E-Beth Ch. 04

Since Amber and I had just been lounging around the house together, and since I hadn't packed any spare clothing for this spontaneous trip, I just pulled on the T-shirt I'd been borrowing from David. I also slipped into my panties, although I didn't bother with the revealing shelf-bra.

Similarly, Amber didn't get back into her seduction lingerie. She went to the closet and pulled on more utilitarian underwear, along with pajama bottoms and a T-shirt. And so clad, the two of us poked our heads outside to see what was going on.

From the hallway, we peeked into the living room. And as soon as I saw who had come knocking at the door, I gasped in loud surprise, "Teddy!"

Both David and my boyfriend turned their heads at my gasp. There was no point in hiding anymore, so Amber and I emerged from the hallway and went into the living room. My heart was racing and I had a million questions on my mind. At the top of that list was: How in the hell did he find me?

For his part, Teddy was dressed casually in a fitted polo shirt, jeans, and brown Sketchers. He took one look at me, bra-less, wearing a man's T-shirt, and without any pants, and he paled. He looked more closely at David's slightly-disheveled appearance and Amber's similar state of undress. And then looking at me, Teddy stood up and mumbled, "Uh, maybe I came at a bad time."

He looked ready to bolt, and without thinking about it, I hurried across the living room and launched myself at him. Teddy just managed to open his arms in time to meet my hug, but I still nearly knocked him off his feet when I jumped up and wrapped my legs around his waist while clutching his shoulders and neck like my life depended on it. "Teddy!"

Neither of us said anything for a moment. I simply reveled in the pure joy of hugging my boyfriend, the man I'd started to fall in love with, after our time apart. It had been little more than 24-hours, but it still felt like an eternity. And I hugged him like I never wanted to let him go. There was no more time for second thoughts or doubts. There was no more time for "what ifs" or other paranoid worries. Teddy was here; and since he was here, I was going to enjoy his presence for as long as I could.

In the meantime, David and Amber looked at each other significantly before inconspicuously backing away. By the time I pulled my head off of Teddy's shoulder, my best friends were out of the room. And looking around myself, I dropped to the floor and then tugged Teddy to sit back down on the couch. "How in the hell did you find me?" I finally blurted.

Teddy was panting a little both from the surprise and from holding me up. But he caught his breath and looked at me plainly. "Well, you always talked about your best friends and roommates from college. You once told me that whenever you needed somewhere to turn, you'd always go to them."

I nodded, only partly understanding. "But *how*? How did you find *them*?"

My cute boy shrugged. "I've got a friend who went to Uni, and he owes me some favors. He talked to someone in Administration, who was able to find out who your college roommate was. Once we got Amber's and David's names, I know someone in the county assessor's office, and he pulled the public records from when your friends bought the house."

I was nodding along, impressed by both Teddy's ingenuity in tracking me down as well as his apparent connections in making it all happen within a single day. "But isn't that... illegal?"

Teddy blushed again, one of those blushes I like that goes pink all the way down his neck. But he stared at me intently with those blue-gray eyes and stated, "I had to find you."

I nearly swooned into his arms right at that. But Teddy took a deep breath and finished his story. "Once I had an address, it was just a matter of buying a plane ticket and getting here as fast as I could."

Impulsively, I reached forward and hugged him again. It felt so good to be loved and adored and *wanted* so desperately that someone like Teddy would go all these lengths to find me. *He loves me. He really loves me.*

But... while I'd been momentarily distracted, I hadn't forgotten what sent me here in the first place. The warmth went out of my hug and I stiffened up. Teddy sensed the change in me and pulled back at about the same time I did. And then he looked at me carefully while I collected myself and then stated, "Tell me about Stella."

He sighed and blinked a couple of times. Then he looked at me, pleading with his eyes for me to understand. And he said, "Nothing has changed with me and Stella. We're the same friends we were a week ago. And there's nothing more between us than that. Stella and I are friends... very *close* friends. But I'm *your* boyfriend."

I blinked. "Then the janitor's closet...?"

