No Best Favorite or Jealousy Ch. 03

Speech recognition working. Speech module needs reboot. Attempting...

"A few minutes after you left, the night you lost your virginity," Sarah said.

BOOM! My head exploded. That was it!

"I see," Pepper said, the smile gone. "He couldn't get enough taking one virgin he had to have two?" she asked staring intently into my eyes.

Shit! That was real!

"N-no. I crawled into bed with him and... and... he didn't know it was me," she said, the volume decreasing as she went.

Pepper looked at Sarah. "You... why?"

"I was in Harry Potter's room watching the two of you the whole time and... well..."

Pepper looked back and forth between Sarah and me. I thought that was it, the end. It should have been...

But she smiled. "I get to spend the night with him tonight. Tomorrow you can join us. Sound good?"

I was still shocked. Sarah's shock was disappearing, being replaced with a warm happiness. "Sounds great!" Sarah said.

Pepper reached for my hand. "Come on! I want to be the one waking up next to you for once!"

She pulled me up to stand and we started walking toward the door, my milk in her free hand the sandwich in mine.

"Wait!" I said, reboot complete. Pepper turned to me. "You just found out that I've been cheating on you since... and you don't care?"

"Got proof, not found out," she said with a smile. "Look, I don't even know if we're going to the same college or ever gonna see each other again after graduation. As much as I love you, I enjoy being with you enough to share you with Sarah. It's not like you've ever had the slightest lack of interest in me, even juggling the two of us." She gave me a kiss. "So what should I complain about?"

Blood rushed from my brain again. The words... "You... you love me?"

She let go of my hand and caressed my face. "Of course I do, baby!" she said giving me a kiss. The kiss felt like more than that, but she pulled back. "I just wasn't sure if you did, considering..." she said looking away.

I quickly put my sandwich plate on the floor and embraced Pepper. "I do! I've been in love with you for so long! I just... I just didn't want to say it until you did... and... and I didn't want to hurt you with... with..."

Pepper started crying in my arms and hugged me back. The glass of milk on my back was cold but I didn't care. We rocked in each others arms a moment until I heard a sob behind us.

I turned to see Sarah skulking off to the other stairs. "Sarah, come here," I said beckoning her with my hand. She slowly and reached us stood a couple of feet away. I reached out and pulled her close, Pepper also welcoming her into our embrace.

I took a chance, given the circumstances. "Sarah, I love you, too," I said looking deep into her eyes. They warmed and glowed, the tears changing to happy ones in them.

"I love you both," I said turning back to Pepper and seeing a little bit of jealousy in her eyes for a moment. Turning back to Sarah, I said, "Pepper and I need to talk. I'll see you in the morning?"

Sarah just nodded and started to turn, twisting out of the combined embrace to walk upstairs.

I picked up the sandwich and led Pepper down the stairs into my room. I sat on the bed and asked her to do the same, taking a quick bite before starting to talk.

"Are you sure you're ok with this?" I asked her.

She was staring into my eyes. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine," she said looking away.

I lifted her chin to look at me again. "That's not true, is it?"

She stared at me, trying to figure out what to say, finally shaking her head. "Now that I know it's real... now that..." she said looking away again.

This time I didn't stop her. "Now that I said I love you and that I love Sarah?" She nodded. "Are you upset that I told her I love her?"

Pepper looked back up at me and opened her mouth, unsure of what to say. In a big exhale all she said was "I..."

"Sarah told that me she loved me for the first time upstairs when... when you... when she and I... you know." Pepper looked at me, afraid. It was the first time she didn't appear confident in a while. "You told me for the first time a few minutes ago, of course."

"I see," she said. "She was first," she finished looking away sadly.

I pulled her face back again. "It isn't a competition. If it's ever a competition it should be over, understand?"

Pepper stared at me a moment and then nodded sadly.

"There is no best, favorite, or jealousy." Pepper started to open her mouth and then looked away again. "Please say it."

"But she gets to be with you so often... every night I assume!" Pepper said with all due jealousy. "How could I ever compete with that?" Her blood pressure was up and her breathing quickened.

I waited a moment to respond. "You can't." Pepper's mouth opened and closed several times. "Circumstances make certain things more possible one way than the other," I said shrugging.

"That doesn't help!" she spat.

"It should. Circumstances made me give my virginity to you, not her. Circumstances nearly got her pregnant when she raped me, but you were prepared." Pepper's face made a strange mixture of smile and anger hearing that. "They also kept me working really hard to keep you and try to make you feel special."

Her face lit up hearing that, albeit only a little.

"Oh, speaking of which..." I said reaching into my bedside table and pulling out a wrapped box. "Happy Merry Christmas!"

She slowly reached out and took the box from me and placed it in her lap, staring at it.

"Go ahead," I said.

She poked her fingers under the fold of the wrap and pulled, popping the tape free. Enough leverage exposed, she tore into it like a little child sending the paper flying in all directions. Then she lifted the box top.

"Oh. Baseball Stats of 2012. How... interesting..." she said giving me a forced smile.

"Read me the first page," I said confidently.

