June arrived in the playroom confused. “You said you were here, but the red light is on in the studio!”
“Kristen and Lynette are in there, talking.”
“Oh,” June said.
The two of us played two games of pool, each winning once.
I was breaking just as the intercom buzzed. “Did you want us?” Kristen asked.
I walked over to the intercom. “I just wanted to let you know that June and I are in the playroom. I saw workers in the new bedroom putting up wallpaper and an intercom system.”
“All right. I just noticed the light flashing.”
“It’s positioned so that I can see it from the keyboards,” I said. “I understand if that wasn’t the most important thing for you guys right now.”
“No problem.”
“I love you, Kris,” I said. Quickly, I added, “I love you too, Lynette.”
“We love you too, Oogie!” Kristen said, and I heard her disconnect.
“When did you signal them?” June asked.
“Right after I called you down here.”
“Now you know how frustrating it is when we’re trying to get a hold of you,” June laughed.
“The light was above and behind them, so I didn’t expect them to answer immediately.”
June looked at me curiously. “For a sixteen year old boy, you show a lot of maturity and patience. I thought you’d be trying to help convince Lynette that Kristen isn’t angry at her.”
“You said that Lynette is the only person angry with her,” I said. “Right now, the two girls have to work it out. Patty said something about Lynette needing to prove her love for Kristen before she will forgive herself.”
“That’s insightful,” June said, sinking a shot and lining up another one.
“Where’d you get that outfit?” I suddenly asked June. I hadn’t seen that outfit before.
“It’s one of Lynette’s,” June said, giggling. She sunk her second shot in a row and added, “For a budding nudist, she has some nice outfits.”
I nodded.
June missed her shot, but the table still had an awful lot of striped balls on it.
I lined up and shot, sinking my ball.
“June? If you did what Lynette did to Kristen, what would it take for you to forgive yourself? How would you prove your love for her?”
June didn’t answer immediately. I sunk two more balls, and then June said, “I don’t know. Cunt Whore would probably have you spank her.”
“A spanking?” I asked, a bit surprised.
The table now had an even number of solids and stripes. I took a difficult shot, and sunk my ball, but used too much energy on the shot, as the cue caromed off a bank and hit the eight ball perfectly enough to sink it in a corner.
“Damn!” I said.
“Two to one, Jim!”
“Yeah,” I said, dejected.
“Rack ‘em up, loser!” June demanded.
I did so.
“Jim?” It was Kristen’s voice.
“Yes, love?” I answered on the intercom.
“Lynette and I are going upstairs. Can you give me a hand with the stairs?”
“Sure.”
I signaled June to come with me and Lynette and I helped Kristen upstairs.
Once upstairs, Kristen sat on a sofa with one of the down pillows underneath her.
“Jim, could you get me some more of my pills.”
I went into the bathroom where I put Kristen’s prescription. The instructions allowed two pills every four hours. It was just under four hours, so I figured that it would be safe for Kristen to take them. I filled a Dixie cup with water as well and came back to the living room. Lynette still looked bad, but at least she wasn’t crying.
As Kristen took her pills, Lynette said, softly, “I’m sorry for crying before. That song was beautiful. Nobody ever did anything like that for me before.”
“It was supposed to be a surprise,” I said. “Maybe the timing wasn’t perfect.”
“It was romantic,” Lynette said. “I just don’t think I deserve it.”
“You know that nobody is angry with you but yourself, don’t you?” I asked.
“Patty and Kristen both said something like that.”
“Well, you’re going to worry yourself to death until you show everybody how sorry you are, but the only person you need to convince is yourself.”
“Patty said that, as well.”
“So, what do you want?” I asked. “A spanking?”
Lynette seemed surprised by that. “Huh?”
“I asked June what she’d do if it was her. She said she didn’t know, but Cunt Whore would probably want a spanking.”
Lynette didn’t answer.
“Do you remember when Kristen went overboard with Jackie downstairs? Kristen made it up to you. Why don’t you make it up to her?”
“Um, I can’t… you know, she’s sore down there.”
“For a person as intelligent as you are, Lynette, you are sometimes one dumb bitch!”
Lynette’s, Kristen’s, and June’s eyes all shot wide open as I said that.
Kristen came to Lynette’s side. “Jim, that’s not a nice thing to say.”
I ignored Kristen. “Do you think the only way you can love Kristen is to fondle her cunt or lick her? Aren’t you one of the people that taught me ways of pleasing a woman just by touching her neck, her ears, her breasts, even the insides of her knees? How about sucking on her toes? Did you forget everything you’ve ever taught me, Lynette? Do you need to take Lesbian 101 over again, because apparently you seem to have forgotten everything!”
“Jim!” Kristen yelled, sounding extremely shocked. “Don’t talk to Lynette like that!”
“I will, damn it!” I said, angry for some reason that I couldn’t fathom at the time. “A person as intelligent as she is, as fun to be around as she is, and as much in love with you as she is should be able to figure out how to say ‘I love you’ without saying a single fucking word to you!”
Lynette’s mouth was open in shock. The other girls seemed to be shocked as well.
“Do you want me to spell it out for you? Take Kristen into the master bedroom, do your damned best to make her forget that she’s hurting physically and make her fucking remember that you love her more than just about any other person on this fucking planet! June and I will make you two dinner, and we’ll leave it in the room for you when it’s ready. I don’t want to see either of you until tomorrow morning.”
Lynette simply stared at me, her eyes burning holes into my body.
“Jim!” Kristen said.
“Kris,” I answered. “You’ve talked with her, and she’s still angry with herself. Well, I’m angry now. Not for what she did to you, but for what she did to me. Everybody in this room knows that Lynette just gave me the lamest excuse in the fucking world. If she really believes that she can’t make it up to you, then she’s probably right and she should leave. She’s not the one who I thought loved you. I know it will break your heart, Kris, but there’s no hope for her if she pretends to think that she cannot love you.”
I turned to Lynette. “You have a choice. Love her or leave her. Make up your mind. Now!”
Lynette looked quite stunned. She turned uncertainly to Kristen, whose eyes were tearing up. Lynette then looked at me, and I know that she saw absolutely nothing but anger in my eyes.
Finally, Lynette got up and slowly walked over to where I was standing next to Kristen’s sofa. She drew her breath, and in a move that surprised only me, she slapped me hard in the face.
Without uttering a word, Lynette turned to Kristen, and offered her hand, and helped her walk to the master bedroom.
Before she closed the door, Lynette turned around and said, “I am quite capable of cooking dinner for Kristen. I don’t give a fuck what you and June do tonight.”