Blizzard Ch. 20

Alex was jumping on a bed barely meant for two and holding four. Max was up on her knees, naked as the rest of us, and spinning as she squealed and turned and laughed. I was still tired, and I didn't recover from liquor and dehydration like I did when I was their-when I was nineteen.

"If you're going to fuck, can you be quiet and let me sleep?" Sam moaned with her eyes closed and her body tightly squeezing my side. "My everything is sore."

"Ah, sweetheart." I kissed her hair. My mouth was so dry. Sam wasn't letting go of my arm, and Alex was standing up because Max was being obnoxious. I frowned and looked at the redhead. She slapped her hands down on the blanket and my pectoral muscle.

"Sorry!" She apologized to Sam for the noise of smacking me. I tried not to look too pathetic for wincing. "Hey, it's been two hours longer since last time and I love you!"

She looked shocked that she said it. She would've covered her mouth in embarrassment but she wiggled up and punched towards the sky. I frowned and saw the clock read twenty to eight.

"Stay in bed," I whispered to Sam. I ushered Max out and she hopped up and kissed me. Alex pushed her aside andgot her kiss too. The pair of them giggled at each other.

"I'll keep Sam comfy," Alex smirked at her best friend. "You go wash the sex skunk off of his penis."

Max grabbed my arm and dragged me. I didn't let myself be pulled too hard, and found my phone. I turned off my alarm with three minutes to spare.

"When do your classes start?" I asked.

"8:30." She shrugged. "I can get there in five minutes, though."

"OK." I grinned and pushed her into the shower. "I might not be fully recovered for a morning go yet."

"Oh." She pouted. Then her eyes lit up. "But I am. You could..." Her lower lip was captured and released from her teeth repeatedly. "You could help me out, though? Please?"

"Can't say no to a please," I sighed overdramatically.

"Keep me forever, please," she pleaded with fingers running through my hair. I climbed in the shower and pushed her belly with my palm. She was hard against the tiles when I knelt down to her fuzzy pussy. She grabbed onto my ears. I moved her hands onto my skull.

The taste of Max was mixed with Sam's, and a bit of lube. She was eager for me to dive in with one or two kisses around her lips. I grabbed her buttcheek with one hand and spread her lips open with the other. I started hard on her clit and she grabbed her face.

"I'm gonna wake up Sam!" She muffled herself but that thought made her more and more excited as I licked with my tongue, held with my lips, and stroked with my teeth. I slid two fingers inside of her. I did the 'come hither' finger pull and felt myself through her on the tip of my nose. She shouted, "I don't wanna wake up Sam!"

"I'm up, you noisy psycho! Learn about irony!" Sam yelled. Max turned red holding her breath. Sam called again, less aggravated. "It's OK, Max. I love you."

"I love you, Sam! I love you, Alex!"

"Aww..." Alex simpered as Max's moans spiked.

"I love you, Gene!" She beamed. It was the happiest she had ever looked. I had a job to do, but I hadn't known these girls for a week. Shit. Then there were the boots, and Winter, and Gretchen. I pummeled Max's thighs into cooked spaghetti. She grabbed my ears again and pulled me up to kiss her.

"I taste funny this morning," she giggled. I kissed her again, and turned on the shower. She jumped out with a shriek as I fixed the temperature.

We got out of the shower minutes after eight. Max only wore a towel, and only to hold up her hair. Alex was collapsed in my armchair and Sam was on her lap. They were laughing about something, and eating a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios with two spoons. I found that more weird than I had found anything weird in my life.

"Ew," Max agreed.

"Breakfast."

"Get off of me. I'm going to pee." Alex slapped Sam's butt. The blonde and brunette both got up. Alex rushed to the washroom and Sam hovered over at me.

"Love, huh?" she asked me, and emptied the remnants of the cereal bowl into her mouth. Milk spattered across her tits. "Can I say it too?"

"Mean it," Max said to Sam. I opened my mouth but she grabbed my hand and tightened her grip. She looked me dead in the eye. "Mean it."

"Well, I've been through the roller coaster of brain drugs before, girls," I said. "Falling in love and being in love are very different feelings. I've never been able to suss out the second until I was finished with the first."

"Huh?" Sam asked.

"When you connect with someone new, you can be overwhelmed with feelings. For months. I've heard it called New Relationship Energy. I've never been able to figure out if I was in love until my brain went on cool-down."

"I won't feel this way forever?" Max sighed. "You're right. I'm sor-"

I kissed her to stop her apology.

