Choices & Decisions Ch. 01

"He put it up on the top shelf; he's the only one can reach it," Ashley explained.

Clay got out three small glasses, and poured the golden liquid into them.

"To friends," Ashley said and the three clinked their glasses together.

"Son of a... Oh my God!" Courtney choked on the harsh liquid.

After a full glass of wine and a shot of the grapa, she was not drunk, but was certainly relaxed. The warmth of the kitchen, good food, and warm, welcoming company had her feeling quite good.

"Come on; let's get out of the way so he can clean up," Ashley said and pulled Courtney into the living room.

The girls linked arms around each other's waist as they walked to the couch and Clay's cock hardened slightly as he watched their easy affection with each other.

"Pot's still hot," he called out.

"Then put some warm water in it and put the cover on," Ashley called back.

"So, um, how long y'all been together?" Courtney asked.

"Since the seventh grade, I guess," Ashley said, putting a hand on Courtney's shoulder as they sat on the couch, facing each other.

"Then, um, I mean, not that I mind, but um, well, I guess it's okay if he and I, I mean, if we're just friends, right?" Courtney stammered, confused.

"Oh, oh, no, no, we're not together like that!" Ashley giggled and squeezed Courtney's hand affectionately.

"Oh, but you, I mean, y'all just..." Courtney stammered.

"Wasting trash bags, I swear, thing isn't even half full but oh well," Clay playfully complained.

"Then take the trash out the bathroom and your bedroom, oh, especially all that trash under your bed and get the one in my room too," Ashley suggested.

"God, why don't you just put me to work, huh?" Clay complained. "And there's no trash under my bed."

"Uh, those magazines?" Ashley suggested.

"Uh shut up!" Clay protested from his bedroom.

A moment later, he carried a trash bag through, then both girls shivered as he opened the door and let a blast of cold wind in.

"He's got magazines under his bed?" Courtney asked, giggling.

"No, he's got one up in his closet; it's an old girlfriend of his," Ashley smiled widely. "I'm not supposed to know about it, but..."

"...You went snooping around in his room," Courtney finished for her.

"Hey! Fair is fair," Ashley defended. "He's snooped around in mine.

She lifted the hem of her knit top, flashing Courtney her silky white half cup bra.

"I kind of suspected he had, but when he got me this for my birthday and the set fit perfectly, I knew it for sure," Ashley said.

She lowered the top and smoothed it down.

"That comfortable?" Courtney asked. I mean, I've seen them, what's that called, half cup? But I've never tried one on."

"Oh, God, I love them," Courtney said and started to lift the hem again, then judged too much time had elapsed since Clay left their apartment.

She rubbed the tops of her breasts through the knit top.

"Kind of like a shelf for my boobs to sit on and feel kind of you know, kind of naughty," she said, then leaned closer to Courtney to whisper, "And I just love that my nipples just rub and rub against my top. Put a silk blouse on and oh my God!"

Clay walked in and again both girls protested the blast of cold air he brought in with him.

"And right now, because they're exposed and he let in all that cold...?" Ashley whispered, giggling.

"I am going to have to get me one," Courtney said, looking at Ashley's chest, seeing Ashley's hard nipples poking against the top.

"You have to take me with you; I want to get me a blue one; Clay got me white and red but I really think a nice blue, oh, oh, oh! Or pink!" Ashley said excitedly.

"Just about finished with the pot and then we..." Clay called out.

"And leave it out to dry; don't put it up all damp like you did last time," Ashley ordered.

"Uh, y'all are together, whether y'all think y'all are or not," Courtney thought to herself and smiled as she and Ashley continued to chat, lightly resting their hands on each other's arms.

Again, Ashley put her hand on Courtney's thigh as she leaned forward to whisper something about going to Babbage's for intimate apparel.

"And I've got a few things on layaway there; that's the problem with being a thirty five E. Not everyone's got your size, and it's so hard to find pretty things in your size, you know?" she whispered.

"I know!" Courtney agreed, putting her hand on top of Ashley's hand. "I mean, functional's nice, but every now and then..." Courtney said, then looked toward the kitchen.

She looked back at Ashley quickly lifted her sweater to show Ashley her black lace bra.

"Exactly!" Ashley whooped.

"So when you want to go?" Courtney asked, smoothing down her fuzzy sweater again.

"Let's see, Monday? Got World Economics at.... Three work for you?" Ashley mused.

"Perfect," Courtney agreed.

"Okay, scrabble, or Monopoly, or we got a deck of cards, or..." Clay said, wiping his hands dry as he entered the living room.