She lifted it up with a sigh and opened it. Her eyes showed interest when she saw the yellowed pages. When she saw the title inside she ripped off the dust jacket and turned the book in her hands. "It's... it... it's a..." she mumbled.

"First edition Hemmingway, yes."

She quickly found the box top and dropped the book into it, staring at it like it was her precious. "Oils. I don't want to wreck it." She looked up at me. "How did you afford it?"

"It's not one of the really expensive ones, but something I hoped you'd like. To get a better deal I had to agree to work for the used book store guy a few days over spring break so he could go on vacation. He's got my..."

Pepper threw herself at me and silenced me with her lips. I fell backwards, pulling her atop me as I went and gave in. All she wanted was the passionate kiss, and I wasn't about to refuse. Our mouths were sticky by the time we broke it.

"I can't believe I doubted you," she said.

"You had every right to," I replied truthfully. "I was a disrespectful jerk to you and..."

She silenced me with a finger. "You were nothing but a great boyfriend, even though you were also a cheating bastard!" she giggled.

"Yeah, well I..."

"Don't do that again to anyone else unless everyone knows!" she said sternly.

"Yes ma'am." She didn't say anything else. "It was eating me up inside."

"Oh I'm sure it was!" she laughed.

"Well ok, not all the time. I tried to ignore it most of the time. But when I did think about it the thought of losing you almost consumed me." Pepper looked at me, not quite convinced. "Talk to Sarah about it."

"I'll do that," she said leaving me no doubt of it.

We just held each other a few minutes with plenty of thoughts going through, I'm sure, each of our minds. One kept bubbling to the surface of mine.

"Why were you up in Sarah's room anyway?"

Pepper laughed. "I wanted Sarah to have it fresh from me and... and I wanted you to catch us!"

"You little schemer!" I said tickling her.

"Stop that!" she squealed.

Then the light bulb popped on. Sarah planned it. That had to be it! She was going to find a way to help... Was starting a relationship with Pepper Sarah's plan?

"So we've all cheated on each other... with each other," I said.

Pepper looked at me, realization flushing her face. "I guess so." She stared into me before speaking again. "No best, favorite, or jealousy, huh?"

I shook my head. "Not if we're gonna make this work in the open."

She stared at me another moment before nodding. "Ok. After break we're back to normal. Or maybe a little abnormal at times!" she said with a kiss.

"Do you really like the book?" I asked.

"Hell yes! It's the most unbelievably incredible gift I've ever gotten!" she said excitedly and kissed me again. When she pulled back she was a bit embarrassed. "I, um... I'm... going to get you something great too..."

"Oh... I see..." I said a little disappointed.

"No, its not that I didn't get you anything. It's that it's... it's not enough..." she said saddened.

"Whatever it is I'm sure I'll love it," I said to her unconvincingly. "Let me have it. Come on..."

Pepper slowly extricated herself from me and walked over to one of her bags to retrieve a wrapped box. She bit her lip and clutched it close to her chest. Then she slowly walked back to the bed and sat on the edge, turning a little away from me. When she dropped her head and handed it to me sideways I knew what it meant to her.

I slowly ripped off the wrapping and separated the two halves of the box. When I moved the tissue paper to the side I saw another painting. This one was of her and I together, heads touching and happy as can be. The unfinished edges of the background formed a heart with clouds stretching out to the edges.

I unconsciously lifted a hand and slightly traced her painted form. "It's amazing, truly amazing!" I said practically choking from the sudden onrush of tears. "I love it!" I said looking up at her to see her fear slowly melting away.

There weren't many things hung on my walls. I stood and took down my team picture to put her painting in its place. I turned back to her saying, "Don't you dare get me anything else!"

In a blur she separated the distance between us and latched onto me like a parasitic love beast. When she started kissing me, it was with wanton desire. She kissed every inch of my face with desperation and jumped up into my arms. I had to hold her bottom, although with her strength it was probably unnecessary.

Her breathing was uneven, passionate. She lifted her bottom away from me and reached between us to shakily put me inside her. She screamed loudly when her weight settled her down so that I filled her.

"FUUUUCCCKKKKK!!" She breathed in so deeply it was as if she was holding her breath for three minutes. "OHHH SHIITTTT!!" she yelled out while she started moving on me.

I helped her, lifting and pushing her ass. It was more difficult standing, but I enjoyed the challenge and how it felt! We rutted hard against each other, grunting and moaning and sweating. She was insatiable!

"Oh... god! I... love... YOU!!" she screamed out as she came, throwing her head back, quickly losing strength. I involuntarily chose that moment to cum myself with a couple of grunts, and fell back the few inches to the wall for support.

Our deep breaths echoing around the room was all that could be heard. My knees started to get weak and exhaustion slammed into me like a semi.

"B..." I started to say, realizing how dried out my mouth was. "Bed."

Pepper dropped to the ground, and then her knees did what mine felt and gave out on her. She crawled to bed and I wobbled behind her. Sitting heavily on the bed I took a huge sip of my warming milk before falling backwards and staring at what I thought was the ceiling. Pepper was soon there at my side, draping herself over me.

"I love you too..." I finally said, and the world went black.