching up. Then Christy said, “Paul’s here with me. Do you want to say hello?” She listened and then handed the phone to me with whispered instructions, “Tell her about the sketches.”
“Hey,” I said to Brooke, “how’re you?”
“Good. Suffering from senioritis and ready to graduate. You?”
“I’m one of those disgustingly optimistic people—”
“He is!” Christy said.
“—so I generally find a silver lining. But yeah, I get it. One of our other friends is s’posed to graduate this quarter. She’s swamped and sick of it.”
“The worst part is,” Brooke said, “I won’t even be done when I graduate.
I start my Master’s in the fall.”
“What’re you doing over the summer?”
“I have a six-week internship, but as little as possible the rest of the time.”
“Maybe you can come visit us,” I suggested.
“Sure, I’d like that.”
“Tell her about the sketches,” Christy urged in a low voice.
“I have an insistent little birdy here,” I said to Brooke. “She wants me to tell you I like the sketches.”
“What sk—?”
I actually heard her gulp. “Yeah, those,” I chuckled.
“Y-you like them?”
“I think you’re very pretty, but I also think you’re a little insecure about it.”
“Wh—?” She cleared her throat. “Why do you say that?”