Half Step Ch. 04

Kissing Amanda was everything I dreamed it would be. Her lips were soft, welcoming, and full of passion. While we kissed the hand she used to turn my head towards her trembled against my cheek. Her other hand grasped mine and our fingers interlocked. It was heady, beautiful, and seemed to go on forever. I was so focused on our kiss that everything else in the world just disappeared. Her mouth opened slightly and the tip of her tongue peaked out to trace my lips. I reciprocated gently and marveled at the tastes and textures.

Eventually our kiss ended and Mandy pulled back a few inches to catch her breath. I was able to take in more of my surroundings with the break and I found myself wrapped up in the strongest combination of the three scents I now connected with the demon that I had yet sampled. Her coffee smell had always been strong but was more vibrant now. The cinnamon she had been missing before was strong and her sugar scent implied she was a bare touch away from climaxing. It was more than my burgeoning hunger could handle and I felt like the emptiness inside me was going to gnaw its way through my spine.

I wanted, no, I needed Mandy. I needed our pleasure to mix and to do anything and everything I could to cause her to scream my name. I refocused on her eyes and pulled up short. There was lust there, an incredible field of fiery desire but that's not what stopped me. I also saw love and trust shining out at me and that slowed me down enough to think about what we were doing. Allison had not been raped by me, I now accepted that, but I had done something to her and now I was doing it to Mandy.

Amanda had never been attracted to any boys or men as far as I knew so the kiss we shared was completely unprecedented. She shouldn't be feeling or acting this way and as much as I needed to slide myself into her depths, I couldn't do that to her like this. The gentle smile she had been wearing turned forlorn at my retreat which caused my newfound resolve to falter. My hunger used gap in my resolve to burn hotter within me and I barely croaked out "wait, please" under its influence.

I took a moment to remind myself that I could choose my actions no matter how much my impulses tried to convince me otherwise before speaking. "I've always wanted this, you know? Wanted you."

"You have me now. Come take me." Mandy reached for me and I met her hands with mine, holding her in place rather than letting her embrace me.

"I don't want it like this though. I don't want whatever was done to me to trick you into something you may hate me for later. You mean too much to me to lose you over something like that."

"Oh Dave, I've loved you for as long as I can remember. I've never felt any desire for you until tonight but I know I'll still love you tomorrow."

Her confession wasn't too shocking as I loved her in turn but our actions reminded me of people who were drunk or drugged and I didn't think that was the best state to be making decisions of this complexity. "Honestly, Mandy, I really, really want you right now but I think we need to take some time to think this through. Why don't you go back home and call me when you've calmed down? Remember those scents I sense now? You're blasting all three and I'm worried that you're not totally in control of yourself."

That point caused Mandy to ponder for a bit. Eventually she pouted and almost whined "I've wanted to want you for so long."

I stood and went to the door to let her out as I could feel my own control fraying and knew that if she stayed for much longer, I would be on top of her despite my earlier convictions. "Take some time for yourself then call me" I offered again.

Amanda walked up to me more sensually than I had ever seen before. Each step was directly in front of the previous like she was on a balance beam which caused her generous hips to sway nicely. For the first time ever, she did a hair flip sending her straight black hair back over her shoulders. That actually broke the mood a touch as we had previously made fun of girls who performed that maneuver to attract attention. Mandy seemed to realize that as well as she grinned and asked "a little much?"

"Just a touch." She was directly in front of me now and I could feel my arms shaking as I struggled not to wrap her up in them.

"One more kiss before I go?"

"We can't" I lamented. "If I kiss you again, I won't be able to stop."

That seemed to cheer her up and she smiled brilliantly at me. She darted in to kiss me on the cheek then ran out the door giggling. I stood watching her as she crossed the lawns between our houses. She glanced back at me several times and then blew a kiss at me just before closing the door to her own house. I closed and locked mine then retreated back to the couch with a tired groan. Mandy's scent still lingered and my hunger railed at me for letting her go.