Teddy shook his head. "We did. It was just a quickie. We were planning to go to lunch with you, but when we stopped by the lab you were all engrossed in your experiment. I figured you wouldn't want to be disturbed, so we were just going to head out and grab some fast food. But as we were passing the closet, Stella got this gleam in her eye and dragged me inside. It was fun. I won't deny that. But it was kinda uncomfortable. There's not a lot of room and you can't even hold onto the shelves because they'll make this banging noise that you just KNOW will be heard out in the hallway."

"That's it?"

He shrugged. "That's it."

"You told her you loved her," I said with a much harder edge in my voice. "Explain *that*."

Teddy took a deep breath. He put his hands on my knees, rubbing them softly as he looked down and collected himself. Clearly, he realized that this was a critical issue, and he was trying to very carefully choose his words. "We love each other."

My eyes were hard slits. Not a good choice of words.

Teddy saw me blanch and he quickly added, "But not in that way! Stella's like my sister!" He winced. "Only... not. I mean, that would be gross. She doesn't look anything LIKE my sister. I mean, that would be WEIRD."

Teddy was fumbling and I was giving him the evil eye, making him fumble even more. He winced and babbled incoherently for a couple of seconds before finally saying, "We're intimate. We're close. I think I've shared more with Stella and I feel closer to Stella than any girlfriend I've ever had before you. BUT... and this is *important*... Stella and I aren't romantic in the slightest!"

*Yeah, right.* I frowned and folded my arms over my chest, clearly not believing him.

"You've GOT to believe me," Teddy pleaded. "When I look at you, I see my future. I think about what it would be like to be married to you, cuddling in a hammock on a tropical beach sipping mai tais and watching the waves cresting. I undress you with my eyes and think about seducing you with wine and music, sensuously exploring every inch of your body with a feather and spending all night getting twisted up in the sheets together. I think of holding your face in my hands, staring into the depths of your deep brown eyes. And I think about how out-of-my-mind in love with you I am."

I blinked and looked at him skeptically. "So? Can't you see those things with her?"

Teddy shrugged and shook his head. "I don't. Stella's... different. I lust for her, sure. She's got a hot bod and she loves sex. Watching her and you go at it is just... wow... I mean... *WOW*! But that's it. There's no romance, no tenderness. Every time we're alone together only two things happen: we screw, and we joke around. The last time I visited her apartment for one of our cover dates, we didn't even go out. We just went in her room and fucked like rabbits for an hour. And then we spent the rest of the time lying in bed drinking beer and having burping contests. We talked about everything... stupid shit... like I would with one of my boys, you know? Only she's NOT one of my boys, so I can tell her things I wouldn't want the rest of my friends to know. They're guys, but they're insufferable gossips, too."

I frowned. "How come you don't tell me those things, then?"

"I do!" he protested. "What's the most embarrassing moment of my life?"

I grinned and thought back to a month ago when Stella, Teddy, and I all swapped embarrassing stories. "Graduation. Your friends dared you all to go without pants or underwear underneath your graduation gowns, and they didn't tell you they'd cut a big hole out of the butt of your gown."

"See?"

I frowned. "So there's nothing you've told Stella that you can't tell me?"

"Of course not!" Teddy blurted, but then he immediately blushed and looked away.

My eyes popped open. He WAS hiding something. "What?" I barked accusingly.

"E-Beth, it's not what you think..."

"WHAT?" I roared a little louder.

"I... uh..." Teddy's blush was bright pink down to his *navel* now... He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. And then after another few seconds to work up his nerve, he looked at me and said, "I told her that I wanted to marry you."

My eyes popped WIDE open. "Teddy!"

He whimpered and looked crushed that I didn't seem overly happy. "I'm serious."

"We've been dating for... what, three *months*?"

He shrugged. "I know it sounds like a childish fantasy. But when you know... you *know*... You know?"

I blinked rapidly. "How can you even say that to me when... when you tell me that you and Stella love each other?"

"I TOLD you: we don't love each other like THAT." Teddy exhaled slowly, shaking his head. "It's different... okay? Stella and I are very close now. We've been fucking for months. We've been spending a lot of time together. She's very insecure, always trying to make sure she's not fucking up my relationship with you, even though she wants to spend more and more time with us. She always complains about getting in our way, and we've both tried to reassure her that we enjoy her presence, and not just for the sex. I appreciate her. I like her. But since we're intimate, and we're so close, the word 'like' just doesn't seem like enough, does it?"

