Christy, the Sex Therapist Pt. 20

"Perfectly described," she agreed. "But hey, I've got a question for you. I didn't want to ask you while Alex was here, and you don't have to answer right now if you don't want to. But ... ummmm ... I was just wondering ... would you be interested in a three-way with Alex?"

Marcus thought. "You remember the fantasy I had? Of washing his body after a tough rugby match? That hasn't ever gone away."

"So ... that's a yes?"

"Now that I know he won't snap me in half, it's a yes."

"You sure?"

"I'm sure. I'm not scared of him hurting me anymore."

Miss Christy's heart did somersaults. "Can I text him to see when he's in town next?"

"Sounds like a great idea, Miss Christy."

Christy unlocked her phone. 'Hey Alex thanks again for coming over. Hey when are you in town next?'

Alex's reply arrived swiftly. 'Tks Christy. I'm glad we did that too. Good to finally clear the air and thanks for inviting me over. Will be in town again next weekend. We didn't have a game this weekend, which is why I had the weekend off, but we've got a game here next Saturday afternoon. Why?'

Christy's thumbs moved like lightning. 'Wanna play with me and Marcus? Maybe after your game?'

'If he's up for it, then absolutely,' replied Alex. 'Maybe you two could come to the rugby beforehand? I'll get you some free tickets if you want to come'

Miss Christy turned to Marcus. "Wanna go watch Alex play rugby next Saturday afternoon? Free tickets!"

She crossed her fingers, hoping her boi would say yes.

"Yes, Miss Christy. Sounds good to me."

*

90

Marcus woke on Sunday morning because his phone rang. His eyes snapped open and he rubbed the crust of sleep away. 'This had better be good,' he thought to himself.

He checked who was calling. If it was an unknown number, he was ready to throw his handset out the fucking window.

It was Milo. 'Shit, it must be important for him to call so early on the weekend,' he thought as he pressed the green button.

"Hey, Milesy," Marcus squeaked, propping himself up on one elbow. "What's up? You OK?"

"Hey, Marcx, how's things? I hope I didn't wake you."

"No, man, of course not. All good. I was up with the sun as usual on a Sunday morning. Sorry if I'm a little out of breath, I've just gotten back home from my usual 10-mile Sunday run. What's up?"

There was silence on the other end of the line. Milo was a little hesitant. He knew Marcus wasn't the jogging type and that he was joking, but Milo had something serious on his mind.

"You still there, dude?" inquired Marcus.

"Yeah ... uhhh ... yeah, man ... I ... I just wanted to run something past you."

"OK," said Marcus. He heard Milo take a deep breath, preparing to download.

"So ... so early last night, I wasn't doing much. I was sitting outside, watching the sun set, enjoying the quiet. Was just gonna be a quiet Saturday night at home on my own, getting wasted, listening to some tunes, maybe watching some porn and having a fap or three. Nothing serious planned. But then April calls and she asks if I'm busy. I said no, and she said cool let's go out. I said OK, where to? She said let's go to the art gallery, there's something on tonight that looks cool. So I said yeah OK, sounds good. And we arranged to meet up."

There was silence on the other end of the line. "You there, dude?" asked Milo.

"Yeah, yeah I'm here, just listening to you," said Marcus.

Milo continued. "I don't really know, but maybe she felt awkward going to this art exhibition on her own, so maybe she was looking for a 'plus one', and I had no plans, like I said, so whatever. We met up in town and we went to this art thing. It was OK, I guess. But Apes was really into it. Lots of abstract shit. Most of it looked like someone flung paint at a wall and said 'this is art, I am an artist, bow down and revere me', but she nodded thoughtfully and she tilted her chin and I could tell she was really into this shit. Like, she was really absorbing it. There was free champagne, so I absorbed a few glasses of alcohol, and I watched April. She was so much more interesting to look at than these splattered streaks of random paint."

Marcus already had a keen sense of where this conversation might lead.

"After the exhibition, we went to a nearby bar and we had a few beers," Milesy continued. "She asked me what I thought of the exhibition. I immediately went into bullshit mode. I pontificated about symmetry and colour and randomness and chaos and negative capability and ... well, fuck, to be honest, any word that popped into my head came straight out of my mouth. And she challenged me. She said you didn't like it did you. I said I wouldn't go quite that far, but I definitely didn't understand it. And she quietly nodded, like she was saying 'yes, I know you didn't understand it ... but that's cool, so let me show you.'"

Marcus was quiet, listening intently.

