Is She Smiling at Me? Pt. 04 Ch. 01

This story is the first chapter of the fourth installment of the "Is She Smiling at Me?" series. As dearly as I wish I could say any part of it was based on actual events it is, in its entirety, a work of fiction. Any resemblance to real people is purely coincidental. Thanks, and enjoy.

* * * * *

"I don't know man... Doesn't seem like Liz." I said hesitantly.

It was a couple weeks before Liz's twenty-third birthday and I found myself in a jewelry shop owned and operated by a good friend of mine, Josh, trying to pick out a gift for her. I had no idea what I was looking for, but I figured something would speak to me and I'd make a decision in the moment. After three months with the girls, I was beyond the point of denying or suppressing the depth and seriousness of my feelings for them and I wanted to get Liz something that reflected that. It turned out to be harder than I thought. There was lots of stuff that would have appealed to Alex, the fashionista of the two -like the gold bracelet I had just rejected- but finding something that screamed Liz was proving difficult.

"What about necklaces?" Josh queried, moving over to another display case.

Bending down, I examined the assortment of jewelry laid out on velvet-lined trays and adorning the black neck busts in the display rack. I 'hummed' and 'hawed' as I scanned the offerings until a choker-length tennis necklace caught my eye, it's white metal and clear stones glittering brightly under the shop lights. That was it; that was absolutely Liz. She wasn't a flashy or ostentatious girl at all, but when she did dress up, she dressed to the nines and I could picture the necklace on her perfectly.

"Tell me about that one." I said, pointing out the necklace.

"Fifteen-inch chain with fourteen karat white gold, three-point-five carat weight lab grown diamonds." He explained.

"How much would that set me back?" I asked with a grimace, ready for the worst.

The damage was not as bad I expected. I told him I'd take it, and I wandered around the shop while he took the necklace out of the display and packaged it up. Looking at all the items that did scream Alex got me to be feeling bad about the thought of leaving without something for her as well. A ring in particular called out to me; it was an incomplete circle, it's two ends flaring in a tear drop fashion, overlapping but bending slightly away from each other, each with four stones of increasing size as the setting widened. I asked Josh over to inquire about it. I was already sold when he said it was a toe ring -so very Alex- fourteen karat white gold with cubic zirconia stones; hundred bucks.

"Could you replace the stones with diamonds?" I asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Bro, it's a toe ring." He said with a laugh.

"Can you do it, or no?" I grinned.

"Yeah, I can do it." He laughed again, knowing once I'd set my mind on something there was no talking me out of it. "You got it bad for these girls, don't you?"

"Like you wouldn't believe." I answered with a chuckle. "You coming to the party? Should be lots of single ladies."

"Hundred percent, man. Wouldn't miss it." He replied, pulling the ring from its display. "Come back for this in a week."

* * * * *

Liz's birthday landed on a Friday and Alex and I had organized a party for her the following day, but tonight she wanted to go out for a nice, romantic dinner, just the three of us. I'd knocked off work a couple hours early so I had time to get to the girl's place and hang out with Alex for a bit before I went to pick Liz up at the end of her shift. Reservations were already made for a fancy restaurant down town and everything was set to go.

I let myself into the apartment with the key the girls had given me a few weeks previous and found Alex sitting on the couch in the oversized black t-shirt she favored for lounging around at home, typing away on the laptop resting on her naked, alabaster thighs. A while back she had dyed her long, luxurious hair a darker shade of red, rustier and more muted than the vibrant crimson she wore for the first couple months I had known her. Her mahogany locks fell around her beautiful, freckled face in loose waves, draping over her shoulders and flowing gently as she turned to look at me, smiling warmly as I came through the door.

"Hey, handsome." Her emerald green eyes twinkled at me happily.

"Beautiful." I acknowledged, slipping out of my shoes and crossing the living room to join her on the couch.

Alex placed her computer on the coffee table and leaned into me, kissing me softly as I put an arm around her. She snuggled against me and we discussed our days; she was working from home again trying to power through a project with a tight deadline and had spent most of the day on the couch with her computer.

"Hey, you wanna see what I got Liz?" I asked, reaching into my bag.

"Of course." She smiled.

"But first," I presented her with the smaller box containing her toe ring, "I got you something."

"Baby!" She exclaimed as she opened the box, her face lighting up. "It's Liz's birthday!"

"Hmm-mhm." I acknowledged, pulling the ring out and lifting her leg onto my lap. "And Liz is going to love it. It's as much a gift for her really... Maybe a little for me too."

I slipped the ring onto the second toe on her right foot, pinching it closed. The diamonds I'd had Josh set in the shiny white metal sparkled in the light, contrasting brilliantly against the black nail polish Alex often favored on her toes. I watched her face as she grinned happily down at her gift. Lifting her foot, I kissed the newly decorated toe, grazing it gently with the tip of my tongue, earning a soft giggle.

"It's beautiful!" Alex said, lifting her leg off me so she could stretch up for a kiss. "I love it."

"Ready for the main attraction?" I asked, pulling the long, thin box that Liz's necklace resided in from my bag. I opened the top slowly for dramatic effect and Alex audibly gasped when she saw the contents.

"Holy shit, are those real?!" She blurted out.

"You bet your ass they are." I laughed at her reaction.