"I vote for Scrabble," Courtney decided, putting her foot on the floor.

"Yeah, me too," Ashley agreed and put her foot on the floor as well.

"Uh, y'all can put your nasty old shoes up on the couch, but I can't have my feet on the coffee table?" Clay asked as he opened the closet to get out the board game.

"Uh, couch was free but we paid good money for that coffee table," Ashley pointed out.

"And these shoes are not nasty," Courtney defended.

"Yeah, y'all aren't together," Courtney thought as she and Ashley again sat at the kitchen table.

It was obvious to Courtney that Ashley and Clay played Scrabble quite often. Out of consideration, they turned the board so that it faced her and even put the dictionary next to her. But Clay won the first game and Ashley won the second game.

"Well, this is a date, so I'll leave you two alone now," Ashley said and disappeared before Courtney could even object.

"I uh, I, I'm real glad you came over," Clay said as he put the Scrabble game back into the closet.

"Me too; Ashley's so great," Courtney agreed.

"Uh, you uh, you want maybe a little more wine, or uh, oh! I can make us some coffee or..." Clay stammered.

"Hey, come here," Courtney said, patting the couch next to her.

If Ashley was willing to leave her alone with this cute man, Courtney was willing to take advantage of the situation. He was cute, with a good body, and a good mind. He also seemed to be sweet, thoughtful, and conscientious. And his snug jeans showed a nice package too.

The first few kisses were soft, lingering kisses. Courtney decided to move a little faster and opened her mouth in invitation and Clay slowly insinuated his tongue into her mouth.

Ten minutes into their kissing, Clay had determined that Courtney's Thirty four DD breasts were real and not artificially enhanced and Courtney had determined that Clay was not stuffing his briefs, her hand rubbing the outline of his painfully trapped erection through his snug jeans.

He felt the heat through the crotch of her jeans and she broke the frantic kiss and sat back.

"Okay, wow, I uh, I need to go," she said breathlessly.

"Sorry, I uh..." Clay apologized.

"Oh, no, no, I just need to go," she smiled, got to her feet and kissed him.

"Need to go before we, I mean, I want to, but, this is like our first date, right?" she smiled, kissed him again, and then walked to the door.

"Uh, hey, uh we do this again?" Clay asked.

"Ash going to cook?" Courtney smiled as Clay got to unsteady legs and approached her.

"Absolutely, unless you don't want her to," Clay said.

"You kidding? Damn sure don't want me doing it," she smiled, put her arms around his neck and gave him another kiss, rubbing her crotch against him.

"Bye, getting harder and harder to leave, bye," she said again, grabbed her now dry umbrella and purse and reached for the door handle.

"Thanks again; real glad you came," Clay said, put his hands around her waist from behind and pressed his lips to the back of her neck.

"Um!" Courtney moaned as she could feel his erection pressed against her slim buttocks. "You need to stop or I won't be able to..."

He squeezed her a little tighter, gave her neck another kiss, and then released her.

"Ooh!" she yelped as the cold wind tore at her.

She was surprised that he came outside as well.

"Hey, a gentleman walks his date to her car," he explained and they scrambled through the courtyard, both gasping as the open area offered no protection to the bitter wind.

"Bye, had a great time, hope we can do it again, bye," Clay said when they reached her car.

"Bye," she agreed and quickly got into her car.

Chapter 3

Ashley used the last of the green and yellow bell pepper and the red onion on their egg white omelets. They ate in a comfortable silence until Clay scraped the last of his omelet into his mouth.

"This that new oh what is that, ceramic pan thing?" he asked.

"Yeah, don't even need oil; isn't that amazing? I bet nothing would stick to that thing," Ashley agreed, using her knife to cut a bite of her omelet.

Clay watched her eat; she was so feminine and almost everything she did. Her nightgowns were soft silk and she never came out of her bedroom without putting on the matching silk robe. Her house shoes were open toed, and showed her meticulously painted toe nails.

And who used a knife to eat eggs? You could use the edge of the fork to cut them. But Ash used a knife. And linen napkins. Never paper towels or paper napkins.

"I like your girlfriend; she's fun," Ashley commented as Clay took his plate to the sink to begin washing the plates and the pan.

"Yeah, and as you pointed out; gorgeous," Clay said.

"Okay, after church? We need to go to the Farmer's Market," Ashley said.

"Out in Elgee? Then why don't we go to St. Philip's?" Clay suggested.

