The Warmest Winter, Day 13

Thanks to everyone for their feedback on the previous chapters, with a special thank-you to my real-life editor. Remaining errors, if any, are mine. Reading the chapters of this story in order is highly recommended. All geek culture references are properties of their original copyright holders.

*****

Jenny woke up at six o'clock in the morning, and could not get back to sleep.

When she ran into Cassie the previous night, they both freaked and ran to their rooms. Neither of them were ready to talk about what suddenly had come between them. Still, the questions would not leave Jenny alone.

What had Cassie meant to ask? Jenny didn't let her finish. But how could Jenny hear the words that Cassie might say?

And what did Cassie think Jenny meant? What was going through her best friend's mind right now? Was she awake, too, trying to wrestle with just as many questions?

Jenny couldn't stand it any longer. She got out of bed, and opened her bedroom door. After strengthening her resolve she made it to Cassie's door. Her resolve faded into streams of doubt which matched her renewed tears. She wasn't even sure exactly why she was crying. The person who usually helped her sort it out was just a light knock, a soft name call away.

But Jenny's voice said nothing, and her hand stayed at her side.

Cursing herself, Jenny went back to her room and shut the door behind her. Willing herself to stay in bed, she stared at the ceiling until her usual wake-up time.

*****

When breakfast time rolled around, Mike came bounding down the stairs with far too much energy for anyone over the age of six on a day other than Christmas.

"Good morning, all!" he cheerfully supplied. The women greeted him back.

"You're bright-eyed and bushy-tailed today," Veronica said.

"My head's a bit clearer, is all," Mike replied, grabbing a bowl for the breakfast soup Cassie had made. Jenny dropped her spoon.

"Sorry," she mumbled, "I didn't sleep well last night."

"Too cold? There's extra blankets," Mike jumped in, concerned. "Anything you need, all you have to do is ask."

Jenny looked up at him, outwardly showing no sign of her distress. Mike's face was for once an open book; he meant every word. That only made things worse for Jenny.

"I think I just need to lie down for a while," said Jenny, getting up. "See if I can't catch up a little on my sleep." Without another word, she sped upstairs to her room, leaving her breakfast hardly touched.

"Was it something I said?" Mike wondered aloud.

"No," said Cassie, "She gets like this sometimes. God, I'm so sorry. It's easy to forget you haven't known us that long. But yeah, she'll be okay. I got it."

"You sure?" Veronica asked, "Should I be there too?"

"Umm... not this time," Cassie said carefully. Mike looked from Cassie to Veronica, and sensed that much was not being verbalized but was being communicated clearly nonetheless.

Seeing Mike being a little too interested in their amiga-a-amiga moment, Veronica turned and asked, "So what are your plans today, Mike?"

He shrugged. "The usual. Work, lunch, have sex with somebody." Veronica smacked him on the arm, but the three of them got a laugh out of it.

"You are so bad!" Veronica said.

"I think that might be part of it!" Mike was on a roll now. There was no stopping it. As concerned as Cassie was for Jenny, even she had to admit it was funny and keep laughing.

"Can't you pull your head out of it for one second?" Veronica fumed.

"THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID!!"

*****

Once breakfast had been finished and cleaned up, Cassie took Jenny's bowl up to her.

"More reading today?" Mike asked Veronica.

"Yup. That library of yours is awesome. How'd the self-help section get so big?"

"What do you think most people really want consultations for? Business? No. They want validation. I slip some friendly advice in while we're meeting about other stuff, and now not only do they like me and want to use my services, but they are, at least hopefully, better human beings who live better lives. Gratis."

"You sly dog."

"I help where I can."

Veronica made a melodramatic pout. "Like pulling three helpless ladies in from the cold, cold snow?"

Mike just stuck out his tongue at her. After finishing the last of his coffee, he put the dish in the sink and went to his office to work for the day.

*****

Cassie knocked on Jenny's bedroom door with her free hand.

"Jenny?" she asked softly. "Can we talk?"

"I'm in here," Jenny said from the library next door.

Once she went in, Cassie saw Jenny sitting in the reading chair, an aged recliner that Mike had scoured dozens of yard sales to find, just so the library would have exactly such a chair. Jenny looked a little pale, but that may have been the lighting of the room. Mike had installed special bulbs to help keep the books from yellowing prematurely.

"I brought a peace offering," Cassie said, "It's still warm."