I tried to meditate for the first time in my life but my thoughts were filled with Amanda instead. I contemplated what it would feel like to kiss along the undersides of her breasts. I imagined circling her nipples with my tongue before gently biting the engorged protuberances. My hand found its way into my shorts while I fantasized about everything I ever wanted to do with Mandy. It wasn't long before I made a mess of myself. As I calmed down, I wondered if Mandy was doing something similar to calm herself down. She had smelled so sweet that it was easy to imagine.

That thought almost got me going again and I made myself take a shower instead. While I was drying off, I began to worry that the night's interactions with Amanda would have pissed her off. I know she seemed fine when she left but she might have felt differently given time to process everything. I felt like I was becoming a whiner and tried to think of something to do to get my mind off of Mandy. I had a bit of homework to get through over the weekend and it seemed like a good time to tackle it. It was an hour and half or so and I was in the middle of working some limits and L'hopital's rule for Calculus when my phone went off.

"Hey Dave" Mandy greeted me when I answered. She sounded cheerful which eased my worries some.

"Mandy, how are you doing?"

"I'm great, although I'm kind of shocked by how much of a little strumpet I was acting earlier!"

I couldn't help but laugh at that. "Strumpet? Really? Have you been reading old English novels again?"

Mandy's corresponding laugh was bright and she responded "not really. It was a tossup between being a strumpet and feeling wanton. The older words just fit better for some reason!"

"Ok, ok, fine" I smiled. "Are you feeling more yourself now?"

"Like I said, I feel great!" Mandy's excited voice calmed when she continued "you don't know how much it hurt me when you asked me out back in eighth grade."

"I'm sorry" I interjected.

"No need to apologize. Everything turned out fine and it wasn't really you asking that hurt, it was that I couldn't reciprocate your feelings and I wanted to. I've loved you for as long as I can remember but it's been completely platonic before tonight. There have been times that I've wished you turned me on as much as I obviously turned you on."

"What!?" I sputtered. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh, you've tried to be the complete gentleman once you got over the years but if you think I didn't see how you reacted to some of my outfits you have to be crazy."

"But, but, umm." I couldn't get my thoughts together. I thought I had always been discrete when I "reacted" to Mandy.

"Don't worry about it. I thought it was cute and you never pushed me, which I appreciate."

I took a deep breath and finally was able to say something coherent. "Yeah, ok. You're a babe, Mandy. I can't always help noticing how hot you are but I tried to hide it. You're my best friend and I didn't want to make you uncomfortable."

"You were never a problem, Dave. Anyway, tonight was different. For the first time I wanted you. I wanted to run my hands all over you and have your hands on me. It was incredible. You don't know how disappointed I was when you said I had to go."

"I worried you weren't really you. Like you said, you never found me attractive in that way before and I knew that. I didn't want us to do something that you would hate me for later. I love you too you know?"

"Yeah." Now she sounded a touch embarrassed "I, ah, touched ... Um. In order to calm down I had to, you know. For the first time I didn't have a girl running through my imagination."

"Ahh, ok."

"At any rate, I feel better now. Thinking about you still gets me going some although I don't think you're as attractive as, say, Sara."

"Well, that's interesting."

"I was thinking about coming back over and running some experiments with you."

That sounded both amazing and scary at the same time. I almost lost myself picturing things we could do together and my hunger howled at me. "What if we get carried away?" A large part of me hoped we would which made me feel a little like a creep.

"I'm not worried about it and you shouldn't be either. Like I told you about your time with Allison, I'm choosing to come over."

I wanted Mandy to come over so bad but I managed to curb that impulse. "How about tomorrow?" I compromised with myself. "Call me when you get up and see if you still feel the same way. If you do, we can try something and see how it goes."

Mandy sounded a little disappointed when she agreed "ok, that makes some sense. I guess I'll talk to you tomorrow then."

"Yeah, have a good night Mandy."

"Night, Dave."

After we hung up my hunger started screaming at me. I knew I didn't need to eat and that it was the same hunger that needed Allison to orgasm on me so I tried to ignore it. I did my best to return to my homework but I couldn't concentrate. Eventually, I gave up and decided to turn in early. It was a struggle to relax and I tossed in my blankets for quite a while. I kept remembering how nice Amanda smelled which triggered the hole in my stomach.