"And I had fucking butterflies dancing around in my stomach, dude. You know when you meet someone you like and there's kind of half a chance and you're not sure how things might go and you feel nervous and anxious and you're so desperate not to fuck it up, and I felt all of those things like I was a teenager again; but at the same time I'm thinking to myself 'this is Apes, I haven't just met her for the first time, we've been buddies for fucking years, this isn't even a fucking date, and even though we've seen each other nude and played around and swapped fluids I'm really just here as a friend to keep her company, so why am I feeling like this'. And she said can you tell me why you didn't like the exhibition. And I said no, not really. And she said I think we need to go back to my apartment so we can discuss this further. And I gulped and said yes. Suddenly, she was the hottest chick in the world."

Milo stopped. Miss Christy was still asleep, so Marcus got up and made his way to the kitchen. He knew, without a shadow of a doubt, where this was headed. "Keep talking, man."

"So I went back to her apartment," continued Milo. "I've known her for so long, but I can't ever remember going to her place before. Have you ever been there?" Milo continued without waiting for a response. "She opened the door and there was like tubes of paint and some canvasses neatly stacked up in a corner. I know she writes, but she fucking paints, too. Did you know she paints? I didn't. She's like the Renaissance, man. Like, this giant font of creativity. I was half expecting her to wheel out a block of marble and start sculpting right in front of me. There were a shitload of books, too. She must read a lot."

"She's a beautiful soul, man. Surely you knew this already."

"I did, but ... not to this extent. I felt overwhelmed. Smitten, if you please. I thought ... she's so special, and I felt privileged to know her."

There was a brief pause. Marcus waited for Milo to resume.

"She kissed me. And I fucking kissed her back. We didn't discuss art any further. She took my hand, led me to her bedroom, and we fucked all night."

"Dude, that's so awesome," said Marcus. "I don't have any other words. But I have a question. Are you happy? It sounds like you are."

"Fuck, man, I'm over the fucking moon."

Marcus asked the question that everything hinged upon. "And what about April? How does she feel?"

"She told me she loved me before she drifted off to sleep, and I said the same to her. I still feel that, but I know things that make sense at night can sometimes look different in the morning. I just hope she still feels the same."

April woke up and noticed her bed was empty. She was sure there was another body in it when she went to sleep last night. She hoped Milo hadn't snuck home without saying goodbye. She got up and stretched and went looking for him. She found him in the next room, on the phone to someone. She wrapped her arms around Milo's waist from behind and stroked his long hair. "Who you talking to, boyfriend?"

Milo leaned into her. "You hear that, man?"

"I did," Marcus confirmed.

"Gotta go," said Milo. "Talk soon. Love you, bro." The line went dead.

Marcus smiled. He couldn't possibly go back to sleep after this. It was time for coffee.

*

Miss Christy eventually woke up. The smell of hot coffee in a pot is irresistible, especially on a lazy weekend morning. She came to the kitchen. "You're up early, boi," she commented.

"Didn't you hear my phone ring?"

"No ... nah, must've been sleeping solidly."

"It was Milo."

Miss Christy had the exact same first thought that Marcus had. "Fuck, is he OK?"

Marcus laughed. "Yeah ... I can totally see why you went there, that was my first reaction too. As if Milesy would ever be up before lunchtime on a Sunday. But no, he's fine."

"So why'd he call?"

Marcus smiled. "I think he wanted to share some good news with me. Or, to be more accurate, with us."

"Well, what is it, boi?" Miss Christy poured herself a big mug of joe.

"It sounds like ... it sounds like Apes and Milesy are a 'thing'."

"A 'thing'?"

"Yeah, a 'thing'. Assuming that's the current terminology for two people who go out one night, then fuck, then declare their love for each other. April asked Milo out to an art gallery last night, and then afterwards, they had some drinks, then she invited him back to her apartment, and in Milo's words, they fucked all night."

"Yeah, but that could mean anything. Doesn't mean they're together, does it? Maybe it was just a fling? Things can sometimes look very different in the morning."

"Yeah, again, that's exactly what I thought too. I'm only going off what Milo said, but apparently April said she loved him before they went to sleep, and Milo said the same. And then when he called me this morning, I heard Apes in the background calling him her boyfriend. And then Milo said he had to go, and he hung up on me, so I'm gonna assume they're fucking again right now. His balls are gonna ache like *fuck* by the end of the day."

Miss Christy nearly fell over. "Seriously, boi, this has got to be the best weekend ever. First of all, you and Alex finally land on the same page -- well, roughly, kind of, sort of -- and then we find out that April and Milo are into each other. I can't tell you how happy I feel right now."

"I know. It's amazing," Marcus agreed.

They went out to a local café for breakfast, holding hands, floating on a cloud.