April and Her Friends Ch. 07

"Oh, Carolyn, darling, you gotta help me here!"

"All right, maybe I'll tell April. That shouldn't be too hard. But you're going to have to tell Melody."

It was just then that Kumar came.

He wasn't expecting it; in fact, he'd gotten quite comfortable just being in Carolyn, without doing any thrusting at all. It seemed like a nice, unstrenuous way to express his love for her. But his body must have thought differently.

She seemed taken by surprise too: her eyes widened as she felt his fluid shoot into her. This was his fourth climax of the night, which was impressive even for him.

"My, oh, my!" she said. "You're quite ardent tonight."

He squeezed her bottom as a way of squeezing every last drop of his orgasm out of himself. "It's you, dear—you're irresistible."

"Thank you for that," she said with heavy sarcasm. "But I think you also had some other females on your mind."

He didn't appreciate that remark, but let it go.

The next morning, Carolyn stumbled stiffly downstairs and found April already in the kitchen with her coffee and bagel. April looked at her stepmom with a smirk that Carolyn thought was very much like what she herself tended to adopt—and wasn't sure she cared for the imitation. No doubt April's ears had been perked for any moaning sounds from the master bedroom.

April couldn't help seeing how Carolyn was walking. "Little sore, Mom?"

Carolyn wheeled on her stepdaughter. "April, you stop it with those cracks right now! You're—you're being obscene."

"Gee, you don't have to bite my head off," April complained.

Carolyn actually felt a bit mortified at her snappish mood, since she realized it was a by-product of the difficulty of what she was about to say.

"April," she began tentatively, "I have something to tell you."

"What, Mom?" April said with utter indifference.

"Listen to me!" Carolyn said sharply.

"What is it?" April said. "Someone die or something?"

Carolyn gazed down at her stepdaughter, suddenly feeling faint. She rushed over to her, bent down so that she was almost kneeling in front of her, and said:

"Look, dear, there's no easy way to say this, but . . ."

"Mom, just say it, okay?"

Carolyn expelled a sigh. "Okay. It's just that—Kumar and I want to get married."

April seemed to take a second or two to digest the idea. Then, all of a sudden, she let out an almost hysterical scream, pulled her stepmother up by the shoulders, and embraced her tightly. "Omigod, Mom, that's wonderful! I'm so happy for you!"

"Are you really, dear?" Carolyn said, almost asphyxiated by the girl.

"Of course I am! I mean, Jesus, it was a long time in coming, wasn't it? What took him so long to propose?"

"I don't know," Carolyn said, finally getting the wherewithal to wrap her own arms around April. "Maybe it was because of—you two."

"Who?"

"You and Melody."

"What on earth does that have to do with it?"

"April, you know full well what I mean."

"Well, look, it doesn't bother me in the least. I'm thrilled! I mean, as long as nothing changes."

"It shouldn't. But what about Melody?"

"Oh, she'll be fine. I've kind of prepared her for it."

"You've what? How could you possibly have—?"

"Oh, Mom, I knew this was coming! I'm not a dope. He's wanted to propose to you for months. He was just scared, that's all."

"You can't have known that! Or did he tell you?" If he spoke to you about this before he spoke to me, I'll kill him.

"No, no, he never said anything. but I could guess."

Carolyn gazed at her stepdaughter. "You're a pretty sharp girl."

"Mom, it doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure something like that out. I have eyes, you know. I could see how, um, close you'd become."

"He's close to you too—and Melody."

"Not the way he is to you. It's really different."

"You think so?"

"I know so. Don't get me wrong—I love him, and Melody loves him, and he loves us. But to him you're special."

Carolyn suddenly choked up, and a tear crept out of each eye. "That's so sweet, dear."

"Oh, Mom, don't get all weepy on me!"

"I'm sorry," Carolyn said, hastily brushing away the tears. "But—but you can't tell Melody about this."

"Why the hell not?" April said hotly.

"You have to let him do it. She may not react quite as . . . favorably as you have."

"She'll be fine."

"I don't know about that! She's only eighteen—well, maybe closer to nineteen now, but that's still pretty young."

"Mom, I know her a lot better than you do. She's not as fragile as she seems. In fact, she's pretty tough."

"Well, if you say so. But just let Kumar tell her, okay?"

"Oh, all right."