"Thanks," Jenny said, accepting the bowl. "Sorry for running out on breakfast like that."

"It's okay. Vee and I covered for you."

"Thanks." Cassie sat cross-legged on the floor, while Jenny ate. Emotions can only block so much appetite, and even so, Cassie stress-cooked, and the smell was too damn good. Now, she waited patiently.

"I, uh," Jenny started. "I mean, you, um. You should ask me again. And this time I won't interrupt."

It took a second for it to click in Cassie's mind, but when it did, she asked, she took a slow breath and then asked, "Did you... overhear Mike and I last night? In the office?"

Jenny looked away as she said, "Yes. I wanted to come in here for another book, and... through the doorway, I heard..." Tears welled up again.

"I'm sorry, Jenny," Cassie said. "If I knew, I would never have. Please, you have to know that."

"I know," said Jenny, looking her way again. "That's not it."

"What is it? You can tell me."

"That's just the thing, Cass, I can't."

"Why not?"

Jenny sighed. "Look, right now, I'm stuck between my friendship to Mike, my friendship to you, and my responsibility to myself."

Cassie became guarded. "Did Mike try to make you choose between us?"

"What? No! He'd never, we both know that. Look, can I just explain what I can?"

"Okay, yeah."

"I... I can't say everything, because some of it's just between me and Mike. I'm not sure how to say this. Um, you know how I mentioned we should ease off of Mike for a while?"

"I did, I swear. The move was his."

"I know, Cassie. I know you wouldn't have. And that's just it. Everything Mike's going through; us, the house, his past, our future... It's too much. And... that overwhelmed him at... an unexpected time, last time he and I... were alone together. I've probably already said too much. God, I'm such a horrible friend."

"No, I think it needed to be said. Mike may have been wrong to ask you to keep it a complete secret. On the other hand, he probably didn't see this coming."

"I certainly didn't," Jenny said, "I mean, I know why I'm upset. Being with me was too much to deal with for Mike, but being with you was apparently the greatest thing in the world. I mean, did you see him this morning? Don't get me wrong, I'm happy for you two, I am. But what is so wrong with me? That with me he would... but then with you..." Jenny broke down. Cassie leapt up and embraced her friend, waiting patiently for all of it to come out, everything Jenny had been holding in.

"Nothing's wrong with you," Cassie said, "And I don't know what happened between you and Mike, and I don't want to. You're right; it's between you two. But you've been good for him, too."

"You think so?"

"Totally." Cassie gave Jenny one her intense gazes. Cassie once stopped a drive-by Jehovah's Witness mid-platitude with one of her more irritated facial expressions. She got a free gift card from that mall's security because the guy never came back.

"That doesn't explain Mike."

Cassie snorted. "He's a guy. Food, sleep, sex. It will come down to those, trust me."

Jenny cracked a smile.

"There's my girl. And I'm thinking this time it's sex."

"Big surprise."

"Well, if I talk about me and Mike last night a little, nothing descriptive, will you be okay? I've got a hunch it'll help."

"Let's give it a shot."

"Alright. Well, Mike and I had a similar problem to one another. Our libidos became unleashed. Veronica's always flaunted, you've always been the confident one. Mike and I, for our own reasons, held back. After everything we've all done the past two weeks, it got out of control. You and Vee could handle it better, but for Mike and I it became a problem. Last night... last night was just venting it all out. It was just sex. Mike and I, I think, put all our excess sexual energy into it."

"You make it sound therapeutic."

"It was, on some level. We both needed it."

"So why was I too much? And not you?"

"Maybe with you there's something else at play."

"Like what? And is it good or bad?"

"Without knowing exactly what went down between you two, which I still don't want to, I have no idea. But think about it. You'll figure it out. You're smart."

"You're pretty smart there, too, hotshot." Jenny was more relaxed, more herself again. Cassie smiled.

"So what do we do about Mike?"

"In what way?"

"How do we turn having sex with us back into good old-fashioned fun, like when we first got here?" Cassie asked, then laughed. "Look at me, I'm nostalgic about last week."

"I know the feeling. And I'm thinking we create an open scenario for Mike."

"An open scenario?"

"Yeah. It's a technique. You contrive a real-world situation for the person to react to. They are not forced to enter the situation, or to do any particular thing within it. Doing that presents the person with a relatively controllable number of stimuli to respond to, and you can learn a lot by what they respond to, and how."

"Sounds like fun!" Cassie's eyes sparkled. "What did you have in mind?"