I don't know when I finally fell asleep but I woke up Saturday morning with a new mess in my boxers. My dreams had been hazy and indistinct but I vaguely remembered cavorting with Allison and Amanda. We had been skinny-dipping at the river I thought, but couldn't really grasp the dream as it faded away. I showered again to clean up, got changed, and went to make some breakfast. I was surprised when I looked at the clock. It was already past 9:30 and I don't usually sleep that late.

There was a knock on the door and I figured it was Mandy and that she decided to come over instead of calling. I opened it to find Allison staring back at me instead. I didn't know she even knew where I lived and never expected her to show up unannounced.

"What did you do?" Allison asked quite forcefully. She didn't sound angry, just very concerned. Her scent was quite faint although it was enough to once again rouse my hunger for her. I backed away with the hope that more distance would prevent any escalation in her arousal. Apparently, she took that as an invitation as she followed me into the house.

"What are you talking about?" I kept retreating and ended up in the living room. Allison followed me in and sat on one end of the couch. The recliner was the furthest from where she was seated so I moved there.

"Something's going on with Fred and I know it was you. He said he was going to come here yesterday and teach you a lesson before coming back to my house to teach me a lesson but he never showed up. He even failed to show up this morning and he's always over on Saturday morning."

"Um, he did come over yesterday during dinner and we kind of got into it for a bit. We ended up talking it out and he left. Why is he always at your house Saturday mornings?"

My hunger felt like it was reaching out for Allison while we talked and I struggled to control it. I didn't want to trigger her like I had on Monday morning. I pictured my hunger as a black fog with tendrils that were reaching for Allison. I imagined stuffing the fog into a vial and sealing it with a rubber stopper. That seemed to work and the empty gnawing I had been experiencing receded into the background. I was so fascinated by that turn of events that I almost missed Allison's answer.

"I'm not supposed to say." Allison looked down at her lap where her hands were folded together. "Fred's acting really weird though. When I called him this morning all he would say is that he was to leave us alone. He's never given any indication that he would ever let me go before. He's never missed punishing me before either." Allison sighed, "usually, he looks for opportunities for that."

Allison's comments were starting to really upset me. It sounded like Fred had some kind of hold over her and was seriously mistreating her. She did make me remember the last thing that I said to Fred was telling him to leave me and Allison alone. I also remembered how my voice sounded odd at the time. What if I had done something to him with that statement? It sure sounded like I had. I wished I had a better handle on what was going on with me.

"I did tell him to leave us alone." My phone went off at that point as Mandy called. "Give me a second" I said before answering "morning, Mandy."

"Hey you, I'm on my way over. I still feel like experimenting this morning." Like usual, she jumped in without any preamble.

"Ahh, Allison's here."

I was going to recommend we test later but instead Mandy asked "why is she there? Never mind, I'm almost there anyway." Before I could get another word in, she hung up.

"Well, Mandy is coming over" I told Allison.

Allison looked confused for a moment and by the time she recovered Mandy was through the front door and into the living room. While they greeted each other I reflexively scanned the two girls, comparing their fragrances. They both had all three scents that I had identified although Mandy's was stronger except for cinnamon. As I pondered, I realized that even beyond the intensity I could identify which scent belonged to which girl. It was so distinct that I thought I could identify who was whom without seeing them by scent alone.

I was also surprised that I wasn't suffering from my hunger. It seemed that picturing it bottled up like I had worked better than I could have hoped. The way the two girls smelled was still enticing and, combined with my dream from the night before, I desperately wanted to roll around with both of them. That inclination wasn't nearly as strong as my desire to kiss Mandy had been before she went home the night before. They must have asked me a question while I was lost in my thoughts as I found them both sitting on the couch staring at me.

"What's up" I asked.

"Allison was telling me about Fred" Mandy said. "We both think it has something to do with you and I asked if you were ok telling her the whole story."