And Kumar did so two days later, when Melody's usual Thursday night tryst came around. Kumar made a special effort to show her as much tenderness and intimacy as he possibly could—not a difficult task, to be sure, for he loved her dearly—but after they had finished, with multiple climaxes on both sides, he placed her on top of himself as he lay on his back, letting her small frame cover his body from chin to ankles. It was a little slippery keeping her there, as both of their bodies were coated with sweat, but she helped by wrapping her arms around him and nestling her head in the crook of his neck.

As he massaged her back and bottom, he said: "April, I need to tell you something."

She stiffened immediately. What April had said to her days before had preyed on her mind far more than she had consciously realized, and she wasn't sure she was prepared for any dramatic revelations. All she could do was say in a shaky voice: "What?"

Kumar prefaced his remarks with nuzzles on her face and neck. "You know how much you mean to me, don't you?"

"Of course I do," she said impatiently. "You mean the world to me too."

Kumar's heart sank. God, I wish she hadn't put it quite like that. "And you know how much April and Carolyn mean to me."

"Sure," Melody said.

"It's really hard for me to choose between the three of you—"

"Why should you have to choose?"

"No reason, I suppose. It's just that—well . . ."

"Oh, Kumar, just come out and say it, please."

He sighed heavily. "Okay. It's just that I want to marry Carolyn." He actually winced, as if in the expectation of a blow.

Melody, faced with the blunt words that she had been dreading, felt light-headed, and her throat seemed to close up. Swallowing hard, she managed to say: "Do you?"

"Yes, I do," Kumar said in a rush. "You see, I think she's one of these women who need to be married to feel right. I'm sure you know she's had a rough time of it ever since her husband left, and I'm just trying to make her happy."

Melody suddenly bristled, feeling that Kumar was not only equivocating but being pretty patronizing to his fiancée. "Oh, so this is all about her, is it? You're taking pity on her by marrying her? Is that it?"

"No, no, it's not like that!"

"Then what is it like?"

Kumar's face fell into a grimace of misery. "Oh, Melody, I'm saying this all so badly! I love her and I want to marry her, okay? That's it. It's for her, and it's for me. I just hope—"

"Well," Melody said more gently, "why didn't you say so in the first place?" She gave him a firm, wet kiss. "It's wonderful. I'm very happy." She couldn't help adding, in a jokingly patronizing way: "You two make such a cute couple!"

"Hey," Kumar said with a frown, "don't tease!"

"Sorry, I couldn't help myself."

"So . . . you're okay with it?"

"Of course I am!" Then she stopped short. "I mean—you'll still want to . . .?"

"I hope so. Carolyn seems okay with it."

"Well, then, that's fine! Everything's fine!"

But Melody's tone of voice was rising alarmingly, and her own face was crumpling in misery. And, not at all to Kumar's surprise, she suddenly burst into wild tears. She was sobbing, wailing, keening, gasping. It was as if her heart was breaking.

Kumar stroked her head gently as she buried her face in his neck, saying, "Let it out, dear, just let it out." He well knew the cathartic value of tears, but somehow sensed that this crying jag wouldn't really make Melody feel all that much better.

It went on for many minutes, which seemed like so many hours to Kumar. He wished he could say something to make things right for Melody, but knew there were no words for this moment. Only time would heal whatever wounds Melody had suffered.

As for Melody herself, she really couldn't fully understand why she was so wretched. April was right: how could I have thought Kumar would ever have wanted to marry me? It was the most stupid, preposterous fantasy I could have indulged in. And why should anything change? He still wants to see me—and April—even after he gets married, and Carolyn has agreed to go along with it. So what's the fuss?

And yet, she still felt as if someone had carved up her heart in so many little pieces.

At last her hysterics were over, and she tugged at the bedsheet to wipe up her wet face. She gave Kumar a brave little broken smile and said, "I'm just being silly."

"Don't ever say that!" Kumar said. "Your feelings are never silly."

She felt a swell of emotion and kissed Kumar on the lips. "You're such a dear, sweet man. I'll never find anyone like you."

Oh, God, Melody, Kumar thought, please don't say things like that. But he just accepted the compliment and let it go.

Then, to his alarm, Melody put his cock into herself and just lay there on top of him, exactly as Carolyn had done several nights before. It seemed important to her to preserve this level of intimacy, and neither of them said or did anything as they fused their bodies gently together. Kumar did stroke her back a little, sometimes moving down to her bottom, and Melody hugged him tighter when he did that, stretching herself the way a cat does when it is being petted. But that was all.

Kumar didn't come. After about twenty minutes, he whispered in her ear, "We'd better go to sleep," and urged her to get off of him.

She slipped off, turned her back on him, and went to sleep.