"She's pretty when she's crazy," Alex said, grinning in my armchair. I smiled at her, letting a slightly cooler Max out of the embrace. She shook her head and her bangs fell over her eyes. I looked back and brushed the hair from her face.

"Get dressed, you've got classes," I said.

"What about those two?" Max accused, but I could tell she was playing.

"I start at 10:30." Alex stretched out. "Theatre schedules are designed for drunks."

"I gotta be at upper campus for 9:30," Sam explained. She picked some sleep from her eyes. "Wish I had some company in the shower. Wink, wink," she hinted towards me.

"Sounds fun!" Alex hopped up and followed Sam into the bathroom, naked breasts jiggling. Max and I watched, huge grins on both our faces.

"Crap! I gotta put clothes on!" Max realized. I laughed. There wasn't enough cereal left for two bowls. Well, there was, but I really only eat Honey Nut Cheerios. At least there were cinnamon rolls as well. I had way more food than I ever had on my own. Peter's charity was off-putting until I thought of it as the girls forcing on me a higher quality of life. I slapped Max's butt as she rifled through her backpack for new panties.

"Hey!" she grinned.

"Oh! Oh! Oh! That's still sore!" I heard Sam exclaim.

"Aw... princess..." Alex teased.

"That's cute," I said, and considered going back into the shower to join Sam and Alex.

Max reached down and felt my excitement. She pouted, then grinned. "Go. Play. I'll be fine," she said, and began putting her bra on.

"No, I gotta get to work," I sighed. "Here, let me do your bra up for you." She turned around and lifted her hair with both hands. "This thing's cute."

It was bright blue and mostly see-through. She lit up. "Really? Alex made me buy it."

"What would you have bought?" I asked.

"Sports bras, I guess." She shrugged and let go of her panties' waistband. She smirked at the snap against her skin.

"Stuff that works." I nodded. I picked up a pair of boxer briefs. I smelled them. Oh, right, they were clean: Faye's visit had convinced me that one visit to the laundromat a month wasn't enough. I still froze as Max gave me a bemused eyebrow-raise. I said nothing and pulled out a pair of black jeans.

"Hey!" Alex giggled.

"That's what you get!" Sam yelled.

"So you'll do it again?" Alex said, brightly.

"I can wash my own tits!" Sam's voice dropped and she laughed madly. "I can't believe I said that."

"I can't believe you don't want someone else to wash your tits," Alex said. "Do me?"

"Do yourself," I think Sam said. They weren't shouting and laughing as loudly anymore.

Max and I met each other's gazes and had to laugh. She shook her head. We had our clothes on. I tossed her her jacket.

"Hurry up and I'll walk you to class," I said. I grabbed the cereal bowl and dumped the bottom into my mouth. I didn't miss like Sam had. Years of slovenly practice.

"Really?" She dashed for her toque and mittens. Alex and Sam came out toweling themselves off. I was happily staring. Max threw my scarf in my face.

"It's really cold out," she said, slinging her backpack onto her shoulder.

"Wait? You don't have to go right now?" Alex tried to mesmerize me by dropping her towel. She reached aside and yanked down Sam's as well.

"I only got a couple minutes more than this one," I pointed out at Max. "Longer walk. So, I'm walking her to class."

"I can be ready in-" Sam dashed by me. I felt the water droplets fling off of her bouncing brown hair and spatter over my face.

"Sorry, girl." I grabbed her slick tummy and pulled her for a kiss. "We're already gone."

"Keep an eye on your feelings, Sam," Max said at the stairwell. "If you stop wanting to lo-fuck Gene, come right back here and juice up."

Max pointed to the boots that lay under a pile of sex toys. All the packaging was still around. Alex saw me looking.

"I'll clean everything up. See you when you get home." She reached over to my cheek and kissed my lips.

"Have a good day," I grinned, and went down the stairs with Max.

It was cold out, but the weather was still and placid. Small favors. We nearly bowled over Winter, turning onto the step out of my apartment door. I gave her a half-smile, took Max's hand and weaved around her. I would've said nothing.

"Morning!" Max grinned.

"Good morning," I added out of unstoppable politeness.

"Yeah good morning to you too," Winter said. She stopped at her door and looked me in the face. She scrunched up her nose, ducked into the apartment, and slammed the door behind her.

"She seems grumpy," Max said, squeezing my fingers. As soon as the words came out of her mouth, the wind kicked up from all directions. Wispy dust devils of snow scattered through our legs. Max just smiled brighter and we dashed up the street towards campus.

"Should've worn the scarf," she laughed at me when we ducked into the alcove entrance to the university. My face was burning from the wind. I pulled down her scarf. "Hey, don't be-"

I kissed her hard. I pulled away and she had her happiest mooniest grin on.

