More Than Friends Ch. 05

A note to the observant: Almost all city names are false; they were taken from a variety of fantasy sources. All characters are based on real people, so it is no coincidence that they are the strongest part of the story. Names, and sometimes personality and personal history, have been modified to protect the innocent. The events of this story, however, are complete fiction.

Heather's Norwellyn house was perhaps the homiest place Colin Watson had ever been in.

The first thing that struck him about it, when he had first stepped over the threshold some five or six years ago, was that it was a little bit old--worn, stained carpeting; cracks in the plaster where people had kicked the corner on their way around too many times; broken tiles fixed with wrong-colored replacements. The ceiling seemed a little lower than normal, and the concrete patio in the backyard had weeds breaking up through it.

But after only a few minutes in the house, he realized that it was not the disorder of disrepair that he saw, but the disorder of long, hard use. Like a pair of old, well-loved jeans, the house was broken-in, maybe a little frayed, but still perfectly useful.

Colin Watson's father was an architect, and when he moved his family to Saldaea Heights, he had designed and commissioned a monstrosity of a museum house: marble floors, vaulting ceilings, virginal white walls and more rooms than anyone could ever want. Colin's family had lived there for almost ten years and the place was still pristine. Colin saw it as a sterile environment, like a hospital: cold and distant and untouchable. Next to this, the warm, breathing disorder of the Norwellyn household was a refreshing change.

As Mrs. Norwellyn had suggested, one of Heather's friends was already there, a bright-faced Chinese girl named Tanya Chang who had a habit of being very loud. A second friend, Lacie Epstein, had yet to arrive. The third was also absent: Adam Hawthorne, the third member of Colin's assembled family.

"Hey, Heather. Whatdja bring him for?" Tanya asked.

Heather shrugged. "He wanted to come."

"Yeah, but why was he with you," Tanya persisted.

Heather and Colin exchanged glances. "We'll leave that explanation until later." Tanya, sensing a particularly juicy bit of gossip on the horizon, squealed and rubbed her hands together.

Heather, predicting that the remaining members of the study group would arrive within a few minutes, went to get cookies for her guests, directing Colin to find a seat somewhere. She was proved right; barely had she walked into the kitchen when the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it!" Mrs. Norwellyn said. "Hi, Colin."

"No, I'll get it," Heather said, rushing out of the kitchen, unbound hair flying. She was wearing the clothes she had worn yesterday, and Colin was glad to see that they had not wrinkled or stained during the night's recreational events.

"I'll get your cookies," Colin offered, and went into the kitchen. Three feet away, through the wall that divided the front door from the kitchen, he heard Heather and her mother chatting with her new arrival--probably Lacie, since Adam had a much deeper voice than that. Once Adam and Lindsay had measured against a piano and discovered that Adam's talking note was a low D.

A 'container' of Safeway chocolate chip cookies was on the counter--Colin did not know how else to describe it; it was one of those plastic trays with ridges to hold the cookies on their sides, that could be slid in and out of the plastic bag. It defied description. There was also a plate, on which Heather had laid a few cookes. Colin washed his hands and got them finished up, arraying them in a circular overlapping pattern. Before he was halfway finished he heard Adam Hawthorne's voice on the other side of the wall.

Colin had not gone to the same school as Adam and Heather for years. He attended a private, expensive college, Besaid University, by the grace of his father's income, stimulated by the California Bay Area's housing crunch; today a house in an affluent community will sell for upwards of ten million dollars. Heather and Adam, on the other hand, were not poor, but neither had that sort of money at their disposal. Coincidentally, neither had their biological fathers around. Heather's had left before Heather had started school, and she had only gained a stepfather in the past few years. Adam's father had died, succumbing to early cancer when Adam was nine. Colin didn't think this had anything to do with it; both Mrs. Norwellyn and Mrs. Hawthorne were friendly, capable women. But to save on expenses, both Adam and Heather had attended a local junior college for two years. Now Adam was transferring to UC Davis to be with other friends, though he had successfully applied to Berkeley, and Heather was considering San Jose State.

Heather's sister Katharine walked in. "What are you doing here?" It was not too uncommon to see Colin or Adam around the Norwellyn household, but she had never expected to find one of them laying out cookies in the kitchen.

Colin shrugged. "I'm helping Heather."