"First of all, we need to compile a list of Mike's sexual desires, fantasies, and preferences."

"Us, us, and us. Done."

Jenny laughed. "Yeah, really. But specifically..."

*****

Mike came out of his office for lunchtime, as usual. Today's selection was sandwiches, using up the rest of the lunchmeat, and pear slices lightly glossed with some sort of brown sugar glaze. Everyone spent half the time smacking their sticky lips.

"So, anybody have afternoon plans?" Veronica managed.

"Well, there's not much left to do except wait for Rick, I'm afraid," Mike said, "Everything's organized best I can figure, and we'll just have to see what Rick can use. I, for one, need to get some exercise in, a proper workout."

"I'll spot you," said Veronica, "I wanted to show you something."

"Woooooo," intoned Jenny and Cassie. Veronica shot them a dirty look.

"Hey, I'm out, remember? Not everything is about sex." She rolled her eyes. "Sheesh. You are such guys."

Mike discreetly gave them a glance indicating he had every reason to disagree.

"Sure, Veronica. I'd love to have a spotter."

*****

When Veronica came down the basement steps ten minutes later, she found that Mike had beaten her there, but only by a minute or so.

"What's the computer for?" he asked when he saw her.

"It's a website I use called Fitocracy."

Turning the tablet so he could see, Veronica showed Mike the website. Sitting on the bench together, she walked him through the premise as she set up his account and profile. Essentially, it did for exercise what TSR did for fantasy games. It gave a ton of options, and when you put in that you've done them, you score points and even level up.

"Another way that jocks are closet geeks," Mike commented.

"Shut up. You made your point," Veronica nudged him, shoulder to shoulder.

"You're very relaxed these days," Mike commented later, after he finished his stretches.

"I'm... more comfortable being myself, I guess. And I know what that is a bit better."

"That's great, I'm happy for you." Mike went onto the treadmill and started a brisk walk.

"Thanks. So how about you?"

"Me?" Mike's head suddenly raced through everything the past twenty-four hours.

"Well," he started, "Jenny and Cassie are still interested."

"I know."

"And I'm so busy with this house thing I can't decide."

"I know."

"But I'm not going to turn them down in the meantime."

"I know."

"Okay, look, I know you know a lot of this, but can I just get it out, to sort out my own head? It's kinda full at the moment."

"I know. I mean, uh, yeah. Sorry."

"Thanks. So anyway... Yesterday, I accidentally started to see you and Cassie... down here... together."

"I know."

"Veronica!"

"Sorry! But you were saying it like a confession. I did already know. And about Jenny spying on us from the bathroom. Did she come up to see you afterwards?"

"Yeah."

"Wait, that wasn't too enthusiastic. What happened? If you don't mind my asking."

Mike explained, without too much sexual detail, about how Jenny exposed Mike's voyeurism and joined him in it, as well as the fact that they were starting to have sex watching Veronica and Cassie.

"If it makes you feel any better, Cassie and I were putting on a show. I knew even then about the camera. It made a small whirring noise when you adjusted it. Looking in that direction briefly, I saw the red light on top."

"I... don't know how to feel about that, tell you the truth. But I was there, banging the hottest woman I've ever seen, no offense, watching the runners-up in my basement, hearing it all, and then... my head felt like it was cracking in half. Total moodkiller, right?"

"Holy shit," Veronica said, "You okay? What happened?"

"Biggest stress migraine I've ever had in my life, by a mile, nearest I can figure."

"How'd Jenny react?"

"She was concerned, of course, and knew what to do, thank God."

"That explains why she asked us to ease up on you for a while. She didn't say why. She was discreet."

"Good for her. It can't have been easy keeping a secret like that."

"From us? Shoot, she's lucky she lasted that long. I bet we'd grill her harder than that lawyer friend of yours. Hey, is he single?"

Mike's mind flashed to Terry Pratchett: "I knew the two of you would get along like a house on fire." Screams, flames, people running for safety...

"Mike?"

"Hmm? Oh, let's just say the two of you are too alike to be compatible. It would be intense, that's for sure. Some people ignite when they collide and mistake the explosion for fireworks, and the worst happens when they try to live with the fallout."

"That happen to you?"

"No, but it usually happens to Rick."

"So what about you?"

"Me? You mean if that's not it, what happened yesterday? Well, that's the poser, isn't it? For some reason, being intimate with Jenny was too much to handle, but having sex with Cassie was not."