"Oh yeah! Oh, okay then," Ash got up and looked at the church bulletin on the refrigerator. "Next Mass is at nine thirty; yeah, that'll work."

"Your khakis are hanging up in your closet; I already ironed them and why don't you wear that blue sweater? The one with the yellow dots?" Ash suggested as she left the kitchen.

"And why don't you not worry about what I'm wearing?" Clay asked as he put away the dishes, wiped off the counter, then wiped off the table.

Ashley looked beautiful in her fuzzy pink sweater and chocolate brown skirt, pink stockinged feet jammed into brown pumps. She nodded approval as he put on his polished penny loafers.

"Here," he said, helping her slip on her coat.

"Thank you," she smiled and took his arm.

"So, uh, when's Derek going to be finished with your car?" Clay asked as he opened his car door for her.

"When he gets finished with it," she shrugged. "Clay, he's fixing it for free; you really can't rush him."

Clay bit back his thoughts about Ashley's big brother and her brother's laziness and procrastination. As she pointed out, Derek was fixing the car for free; he wasn't even charging her for the parts.

"Plus that, I love your car," Ash said, settling back in the luxurious seat.

As Clay and Ashley were driving to St. Philip's Catholic Church, the Vanderkins were eating their breakfast.

Helen listened as Courtney described the culinary delights she'd experienced the previous evening. In between spoonsful of Lucky Charms cereal, Courtney went on and on about the homemade crackers, the peanut sauce, and the clay pot chicken.

"Ew, humus?" Trevor made a face. "What is that? That sounds so gross! Humus! That's dirt, isn't it?"

"Oh shush; it's just ground up chickpeas; you've eaten chick peas before," Helen said.

"And Ashley and me? We're going to Babbage's right after school on Monday," Courtney said. "I need to get me a new..."

She pointed to her chest.

"So, you haven't even said anything about Clay," Helen said, getting to her feet and pouring herself another cup of too strong coffee.

"Oh, he was nice; but really, we just played Scrabble and that was about it," Courtney said.

"So you going to see him again?" Helen pressed.

"Oh yeah, yeah, I like him," Courtney agreed.

"Now, think we can get ready for Mass and be on time this time?" Helen asked when Courtney finished slurping the milk out of her bowl.

"You," Helen lightly slapped Trevor on the back of his head. "Need to put on anything but that jersey, all right? We're going to Mass, not a football game."

While the Vanderkins were arriving five minutes late for Mass, Clay was following Ashley around the Elgee Farmer's Market.

Clay was the designated basket holder while Ash dug through the produce, picking out the most attractive vegetables. Many of the vendors smiled at the young couple, assuming that they were husband and wife.

"Oh, what kind of cheese you want?" Ash asked.

"That cheese in the omelet this morning was good," Clay suggested.

"Oh, okay," Ash agreed, bending over to look for the particular cheese.

"What kind you think Courtney would like?" she asked

"Way she ate last night? Likes whatever you put in front of her," Clay shrugged, enjoying the view of Ash's tight buttocks as the young woman rooted around in the dairy case.

"Quit looking at my butt, pervert," Ash commented lightly.

"It's in my face, I'm going to look," Clay commented.

"Hmm, oh, wait, you're out of town this week, huh?" Ash said as she was looking at the live fish in the tank.

"Friday, be back Sunday," Clay agreed.

"So if I get this..." Ash mused.

The fishmonger frowned as the couple walked away, not making a purchase.

"Oh, honey, honey, honey, don't let me forget I need honey," Ash said, digging through some tropical fruits.

"Hey Ash?" Clay said.

"Say it and I'll kill you," Ash warned. "I mean when we're at that end, butt hole. Now, what you think about a lemongrass mushroom soup for dinner tonight?"

Monday morning was a cold, dreary day. Clay drove them to campus at seven thirty, even though his first class was not until ten.

"Hey!" Courtney greeted Ash as Ash walked into their World Economics class.

They sat together, and Courtney agreed to pick Ash up just outside of Pizaco and they could leave directly from there.

"I mean, I'll probably reek of that place, but," Ash smiled.

"Had to give my brother a ride to school this morning; he missed the bus like a big goof ball, so car already stinks," Courtney laughed.

Ash sent Clay a text, reminding him that she would not need a ride home after class and Courtney smirked.

Ash said that she and Clay were not a couple and seemed perfectly all right with Courtney and Clay dating, in fact kept encouraging a relationship between her and Clay. But from the moment they sat down, the only thing Ash talked about was Clay, what he liked, what he did.

After Ash finished work, they drove to the trendy department store in Bender, Louisiana.