"You still good?" I hoped.

"I-OK, I won't say it again. Not yet. But when I can say it again, you're not going to hear anything else." She beamed.

"Max?" Some 19-year-old guy stared at us, defeat written across his face.

"Oh hey, Zach!" Max waved to the guy obliviously. "I'll see you tonight." She squeezed my hand. She turned to the distraught kid and jabbered on about how hard the multivariant calculus assignment was. She turned and waved again as he chimed in. I waved, smiled, and left for work.

________________

I had lived my life shirking responsibility. I got enough. I had been content. Now, I had three beautiful girls to dazzle, to impress, to... I was feeling giddy for the sheer exuberance Max had inflicted on us this morning. It wasn't just her. One look in Sam's face and my stomach tumbled. One kiss from Alex and I was ascendant like some Greek god. I wouldn't have stopped smiling if I could have.

My responsibility was to me. I had to stand tall. I had to deserve my girls. I had to succeed. I walked into work with more on my plate than I had proven I could handle. I had asked for all of it. I was surprised how well I took to it.

My coworkers? I think they were just happy to have a go-between for my boss now. I wanted the best from them, and I had been in the shit long enough to know who needed to step up more. And I knew each of them well enough to ask for it.

I got a few good-natured 'slave driver's and 'sellout's flung my way. We had three weeks to get our current white prints perfect. I don't think we would've made it for my boss. I knew we were going to get it done in time now, though. I took the north conference room and knew just who to name as my runner. I think fixing the flow of information through Issa instead of a scattered clusterfuck through everyone was enough to name me employee of the decade.

It wasn't all take-charge, new-job-energy, man-with-a-plan, kind of stuff. I needed my mind full, or else I was terrified Max or Sam was going to call and not love me anymore. I sent someone for coffee and pastries and worked through lunch. I had to tell everyone after that that they still had their lunch breaks and didn't have to mirror my own crazy.

"Yo, sellout." One of my fellow draftsmen shoved his head in the office. "Security's got some blubbering chick for you down in the lobby."

"What?" I shovelled my phone out of my pocket. Max had texted her hourly updates of heart emojis. Sam had been messaging me all day, but they were almost all sexy selfies from all around campus. The deep picture of her cleavage was from forty seconds ago. Alex... Yeah, I wasn't surprised she had come. "Um, damn. Yeah, I'll be down."

"You kicking off? You did kinda skip lunch."

"Maybe." I looked at the work I had done. I was disgusted with how little I used to let myself get away with. I had juggled the whole office, put the best people on their best projects, and managed three days worth of my old responsibilities in less than 7 hours. "Yeah, I'm gone."

"Sure thing. I'll get this all down to records," he said as I smiled around him and exited the conference room. "Cute girl, man. Whose soul did you sell for her?"

"Haven't figured that out yet," I said, and hurried through the cubicle farm to where I had stashed my coat and gloves. I walked down the west stairs.

She looked miserable. She was beautiful. Alex sat in her fluffy white parka and slush-spattered winter boots. She blew her nose into a fistful of Kleenex. Her eyes were surrounded in so much red her eyeshadow couldn't have hidden it. She had wiped up most of the runs but she needed a mirror.

"Thanks, guys." I slapped the front desk and the two private security dudes nodded. I should learn their names. I zeroed in on Alex. She was smiling when I forced my second hand into my glove. I didn't say anything, I just took her hand.

"Wait," she said, and scooped up her knit toque and thin gloves. "Um..."

"Relax," I said. "They serve waffles all day. We can go at whatever speed you need."

"Thanks." She frowned. "I, um. I don't know what I did."

"What do you know?" I asked as I led her out the front door. It was cold but the weather was clear. I wished for snow. I feared wind. I got clouds. I squeezed her fingers and waited for her to talk as I led her to Tara's.

After a block or so, Alex started talking. "I went to class with Sam and we were still giggling over last night. I mean, we did all of that stuff, and so much of it to her. I was saying, maybe sometime soon I'd get to be the girl of the night."

"Very soon," I agreed. She smiled but it wasn't an Alex smile.

"Yeah, well, Sam was crazy for it. Laughing, saying there were..." She looked around - there were other people out, but no one was paying attention to us. Alex leaned over and whispered hard, "There were two harnesses."

The cock-holding hand gesture and hip swing more than illustrated what kind of harness Alex was describing. I nodded.

"She called it air-tight." Alex shivered. I put my arm around her. It seemed to be an excited shiver. She squeezed in but she was slumped as she spoke. "We were laughing about it then."