I didn't know how I felt about telling Allison. On one hand she kind of deserved to know, after Monday, and I was fairly sure she could keep a secret. Something had obviously been going on between her and Fred and I never got an inkling of it. On the other hand, if what was happening to me got out I expected to end up in a padded cell being poked by government scientists.

"Are you sure" I asked Mandy.

"I am" she answered confidently. "Plus, she can help with what we had planned for this morning."

Maybe Mandy would be one of those scientists, I thought with a smile.

"Ok but Allison, you have to promise to keep this a secret" I stared directly at her.

"Um, ok. I can keep a secret."

"Well, it started two Fridays ago. I was out for a walk and ..." I told her the whole thing as best I remembered it. She didn't interrupt although she looked like she wanted to when I was giving my point of view on our trip towards the Nurse's office on Monday. The minimal sugary scent they both were giving off ratcheted up a touch during that description but otherwise they both remained calm.

When I was finished, they both remained silent. Allison's face passed through a bunch of different expressions too quickly for me to grasp before settling on hopeful. "I think you hypnotized Fred" she said.

"Um, what?" I remember he acted strangely the day before but I didn't wave a watch in front of him or walk him through any kind of induction.

"Maybe programed him is a better way to put it" Allison continued. "There's no way he would have just stopped once he started hitting you. That's not the kind of guy he is. He would have ground you into the floor until you capitulated." She looked sad "I know from experience."

Allison trailed off into silence again. Mandy, who had been sitting on the other end of the couch, moved over to wrap Allison in a hug. I was astounded by what she said. I had no respect for people who abused others and it sounded like Fred was abusing Allison and had been for a long time.

"Fred would never let me go" Allison eventually started up again. "He thinks of me as a possession and wouldn't ever leave me alone without magic or something. You said that guy, Samuel, threw a fireball at you and the Demon gave you something. I bet you have magic too."

"It makes sense" Mandy chimed in. "The scents you've been sensing as well as the way your hunger affected the two of is sound like it could be magic as well." She turned towards Allison "we were going to attempt some experiments about that this morning. Do you want to hang around and help?"

My conscious mind didn't know if that was a good idea but my body sure like the thought. I could feel myself lengthening in my shorts picturing both girls aroused beyond control. I had a hard enough time keeping ahold of myself with one beautiful girl that into me, two was going to be incredibly difficult.

"I don't think ..." I began.

"I'm in" Allison all but shouted. "That sounds like fun. More fun than I've had in a long time, other than Monday." Now she blushed a little.

Mandy giggled at that. "Great" she smiled. "What do you want to try first? I noticed you're sitting as far away as you can, Dave. Is that why I haven't responded like I did last night?"

"Maybe" I responded. I went on to describe the way I pictured containing my hunger.

"I see" Mandy said. "Come over here and sit between us and let's see if anything changes."

Allison was already at one end of the couch so Mandy moved over to create a space for me between them. I sat and concentrated on each of the girls next to me. The sugary scent of their arousal started increasing slightly but nothing like the sharp spike I was used to when my hunger fueled the rise.

"I can sense a little change in the two of you but it's not much right now."

"I think I'm remembering Monday and anticipating how I think you'll make me feel."

"Me too" chimed in Mandy. "Well, not the Monday thing, but thinking about last night is making me feel kind of sexy."

"Alright, it seems like I've got some control over how I affect people now. Thanks for risking this to help me out."

"No problem, Dave" replied Mandy.

Allison said "you're welcome" at the same time.

We sat there for a little longer while I continued to sample the delectable scents from the two girls. The intensity wasn't increasing but I was enjoying the similar yet unique fragrances coming from them. After a minute or so I noticed that Mandy started fidgeting. It appeared to me that she had something to say or wanted to ask a question that she was embarrassed about. That was strange to me because usually Mandy had no filter at all and would have no trouble speaking her mind.

I poked Mandy in the side and prompted "spit it out. I know you've got something to say."

She looked over at me and blushed a little before dropping her head down to look at her hands. This demure side of Mandy was new to me and while it was cute it was uncharacteristic.