"Everybody's always 'oh, girl, Abdul's is the shits, know what I'm saying' but I just like Babbage's a whole lot better," Ash said.

"Only been in here a couple of times," Courtney admitted as they bustled from car to large double doors of the store.

They made slow progress to the lingerie department, both finding much to stop and look at along the way and much to make them shake their heads in disbelief of the prices.

Once in the lingerie department, Ash immediately pulled her layaway slips from her purse and gave the sleepy looking clerk the cash to pay off the three tickets.

"Oh, that is so pretty!" Courtney praised as Ash looked again at the lavender camisole top, tap pants, and matching short robe.

"Yeah, it's for when Clay's out of town; I could never wear this in front of him," Ash admitted. "In fact, most of the time, when he's out of town? I go over to Sarah's and sleep there; I just hate sleeping at the apartment when he's not there."

"And don't tell me you wear that when he is there," Courtney teased as Ash pulled the white corset and matching thong panties.

"Uh, yeah, actually I do," Ash said. But it's for underneath like a sweater top, or..."

"And remember, you get free stockings with that," the girl said and yawned again.

"Courtney and the sales girl looked at the half cup bras while Ash looked through the stockings, finally selecting a smoke color pair.

"And these come with the matching panties," the sales girl offered as Courtney selected a black bra.

"Okay, let's see," Ash said, almost immediately finding a baby blue bra and a soft pastel pink.

"What you think, Ash?" Courtney asked, holding up a thong and a bikini pair of panties.

"For me? Bikini; it's more comfortable," Ash admitted. "For my man? Thong; what does he care if I'm comfortable?"

"And who's your man?" Courtney asked, feeling an odd sense of jealousy.

"Don't have one yet," Ash admitted. "Guess that's why I only have two pair of thongs, huh?"

"So, um, are y'all sisters?" the salesgirl asked as Ash filled out the layaway slips for the two bra and panty sets.

"No," Courtney said as she again debated on whether or not to get the white sleep set or another half cup bra.

The sleep set won out and she too filled out a layaway slip for the half cup bra and panty set.

"A hundred bucks," she half complained as they scurried back to her car, the bitter November wind buffeting them.

"Oh, but it is so worth it," Ash enthused as they scrambled into the car.

"You saw that girl's tattoo?" Courtney asked, pointing to her chest.

"Yeah, I keep thinking I might want one, but I can never make up my mind what I want or where I would want to put it," Ash agreed.

"Yeah, I mean, I'd like want a rose, or maybe a symbol or something," Courtney agreed. "But I don't think I'd get one of them pentagrams like that!"

"Yeah, a rose, or oh, I don't know, maybe a tiger, you know, a cute one, but where?" Ash said. "But that pentagram, I mean, isn't that like supposed to be Satanic or something?"

Courtney agreed to stay for dinner once they reached the apartment.

"So, um, what time Clay gets home?" Courtney asked as Ash put away her purchases.

Ash looked at the bedside clock and did the math in her head.

"He's at praxis... About five; we got about an hour," she said.

"So, um, where's this magazine?" Courtney asked.

"Oh," Ash giggled and the two went into Clay's room.

Courtney looked around. There was absolutely no doubt about it; it was a man's room. But it was a neat man's room. The brown comforter was pulled up and the three

Pillows stacked neatly against the headboard. There was a weight bench set with a heavy weights already propped up on the upper rest and more weights on the padded leg lift. The small wooden desk held a computer monitor and a keyboard and had little room for anything else. Next to the full sized bed sat a small chest which held his alarm clock and lamp. Next to the desk was a bookshelf, crammed full of books. On top of the bookshelf was a small television set.

"He's neat," Courtney observed.

"Yeah, reason I am," Ash admitted as she slid open his closet. "Used to be like this total slob 'hey, wherever it landed? That's fine' but then I move in with Mister Neat Freak and..."

She reached up underneath a neatly folded red comforter and pulled out a glossy magazine.

'Pumping Iron Slut' was emblazoned across the cover and there was a photograph of a bald headed girl that was curling a chrome barbell with one hand while the other hand prepared to lift her half shirt up.

"She's bald?" Courtney asked, incredulous.

"Yeah, all over," Ash said and they quickly made their way back to Ash's room.

"Oh, my God," Courtney said when she opened the cover and saw the same bald headed girl inserting a knurled weight lifting bar into her hairless slit.

"It gets worse," Ash warned as she turned on her computer.

It did. The girl when from satisfying herself to satisfying two muscle bound men, then another muscle bound woman.