"OK," I said.

"Yeah, it was awesome." Her breath hitched. "I had an hour. I bounced around but I was too up up up to do anything. I ended up going to class and hanging around in the hall typing and retyping things to text you. I just didn't know what to say.

"Anyway, class lets out. I'm busy 'til lunch, yeah? I decided to hoof it down to the engineering buildings and meet up with Max."

"Sounds like a good day," I pointed out.

"It's usually the best kinda day!" She huffed. "I waved to Max, and she was chatting with her science dork friends. They're really nice, by the way; I'm just upset. Max threw her nose in the air, assembled her group, and turned down another hallway so she wouldn't have to talk to me."

"Maybe they were busy with a class thing, or-"

"I tried to tell myself that. I trudged back to upper campus and Sam was fending off some boy asking her out." Alex smiled to see me frown. "I tried to save her, you know. 'Sam! Hey, oh I'm sorry. I have to borrow my friend. You can find her later.' Let the boy down easy."

"Well, all that does is tell the boy he's getting another chance," I pointed out. Alex stopped mid-stride.

"Does it?" she said. "I guess, maybe..."

"Tell me about Sam, Alex," I urged her. We were right at the restaurant now. Alex thumbed her eyes and there was no wait to be brought to a private booth in the back. I pushed her in and sat down at her side. She rushed in and squeezed me.

"Gretchen'll be by to get your drink orders," the hostess told us. I could tell that the high schooler hostess did not get that the girl who looked her age was with a guy who looked my age. That guy being me. Alex and I climbed out of our winter gear, bumping, elbowing, kneeing, and otherwise shoving each other back and forth as we disrobed. She was looking dozens of candles brighter when she took out her hairbrush for her hair.

"Max snubbed you. What happened with Sam?" I worried. Alex took a deep breath.

"Sam's not as conflict-averse as Max is." Alex frowned. "She, uh, turned on me. Shoved her finger in my face." Alex took a long slow breath. "She told me she wasn't a skank, and didn't need some babysitter trying to protect her, and there's no way a girl like her would sneak around on a guy like you. She said, 'I know overcoming your airheadedness is difficult, but Gene deserves the best. The best that you'll never be able to give him.'"

Alex was cold at that point. I squeezed her shoulders as the redhead waitress came by. I looked hard at Gretchen's face but there was no Carmine or Faye in there. I ran my fingers through Alex's hair.

"She needs pick-me-up waffles," I said. "Chocolate chips, whipped cream, blueberries. Sweet enough to overdose on, right?"

"Just two waffles and the whipped cream," Alex said. "Coffee too."

"You eating?" The waitress smiled as waitresses do.

"Yeah." I had skipped lunch but for a pastry and coffee. "Three breakfast sandwiches and coffee."

"Sausage or bacon?"

"The bacon goes on top of the sausage," Alex answered for me.

"Wow." The waitress smiled down at the girl in my arm and looked me in the eye. "Nice work. Does she come in redhead?"

"Redhead's covered. Brunette too," Alex claimed. She tapped her lower lip. "Do you have something in an Asian?"

"I'll see what we have in the back." The waitress laughed as she walked away.

"Yesterday, Max burnt out on me at noon," I told Alex. "You up for an experiment?"

"Max's your science girl," Alex frowned.

"Well, princess girl," I teased her, "you up for some wicked fairy magic?"

"I don't... Yes I am." She grinned.

"OK, one sec." I took out my phone and Alex watched the screen with her cheek perched on my shoulder. "There might be something mean."

"Max can't be as mean as Sam can," Alex asserted. "What're we doing?"

"I think they need the boots again," I said. I typed, "Hey! How are you!" and sent it off to Max.

"Whoa!" Alex grinned to see Max's reply was a beautiful topless selfie from the redhead sprawled out on top of my covers. Her hair was splayed out like a halo. "It must've taken forever to get her hair perfect like that."

I didn't mention I thought that Max had just laid back and snapped the shot.

"Two coffees!" Gretchen probably didn't avoid seeing the sext but she spoke up quick enough that I could turn the screen and effect a gentlemanly protection of the model. Alex was dumping in sugar packets and reaching for creamers. I took my first sip and put the black liquid back down.

"Wow, beautiful!" I texted back to Max. I received a string of emoji hearts and eggplants in swift reply.

"Get off work, come home, get off. Promise!" she sent me.

"Will do, just picking up Alex first." I sent. We waited with bated breath. Alex's knees were jumping under the table. I bumped her ankle with mine. She was biting her lip.