Kristen sighed. "Did you?"
Patrice held her head down, again not answering Kristen.
It never occurred to me that Patrice was as lonely as she seemed right then. But if she was lonely, why would she turn away from the friendships that she had built over her entire life? There was something more here that I needed to find out, but this wasn’t the time for that.
"Patrice," I said, softly. "We used to be friends. I miss that, actually."
Patrice looked up. There were tears in her eyes. She didn’t answer me.
Patty spoke up. "You know, Jim gives really great back rubs. Why don’t you lay down here on the floor?"
Patrice shook her head. "I… I couldn’t get naked…"
Patty smiled. "You don’t need to be naked to get a back rub, although it helps to feel skin against skin. Just lay down, and let us work our magic on you."
Patrice looked at the three of us, who were all nodding to her. "No, thanks. But thank you for the offer." She blushed a bit.
I shrugged.
"I have a suggestion," Kristen said. "If it’s all right with Jim and Patty here…" Kristen looked at the two of us, and then back to Patrice. "And if Wendy and Camille don’t mind, we’ll invite you into our group. But aside from that, the three of us would be happy to be your friends, group or no group."
Patty and I nodded our agreement.
"But…" Patrice said, and paused.
"But what?" Kristen asked.
"Do I have to… you know… participate in these… orgies?"
The three of us laughed. "We don’t really have orgies, Patrice," I said. Actually, I wasn’t quite sure what exactly constituted an orgy, but I thought it involved fucking, something that I had never done, at least yet.
"Then why are you… you know… naked with each other?"
Patty answered her. "Patrice, we’re friends. We’re comfortable with each other. You undress in front of other girls in the locker room at school, right? This is the same thing, sort of."
"But Jim is a boy!"
Kristen twisted herself away from me and sat up, exposing my semi-hard cock and her entire body to Patrice. "And he’s my boy friend," she said, emphasizing the last two words.
Patrice was a little shocked at Kristen’s display, but her eyes were riveted on my genitals. I remembered a week ago when I had seen Patrice naked, and had even received a blow job from her, but she had been told to forget that episode.
"You seem interested, Patrice," Kristen said, giggling.
Patrice forced herself to look away, and she ended up staring at Kristen. I thought this was funny, and found myself giggling softly.
Kristen finally said, "You don’t have to get naked in order to be our friend, Patrice. Patty, Jim, and I just feel… open… with each other. As friends, we don’t want you to feel uncomfortable."
Patrice was blushing furiously, still stealing glances at my member, and the attention was starting to affect it, increasing its size.
Patty said, softly, "Kristen, friends don’t make each other feel uncomfortable. But you are doing just that!"
Kristen nodded at Patty, and twisted herself so that she was once again laying on her stomach with her blonde hair concealing my cock. "Sorry, Patrice. But I did want you to know that Jim is my boy friend, and as such, I expect you to respect that. He’s fifteen, but he’s more mature than Stuart, I think."
I wasn’t sure who Kristen was referring to, but Patrice nodded. "I’m sorry, too. I didn’t mean to imply…"
"Forget about it," I said.
"But one thing, Patrice," Kristen said. "I do invite my friends… my REAL friends… over to my house, and in my house, the rules are no bathing suits. If you come over for a swim, remember that."
"You mean that? You’d invite me over?" Patrice asked, surprised.
"Of course," Kristen said.
"You really want to be my friend?"
"Yes," Kristen and I said together. Patty quickly echoed us.
Kristen suddenly yelled out, "Billy!" Patrice looked startled, confused by Kristen’s action.
Billy’s voice came over the speaker. "Yes, Miss?"
"Patrice Williams is a friend, and has an open invitation here whenever I’m home. Just like Jim and Patty."
"Yes, Miss Swift," came the voice over the intercom.
"All right?" Kristen asked Patrice.
Patrice smiled, and again had tears in her eyes.
"I’d suggest a group hug," Kristen said, "But Patrice seems to have an aversion to our nudity. Can you wait for us in the kitchen for a minute while the three of us get decent?"
Patrice looked confused, but then noticed the kitchen that was the next room over. She went in, and I heard a chair move as Patrice sat down out of sight.
Kristen quickly got up and found a robe in the closet, and it didn’t look too feminine. I put it on while the two girls slipped their dresses back on. The dresses were sheer enough that they didn’t hide much, but it was better than nothing. Dressed, the three of us walked into the kitchen.
Patrice smiled at the three of us. "You didn’t have to do that for me."
"No problem, friend," Kristen said, emphasizing the last word.
The four of us hugged together for a few moments. I was happy to have Patrice back as my friend.
We finally broke the hug, and Patrice was smiling. "Kristen?" she asked.
"Yes, Patrice?"
"Does the no bathing suits rule apply to the hot tub?"
Patty and I giggled. Kristen said, "Yup. And the sauna, too, although towels are allowed in the sauna."
Patrice blushed, and nodded.
Patty was surprised. "You have a sauna?"
Kristen giggled. "Yup. And the pool feels really refreshing after about fifteen minutes to a half hour in the steam."
Patty sighed, thinking about it.
Kristen said, "Actually, we have my family’s rec room next to the pool. There’s a Universal Gym and some other stuff. My mom and dad used to work out, and I still have a personal trainer that comes once a week to help me work out."
Patrice declined Kristen’s offer to use the sauna or any of the pools, saying that she’d have to work up her nerves before doing that, especially with me there.
Patty insisted on seeing the sauna, though, and Kristen took her back to the main house, leaving Patrice and me alone.
Neither Patrice nor I knew what to say, so we basically just looked at each other.
It was Patrice that broke the silence. "I guess I’m sorry for calling you a loser before. I… I don’t know… Kristen’s really changed in the last few days."
"Changed for the better?"
Patrice nodded, not answering.
"Patty, who just left," I said, "told me that on the inside, Kristen was a very lonely girl. When the four of us took her out to Vaughn’s the other day, it was probably the first time anybody just wanted to be a friend. We didn’t let her pay, saying that she was our guest."
Patrice said, "I never knew that about Kristen. I thought that I was her friend."
I smiled. "Actually, I was angry at Kristen when I first met her at Wendy’s house. I had always blamed her for turning you against me."
Patrice said, "Kristen? No. It wasn’t that way. I mean, she was, like, rich, and had all these things. She wanted to hang out with me, Jackie, Dale, and the others. At first, we didn’t really want her… you know… with her being rich, it made us jealous."
"So how did Kristen become your friend?"
"She was in my English class in junior high. She’s, like, really smart, and I hate writing essays. So… I guess we let her into our group so she could, like, help us with our classes."
"That’s crazy," I said, awed. "But if Kristen didn’t make you treat Jack and me like shit, who did?"