The family resemblance between Katharine and Heather was unmistakeable; both had similar hair colorings and facial structures, though Katharine's eyes had a lot more gray in them. Katharine's voice had remained high, however, and her proportions and the roundness of her face made her look like an eternal schoolgirl. She had graduated near the top of her class and had deferred an acceptance to UC Berkeley for two years to attend Manetheren College and save her mother's money, as Heather had. She was seventeen.

When Colin finished with the cookies he brought them out and set them on the coffee table in the middle of the living room. "Anyone want something to drink?"

Adam jumped. "Colin," he said, a smile brightening his face. "What are you doing here?"

Colin shrugged and grinned. "Helping Heather."

Adam Hawthorne had always been tall, but now Colin was finally catching up to him after a lifetime of shortness. He had a chiseled, handsome face and warm eyes. He wore his dark hair short and spiked with gel. Like Colin, he had never placed much emphasis on the aesthetics of his body, but he paid attention to what he wore; at present he had on a necklace of pooka shells, blue jeans and a baggy grey sweater with UCSD in red block letters on the front. He was one of the kindest and most generous people Colin had ever met. Also, because he was gay, there was a constant stream of girls falling over him. Colin felt that this was proof of God having a sense of humor.

In the kitchen he asked Katharine to help with the sodas. He knew where they were--he had a head for random trivia--but he didn't want to seem rude by simply walking in and busting open the refrigerator. Once everyone had their drinks, Colin retired to a side chair, content to sit and watch the exchange of information go by.

It was a fairly rapid session. Heather's class was focusing on the rise and fall of the Ottoman Empire. They traded notes and observations on the lecture; evidently the teacher, a notorious test-giver, had suggested that this particular nation would feature prominently on the final. Colin had studied the Ottomans before, history being a common requirement at most colleges, and every now and then Heather asked him to clarify a point. Colin wondered why she did this. Was she trying to make a point of him being a part of her life? The Ottomans interested him, especially their method of succession when a sultan passed away; Colin was a psychologist, and any way to manipulate behavior interested him. But he wasn't exactly an expert here.

When the meeting ended, Lacie Espinosa excused herself, but Tanya still had questions. "So, Heather, where were you?" Adam looked over, mildly interested.

Heather glanced at Colin, feeling his eyes on the back of her head. "What do you mean by that, Tanya?"

"I got here at 10:58," Tanya said, "and you weren't here. Then five minutes later you come in with Colin." Tanya was grinning delightedly; her Gossip Radar was lighting up like a Christmas tree. "What gives?"

Now Adam was clearly interested. He looked back and forth between the faces of his two oldest friends, his hazel eyes speculative.

"Oh, well," said Heather, fidgeting. Why should this be so uncomfortable to admit? Neither Adam nor Tanya was going to scold her. "I was with Colin at his dorm for a while. We got a little held up in traffic on the way here."

"Wait," Tanya said. "You went to Colin's place last night, and then again this morning?"

Colin had stood unobtrusively, and now he sat on the end of the couch nearest to Heather, with Tanya on its other side. Heather herself sat in one of the free-standing single-user chairs, ninety degrees around the coffee table to Colin's right; Adam occupied the second chair, directly across from Colin and Tanya.

"Err, well." Heather toyed with the notes in her lap. "I didn't really come home after I went last night."

"Ohre-eally," Tanya shrieked, a gigantic grin on his face.

"Colin, what's going on?" Adam asked. "Something's not adding up here. You're going out with that Jason guy, aren't you?"

"What,me," Colin asked, scandalized.

"No,Heather, silly," Adam said, grinning.

"Oh, well, actually, she's not," Colin said.

"Yeah," Heather said. "We broke up yesterday."

"A-and," Tanya squealed.

"Well," Heather said. She and Colin smiled at each other and she took his hand. "Colin and I realized that we kinda like each other."

There was a beat of silence, in which Tanya and Adam, their two best friends, regarded them in twin images of surprise. Then Adam burst out, "Took ya long enough!" He was grinning.

"And you spent all night at his place?" Tanya shrieked incredulously.

Colin and Heather glanced at each other, smiling and blushing.

"Oh my God," Tanya said, clapping her hands and bouncing up and down. "Oh, my God, that's so-- Oh myGod!" She covered her mouth with her hands and finally surrendered some volume. "What about your mother?" she asked, eyes wide. "I've been yelling and shrieking and--"

"Well, uhm, actually, my mother already knows," Heather said.

"And you're still in one piece," Adam asked, impressed.

"Actually, she was... Kind of approving," Heather said, blushing furiously.

