"Kristen, you are no longer under any compunction to fantasize about me. And you’re no longer addicted to me." I had repeated that last wish mostly to insure that it would work.
"Your wish is my command."
Kristen still looked like shit.
I turned to Patty, and asked her if she knew where Kristen’s blouse was from yesterday.
Patty shook her head. "I don’t know. It was here when the two of us left yesterday."
I nodded. "Could you ask Wendy if she still has it? If not, see if you can get Wendy to lend Kristen something to wear."
Patty still had an angry look in her eyes, but she did what I told her.
I asked Kristen to come inside, but she was hesitant.
"This isn’t Patty’s house," Kristen said.
"No, it isn’t."
"It’s not yours, either. Is it one of the… other girls?"
I nodded. "It’s Wendy’s. Her mother is at work."
Kristen just nodded, and continued to stand in front of me, her breasts still on display. Kristen showed no modesty, which in retrospect wasn’t too surprising, since she had been topless for over eighteen hours already.
Kristen actually had a nice body. Her breasts were a bit larger than Patty’s, and had very dark aureolae — so dark that I almost couldn’t make out her nipples.
The defeated girl noticed my attention to her breasts, but still didn’t hide them from me.
The two of us continued to stand awkwardly in Wendy’s foyer. I started to say a few things, but really couldn’t think of what to say. Finally, I said, "I’m sorry, Kristen."
Kristen didn’t answer, but shrugged. She stared at me with a blank look on her face that I couldn’t decipher.
After about a minute, Kristen burst out crying, and I instinctively moved closer to her, and she put her arms around my back and rested her head on my chest.
This mirrored the scene that I had with Patty a few minutes ago, and I did what Patty did, and simply pat Kristen on the head. I wanted to comfort the girl, but I didn’t want to scare her; I was the one that had put her through hell.
Patty came back with Kristen’s blouse and bra, and stopped when she saw the two of us.
My attention was on Kristen, and I didn’t notice Patty’s arrival. "I’m really sorry," I said quietly to Kristen.
Kristen’s response was to burst out in a fresh round of tears.
This was a totally alien experience to me.
I looked around, and was surprised to see Patty standing there, looking at me. She still had a look of concern on her face, and I was grateful that it wasn’t the look of anger that she had before.
None of us said anything more for about five minutes.
Kristen finally cried herself out, and looked up. She seemed surprised that I was holding her, but she didn’t push away. She finally spoke, "Why?"
Why? That was a good fucking question. I had been asking myself that same question for about ten minutes, ever since I heard Patty tell me that my little game yesterday had had gone awry.
I shook my head, "I don’t know, Kristen. I really don’t know. I’ve been wracking my brain trying to make sense of it."
"But why?" Kristen persisted. "Why me?"
That was an easier question to answer. "Because you are a bitch. And you turned a good friend of mine against me. I was angry at you and wanted to teach you a lesson."
Kristen looked as if she had been slapped. Her mouth was open, and her eyes looked at me questioningly. "I? I turned your friend against you? I don’t even know you!"
I sighed, and said, "Patrice. She was a friend of mine until she started hanging out with you. Now she calls me a pathetic loser."
Kristen looked confused. "I never told her to do anything like that!" She shook her head, and continued crying.
I looked to Patty for support. She was still standing there, watching the two of us, and saw me look at her. Patty said, "Maybe if we go into the living room…"
"NO!" Kristen shouted through her tears. I felt her arms go rigid over my shoulders.
"What’s wrong?" asked Patty.
"That’s where… you know…"
"Oh," I said, softly.
Kristen turned to Patty, and noticed that she had her blouse. Kristen cleared her throat and then said, "May I have my clothes back, please?"
"Sure," answered Patty, bringing them over.
Kristen broke our embrace and took the items from Patty. She methodically put on her bra, and then her blouse, not showing any indication of embarrassment about dressing in front of two strangers.
"I… I need to get going…" Kristen stammered.
"Wait," I said. "Kristen, I’m really, really sorry. I didn’t know the consequences of what I had done to you. That was never my intention."
Kristen sniffed and looked me in the eyes. I was expecting the girl to tell me to go to hell, but she didn’t. She just continued to look at me.
"I’m sorry, too," Patty added.
Kristen looked at Patty, and then back at me.
Finally, Kristen sighed and said, "I don’t know. Last night was a living hell. And this morning, I had to call all around to find out where Patty lives… I didn’t even know her last name! And then, when I call, her mother gave me the phone number here. I felt… I felt like I was losing my mind."
"I’m really, really sorry," I repeated, not knowing what else to say. Kristen was still standing close to me, and I instinctively hugged her again. I felt her body stiffen, but eventually, her muscles relaxed, and she was crying on my shoulder again.
It occurred to me at that point that perhaps a ticket would make Kristen forget about what happened, but something inside me realized that this was one fuck up that I would have to handle myself.
I looked at Patty, who simply shrugged at me.
"Did you eat anything since you left yesterday?" I asked her, softly.
"Eat? Without wearing clothes? Are you kidding?"
I nodded. "I was going to take Patty and the girls to Vaughn’s. Would you please come with us? I want to make up for what I did to you."
Kristen started shaking her head no, but then stopped. She just stood there.
Finally, she looked up, her face inches from mine. "You want me… to have lunch with you… and your friends?"
I nodded. "Yes. Could we please be friends? I’m really sorry…"
Kristen still had tears in her eyes. She turned her head back onto my shoulder and started crying again.
I gave Patty a look that said, "What did I do now?"
Patty motioned to me to continue holding Kristen, and I did.
Kristen’s face was buried in my arms, and I heard her stammer, "You want me… to be your friend?"
I nodded, knowing that Kristen couldn’t see me, but could feel the motion.
Kristen sighed. "I’ll… I’ll go with you. But could I go to the bathroom? I need to get freshened up."
Patty offered to take Kristen, and Kristen accepted.
I stood alone in the foyer, my mind going over what had happened. I had fucked up, big time. Patty thought that I was horrible. And God knows what Wendy and Camille thought about me.
I found the other two girls in the kitchen, and they were talking quietly between themselves.
Camille saw me and said, "You look like shit."
"Thanks," I said soberly.
Wendy added, "How’s Kristen doing? Did she leave? I didn’t hear her car."
"She’s in the bathroom with Patty, getting cleaned up," I explained.
Camille nodded and said, "You should do the same. There’s a bathroom back here."
"Yeah," I said, not caring that I looked like shit. I sure as hell felt like shit.
"What happened to Kristen?" Wendy asked. "Patty wasn’t too specific."
I sighed once again. "I fucked up. I gave her an order yesterday that had terrible consequences. I wouldn’t blame Patty or Kristen if they never spoke to me again."