Mike thought he saw Veronica's face shift briefly, but she said nothing.

"Biting a smart aleck comment? I don't mind."

"More or less, and that's okay. I forgot it already."

Mike didn't know if he believed her or not, but continued with his workout.

When he was done, he sat down next to Veronica again, and she showed him the Fitocracy names for all the exercises he did. After they input all the details, Mike touched the button to save the workout. He leveled up five times and got four achievements instantly. In the time it took him to go through all of the pop-ups for these, he had been given something called Props three times.

"Well, I'd love to stay and spot you, but I really need a shower," said Mike.

"That's cool. I'll shower down here when I'm done, then probably Duck Hunt. I'll figure out a way to shoot that damn dog if it kills me."

*****

Mike got out of the shower and toweled himself off thoroughly. He had taken great care not to leave himself soapy. A consultation gig three years before had him researching how soap worked, and it was an eye-opener. Apparently, the active ingredients of soap are particles that have the exact opposite electrical charges of the particles of dirt. They bond, making it easier for water to wash it away. One of the unintended consequences is that if soap is left on a surface, it will actually attract more dirt, attraction being a two-way street in the chemical world.

So, Mike used a minimally sufficient amount of soap at all times. Besides, if he was with Jenny or Cassie and they started tasting soap, it would sort of kill the mood.

Coming downstairs, Mike tried to assess where everyone was. Cassie's bedroom door was shut and the kitchen was silent, so she was probably taking a nap or reading. Jenny's door was shut as well, most likely the same reasons. Mike went to her door to see if she wanted to sketch out anything else for their future business enterprise.

Behind the door, Mike heard soft music he couldn't quite make out, just that it was in fact music. The floorboards creaked in time, indicating that Jenny -- or someone -- was dancing in there.

This was an opportunity not to be missed, too good to be true. Mike went into the library next door, and checked to see if it was empty. It was. Then slowly, carefully, Mike opened the closet door, the one that led to Jenny's room.

Peeking through the airflow slats, Mike just about creamed his boxers. Jenny was sliding and swaying around the room, to what Mike now clearly heard was a sexy striptease tune.

Jackpot! Mike now knew what Jenny liked to practice in her spare time. And he'd be damned if he interrupted her. Timing his movements to the beat and waiting until she was away from the door, Mike unfastened his jeans and got them to the floor, along with his boxers. Freeing his feet for comfort, Mike nudged them off to the side, and started stroking his hardening erection.

Damn that girl was fine, he mused. Her movements were fluid, her steps light. Every time she whipped her head around, her long dark hair would fan out and re-settle, always looking stunning. As part of the dance, Jenny would run her hands up and down her tight body, sometimes catching the edges of her clothes and revealing skin.

Mike had done so much more than touch that skin. He'd run his own hands all over it, caressing her while they shared intense sexual passion. Mike would thought that a mere striptease could not compare, but in fact it made him ache for that touch even more. The only thing keeping him on his side of the door was the naughtiness of spying on Jenny.

When Jenny gripped the bottom of her shirt and pulled it off over her head, Mike had to stop for a second to stifle a groan. Jenny had, to his mind, the perfect tits. Honey-golden, not too big, not too small, all real and proud as their owner. Mike's mouth instantly watered at the thought, and his cock throbbed. Jenny was now in skintight jeans and a sexy bra.

Without warning, Mike felt a hand on his cock that wasn't his. Another hand clamped over his mouth, otherwise he would have cried out. But wait, those nipples poking him in the back felt very familiar.

Sure enough, when the hand was taken away from his mouth and he turned, Cassie was there, looking more mischievous than ever. Mike was helpless against her; he was literally in the palm of her hand.

Cassie dropped to her knees, and it was all Mike could do not to audibly gasp as he realized her plans. When Cassie took him into her mouth, Mike's eyes rolled back. Mike leaned against the door frame, riding the ups and downs of, well, Cassie's head. She was taking her time, too. Looking down at her, Mike saw her brown eyes looking back up at him. With one hand, she directed his chin so that he was looking out at Jenny again.

Jenny had unbuttoned her jeans, and was now swaying her ass to the music. As she teased the denim over her hips, Mike unconsciously humped air, only to remember it was Cassie's mouth. And Cassie was getting clever. She bobbed her head in time with the music now, putting all of Mike's senses into the same rhythm. It all blended together, rather than overloading him.