"Evidently she's been pushing for Heather to get together with me for a while now," Colin offered.

"Yes, but... Likethat?" Adam asked.

Tanya's eyes were wide. "Wow," she said to Heather. "You have, like, the coolest mom ever."

Heather chuckled. "If you think mine is cool, you should see his," she said, indicating Adam with a pass of her hand.

"Maybe, but I don't think she'd let me stay overnight at the house of someone I was dating," Adam said.

"No, she might," Colin said. "It's probably gonna happen atsome point, so what's a smart parent gonna do? Exile you, so that you've got to sneak around and your first time is in the trunk of a car or something? Or let it happen and pretend not to see?"

"That's a good point," Tanya said. "I'll have to remember that for when I have kids."

After Adam and Tanya left, Mrs. Norwellyn came in to talk to them. "So, kids, what are your plans for the rest of the day?" A faint flicker of something crossed her broad face. "Kids. You guys aren't exactly kids anymore, are you. So what're you folks planning for the rest of the day?"

"Well, actually," Heather said, "we were going to go back to Colin's place and study."

"Study what," Mrs. Norwellyn said with a knowing smile.

Heather felt her ears heat up. "Schoolwork," she said primly, struggling for composure. It was one thing to have a parent look the other way; it was really another to have her confront you with that knowledge in your living room. "We may be horny college students, Mom, but we're alsoresponsible college students, and wedo have homework to do. Why not just do it in the same room as each other?"

"Why not just study here," Mrs. Norwellyn asked.

"Well." Heather averted her eyes, blushing, a secret smile on her face. "Wedo want to study other things."

Mrs. Norwellyn glanced at Colin. "What're your thoughts on this, Colin?"

Colin shrugged, giving Heather's hand a squeeze. "What she says, goes, as far as I'm concerned."

Mrs. Norwellyn laughed. "All right, I can see I can't win against you two. Go on ahead, then. But Heather, I want you back home by eight o'clock tonight. I'll be able to hold Arthur off until then, but that's your maximum limit." Arthur Combs was Heather's stepfather. This was his first marriage, and he was a little overprotective of his new daughters, as though determined to make up for not having been around for most of their childhoods.

"All right, Mom," Heather said, and gave her mother a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you."

"Well, run along, then, you two lovebirds," Mrs. Norwellyn said, making shooing motions with her hands. She smiled at them as they got into Heather's car.

Heather grabbed a change of clothes and her schoolbooks, and then they were on their way back to Colin's dorm, joyful at their time together. Heather turned on her radio and they sang with the music. Heather marvelled at his sense of pitch, marvelled at his ability to harmonize. She herself felt like a sore frog when she tried to sing, but Colin encouraged her. "You sound fine. There's nothing wrong with your voice." And finally, she sung, abandoning her embarrassment in the sheer joy of lifting her voice to the skies, and discovered that-- Hey, he was right, shedid sound okay. Maybe that was the trick of it, just not being embarrassed.

They stood in the center of his room, looking around, looking at each other, giggling. "So," she asked, "do you actually want to study, or..."

"Actually, I kinda want lunch," he said. "It's past twelve. I'm hungry."

"What is it you're hungry for," she asked, her eyes lidded enticingly. She slid across the intervening space, pressing her boobs into his arm.

"Food," he said stolidly. "I work better on a full stomach." He eyed her for a second, a mischievous smile on his face, and then surprised them both by reaching out and placing his hand directly on the crotch of her jeans, cupping the mound beneath it. "And maybe some pussy for dessert."

She gave him a truly wicked grin.

They ate lunch at the cafeteria, all aglow with love--their eyes flickering over each other's faces, their hands constantly touching. The slightest thing sent them into peals of laughter, and they could not stop smiling. People passing by glanced at their companions and nodded knowingly. Colin and Heather didn't care. They had other things to occupy their attention.

And when they came back to Colin's room, they made love--slow, unflinching, unashamed, giving all to each other. They kissed, rubbing against each other, as his hardness moved within her; she moaned and whimpered and held him close, and he thought that she had never looked so beautiful. And when the time came and he erupted within her, pulsing and groaning with the discharge of his need, she clung even more tightly, wanting his seed, wanting him, all of him, forever and ever.

Afterwards they cuddled, content and satisfied and pleasantly exhausted, talking.