I just frowned at him.

"Look, a couple of weeks back, Stella and I talked about how to term our relationship. We both agreed that we more than 'liked' each other. She finally said that she loved me, even though she wasn't 'in love' with me. I agreed, so every now and again, yeah, we tell each other we love them. I love Stella, in her own way." Teddy took a deep breath and then gave me a curious look. "I mean, don't *you*?"

I paused and thought about my friend. I thought about how she was always there for me, to help keep me from going off the deep end whenever I would get emotional, whether it be about a breakup or dating Grant or whatever. I thought about making love with her, cuddling with her, and sharing Teddy with her. I pictured her pretty face, all blonde hair and green eyes dancing playfully. Teddy was right: 'like' wasn't enough. In my own way, I loved Stella, too.

And then I realized, I loved Stella like I loved Amber. And I thought Stella felt the same way about me. So though I didn't verbally answer Teddy, I bent my head and nodded.

Teddy squeezed my knee. He was looking around the room, his lips pressed together in a hard line, a concerned expression etched across his face. Taking a deep breath, he squeezed my knee again and looked up, staring right into my eyes. "E-Beth... I have to ask... Did you have sex with David and Amber?"

I paled. The answer was 'yes'. Technically, I had cheated on my boyfriend, even though I knew in my heart that sleeping with my old college friends didn't change the way I felt about Teddy. But there was no denying that sex acts had taken place. Indeed, I even had David's cum leaking out of my asshole, staining my panties at this very moment.

I took a deep breath, and looking my boyfriend in his eyes, I nodded.

He took a deep breath of his own, processing that. But instead of getting mad, he looked contemplative about it. And after a few more seconds of thought, he looked at me again and asked, "How do you feel about them?"

I blinked a few times and then replied, "I've told you about them before. They've been my best friends forever. I've known them since High School, and David was my very first boyfriend."

Teddy nodded. "Do you love them?"

"Yes," I answered without hesitation.

Teddy's eyebrows went up. "But do you interfere in their relationship?"

I frowned and furrowed my eyebrows. "No!" I stated emphatically.

Teddy then shrugged. "Then how are we... and Stella... any different?"

I was blinking again in surprise. Teddy had bypassed the cheating issue entirely and gone straight back to reinforcing his stance on Stella in our relationship. My jaw hung slightly open as I asked, "Aren't you upset with me? For sleeping with someone else?"

Teddy blinked, glancing at the hallway where David and Amber had theoretically disappeared. I wouldn't have put it past my friends to be eavesdropping around the corner, and it looked like Teddy wouldn't have, either. He just shrugged and replied, "You told me, months ago, that you'd been sleeping with them ever since your freshman year of college. You even told me you'd slept with them at their wedding. And yet you still came to love me. I'm not worried about them. They had a prior claim on you long before I ever showed up."

I covered my open mouth while feeling a mountain load of relief slide off my shoulders. "That's very understanding of you."

Teddy nodded, and then shot me a little smirk. "Just because I'm three years younger than you doesn't mean I can't be mature about the situation."

I smiled as well, and with an intense gaze, Teddy slid his hands up and grasped mine. Staring right into my eyes, he said quietly, "Come home, Elizabeth. Please... I need you."

I didn't answer except to close my eyes and tilt my head to the side. And finally, for the first time since he'd arrived, Teddy and I kissed.

****

Teddy and I booked flights to return home that evening. At the airport curbside, Teddy watched as both David and Amber kissed me on the lips goodbye. David asked that I not wait another five months between visits. At the very least, Amber was due to pop around the end of August/early September and they'd love for me to come see the baby.

"Cum again soon," Amber teased.

Hand-in-hand, Teddy and I were then on our way. And we didn't let go of each other the rest of the way home.

****

Stella met us at the airport. I still felt bad for walking out on both her and Teddy, running away without giving them any way of contacting me or making sure that I was okay. Even though *I* was supposedly the older one, I'd had the most childish reaction to the situation.

The minute I saw her, I rushed over to hug my friend. It wasn't until after our hug that I remembered exactly *why* I'd run away in the first place, and I stepped back and rather nervously gawked at Teddy and Stella, waiting to see how they would greet each other.