"I don't know what came over me," she said, thinking of her actions back in the cafeteria. If not for the glances between them, the warm silences, the love for him as evident as a blush upon her face, she knew that everyone would have perceived her as being completely drunk. She had an adventurous streak, but she wasn't used to being this... Out-of-control.

"Hey, it got me too," he reminded her, smiling.

"What," she asked.

He shrugged. "I dunno. Maybe we caught SARS or something."

She giggled. "Yeah, that's got to be it..." Then the laughter faded into a contented sigh, and she snuggled closer to him, feeling the sheen of sweat across his chest, the warm reddish smell of his flesh, the feeling of his body pressed against hers.

"I love you, Heather," he said tenderly.

She opened her eyes again. "Is that it?"

He blinked, thinking he was being called on for more. "What, do I have to spout off a sonnet or something?"

"No, I mean... Is that why we were so... Completely high just now? Just because we're in love? Because, I mean," she continued, "we've been throwing that around a lot recently, we've kind of been using it as an excuse for everything. It's like the insanity plea in court or something. And I'm starting to think that maybe we shouldn't do that."

He frowned at her. "I don't get it."

"Well, I mean... We've been pretty wild recently. And I don't mean the fucking." She flipped hair out of her face with one hand. "No one cares about what we do in privacy--or, at least, I don't. As far as I'm concerned, we could be fucking, or we could be, like, knitting or something. And it'd just be, you know, What We Do When We're Alone. But in public... I dunno."

"Well, I also kinda recall you being a little embarrassed about things we did privately as well," he said quietly.

She grimaced. "Yeah. That's true. So I guess it's both. But what I'm saying is... I dunno, maybe we ought to put a damper on things."

He nodded slowly.

"I mean, we're just... Out of control. And I know," she said, smiling, putting a finger across his lips. "I know it's mostly been me being out of control here--" He was kissing her finger amorously. She pulled it back, giggling, and he gave her a saucy grin. "--but some self-control would probably be appropriate."

He laid his hand on her cheek, kissed her. "Whatever you want, I'm okay with," he said.

"It definitely means we can't have sex this often," she said.

He hesitated for a beat. "Whatever you want, I'm okay with."

"You hesitated."

"Well, I don't know what your definition of 'not this often' is, but I've waited for most of two decades to be here. I can wait some more. Besides, I figure that anything worth having now, is also worth having later. Unless it has an expiration date on it or something."

She giggled. "'Pussy. Consume by August 3rd.'"

"Okay, nowthat's ridiculous," he said, laughing.

They giggled, but there was something else nagging on the back of her mind. It took her a little while to recall. "But, Colin... There's more."

He fell silent, regarding her attentively.

"Well... It's gonna be finals week in a few weeks," she said. "We're not gonna be able to meet like this for... For a few weeks, at least. This may be the last time we get to make love until summer."

"It's only three more weeks," he said.

She gave him a rueful smile. "You've clearly never been in a situation where you wanted sex but couldn't get it."

"On the contrary," he said, "you could say I've been in that situation for years. I think I'll manage."

She wasn't so optimistic, but she could tell he was trying to be brave for her sake, so she smiled and let it pass. Besides, surely she'd be able to find chunks of a couple hours where she'd be able to slip away... No, but his roommate would be here. Maybe they could...

"So," he said. "What are you saying?"

She took a moment to compose her thoughts. What was she saying? Less abandon; finals coming up; not enough time... The picture became clear, and it wasn't a great one. "I guess I'm saying that this will be our last chance to spend time like this for a few weeks. And that... We better enjoy it."

He nodded. "I hear you." A slight grimace. "I guess we had better put the homework away."

She shook her head. "No, it has to be done. And at least you'll be here. It beats being at home, trying to concentrate and being distracted by wanting to be near you."

He smiled. "Boyfriend as motivational tool. I like it."

Actually, she wanted to take a shower first, so he talked to one of his girl friends down the hall. She loaned Heather her bathroom keys, and Heather took his towel, his robe, his shower supplies, and his room keys, and was gone for half an hour. When she returned, she put on her change of clothes--white pants and a pale blue T-shirt that brought out the color of her eyes. She spent some time combing her hair. "I'd help you with that," Colin offered, "but I think I'd get way too distracted." She took it at face value, not understanding. To Colin, it made perfect sense: standing behind her,very close behind her, his front pressing into her rear, as he combed her hair--having someone comb your hair is very different from doing it yourself; the care they lavish turns it into a sensual luxury. They would probably end up making love again, and as much as Colin liked that, he felt he needed to concentrate.