Both of them noticed my paranoid gaze, and it made the both of them stiffen up. In the end, they exchanged an awkwardly chaste hug and then separated, Teddy quickly moving to my side and wrapping an arm around me as if to reassure me that he was indeed with me and not with her.

The two of them didn't look guilty. They weren't defensive, and it didn't look at all like they were trying to hide something from me. I remembered the time my little brother Eric was 8-years-old, watching football, and tried to copy some of their moves. He'd mimed tackling the lamp, and wound up actually knocking the thing over and shattering the glass bowl of the light fixture. And when Mom came to ask what had happened, he had such a look of mixed terror, guilt, and deception on his face that it was laughable when he tried to claim he hadn't done it. Neither Teddy nor Stella looked anything like that.

If anything, they just looked concerned for me. And I decided right then and there that I believed in my friends. They *weren't* trying to cheat on me. Stella was *not* trying to steal Teddy from me. And Teddy was just as in love with me as ever.

Maybe I could have been wrong. But I didn't care. I loved both of these people enough to give them the benefit of doubt. And I wouldn't let my own paranoias control me any longer.

Taking a deep breath, I looked right at my best friend and smiled. "Thanks for picking us up."

Still uncertain that everything would be alright between us, Stella only gave me a hesitant smile in return. But she nodded and replied, "Of course." And then she gestured back with her head, to where her car was parallel parked on the curb.

I patted Teddy's hand, which was resting on my waist, and then I moved forward to get in. "You guys want to pick up some dinner on the way home?"

We'd reached the car, and Teddy opened the rear passenger door. Stella was already by the driver's side of her green Corolla, and she looked over the roof back at us. Specifically, she looked at Teddy, and then she said, "No, that's okay. Why don't I just get you two home?"

"No, really," I insisted. "It'll be my treat."

Stella looked wistfully at the two of us, but at the last she shook her head. "I'd like to. But right now, I think it's important that you and Teddy have tonight alone, okay?"

"Stella, you don't have to."

"Yes," she said firmly, staring at me with a haunted look in her eyes. "I do."

I looked at Teddy, who just shrugged.

Stella then chirped, "We'll meet up tomorrow, okay?" Again, her smile was a little hesitant.

I looked back at my boyfriend, and then my best friend, and my momentary good mood started to fade. The three of us, who had once been so completely comfortable -- intimate, even -- with each other, were now standing around awkwardly as if we didn't know how to just *be* with each other anymore. By jumping to the wrong conclusion and running away from the problem instead of giving my friends the chance to explain themselves, I'd ruined a perfect situation.

I stepped up next to the car, leaning forward so that my forearms were on top of the hood. And in a sincere voice, I stated, "Stella, I made a mistake. I let my own jealousies get the best of me, and I didn't trust the two of you. But that's just it: a mistake. And I want us all to go back to the way things were. Let's just forget it all, Let's go out to dinner and chat and just be 'us', okay?"

But Stella looked at Teddy, and I swear I could see her heart cracking. She looked at him with a longing, and for a second I worried that I was still misreading my friend. While she had always been honest with me, hadn't hidden anything in what she was doing with Teddy, Stella HAD developed some sort of feelings for him. After all, they "loved" each other, didn't they? And as she brought her gaze back to me, she gave me a look of both apology and resignation. "No, I can't anymore."

There was an underlying meaning in her words. Not only was she saying she couldn't go out to dinner with us tonight, but she also said she couldn't be with 'us' anymore. She couldn't be our third lover. There was no going back.

With a sad smile, Stella looked at me and said, "It was fun. It was wonderful. And after all the frustrations with Chuck, being with the two of you made me so incredibly happy. But we all knew it couldn't last forever. And what's happened between us just proves that our time is up."

"It doesn't have to be."

Stella shook her head. "Yes, it does. Teddy and I went as far in our relationship as we could go. I swore I'd never interfere in what you have with him, and we've reached the point where I've started to interfere. That means it's time for me to back off."

At the finality in her voice, my shoulders slumped. Teddy looked sad as well, but accepting. And he pulled in with his arm around my waist, tugging me tighter as he hugged me firmly. He'd made his choice. And he was choosing me. I should have been happy about it.