"You better bring your A-game like that for my birthday." She muttered distractedly, lifting the necklace from the box to examine it.

"Well, for the record, those are diamonds on your toe." I smiled as she gazed down at her foot again, grinning happily.

"My God, Matt..." She put the necklace back in the box and handed it to me. "It must have cost a fortune, why so extravagant?"

"Because I'm in love with her, Alex." I said softly.

'Jesus, did I mean to say that?' Immediately my pulse began pounding in my ears. The words hung in the air, suspended in the suddenly thick atmosphere as they escaped my lips. The clock on the wall ground to a halt, time dilating to the extreme, and all I could hear was the rhythmic thumping of my blood racing through my skull. I searched Alex's face for a reaction; she had frozen with a flat, emotionless expression. I saw something flash behind her eyes, but she gave up no hint of what she was feeling. She broke eye contact, looking down and away from me. I sensed fear, and it broke my heart that I'd done something to make her feel like that.

"Have you told her that?" She finally asked, her voice seeming to struggle to stay even.

"No, babe, I wanted to talk to you first. I know what this could mean for us... And you know Liz... I made you a promise once..." I trailed off, unsure how to properly explain myself.

"So, what does this mean? Are you expecting my blessing or something?" Alex asked, a little snappily.

She was tense, a barely perceptible tremor shuddered through her as she kept her eyes trained away from mine. Her sudden and uncharacteristic display of vulnerability had caught me off guard. Alex was always so strong and poised, but I realized in that moment she had the same fears and insecurities as I did and though it hurt me to see her wounded thus, I adored her all the more for it. I felt a deep responsibility, a duty really, to take away her pain; reaffirming what I already knew, what I had known for quite a while now, in my heart.

"No, baby, it's not like that." I said, taking her hand in mine and waiting until she looked up at me, a hint of tears clouding her eyes. "Alex, I'm in love with you too."

Alex froze, the tremor in her shoulders subsiding, and then she threw her arms around me and hugged me fiercely. She made a noise that was either a laugh or a sob, or maybe both, and when she lifted her head to look at me, she was smiling brightly, tears of joy rolling down her speckled porcelain cheeks. She kissed me, hard and desperate, setting off pinwheels and spider webs of illumination in my mind before burying her face in my shoulder again.

"I was so scared!" She said, her voice shaky.

"Why?!" I laughed, wiping a tear from her cheek.

"Because I love you." She smiled, choking back a sob, her beautiful eyes looking into mine while she nodded emphatically, as if to affirm her own words. "And I love Liz. I was scared I might lose you both if you didn't feel the same."

I was overcome with joy to hear her speak the words 'I love you.' My heart soared and the butterflies inhabiting my stomach took flight. At the same time, I was shocked at the symmetry. Here Alex had been harboring the same fears I had, while feeling the same way about me as I did her, both of us torturing ourselves in the same way over the same thing. It was a startling revelation; suddenly understanding how similarly our minds worked.

"Oh baby, no! Did I do anything to make you feel like that?"

"No." She sighed, "I'm just stupid."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I was scared of the exact same thing." I squeezed her reassuringly.

"I guess we're both stupid." Alex said with a soft laugh.

"I guess we are." I laughed, bending to kiss her on the forehead.

Alex leaned into me and we slid down on the couch, cuddling face to face, kissing softly and gazing at each other lovingly. Her hand found mine and our fingers interlaced, both of us smiling and laughing happily at each other. A weight had been lifted from us; with our feelings out in the open a certain barrier I hadn't even known was there dissolved. I'd been dishonest with myself and the girls in trying not to acknowledge my feelings for fear of what it might mean for our relationship. Stupid, of course, but as is often the case with matters of the heart versus the mind, that realization only became clear in retrospect.

"When are you going to tell Liz?" Alex asked softly, her face nuzzled into my collar bone.

"Shit, I hadn't exactly planned on telling you." I paused thoughtfully. "I'll tell her tonight. When I give her the necklace."

"She's going to be so happy."

"Yeah?"

"She loves you Matt. She's loved you since our first weekend together. She hasn't said as much, but I know. It's why I've been so worried."

My heart filled with joy all over again. Never in a million year would I have thought I'd end up where I was at this moment and yet, here I was. Every fear and uncertainty I'd carried since the girls offered me the opportunity to be a part of what they shared, every doubt magnified by my conversation with Alex in the shower on our first morning together, all of it; gone. I was elated, overwhelmed with emotion as I held Alex tight, feeling closer to her then I'd ever felt to anyone, and at the same time I couldn't wait to finally have that openness and honesty with Liz as well.

"But you're not worried anymore?" I kissed the top of her head.

"No. I'm not worried anymore." She looked up to meet my eyes, smiling warmly as we stared at each other for a moment before she closed her eyes and touched her forehead to mine.

We had been cuddling quietly for a few minutes when I felt Alex's soft hand snake its way up inside my shirt, grazing the muscles of my stomach with her fingertips. She lightly traced a path through my treasure trail and slipped her fingers under my belt, sending a crackle of electricity up my spine. When she tilted her head to look up at me, she was biting her lower lip seductively, a playful glint in her eyes. I smiled at her and leaned in to kiss her, pressing my lips into hers softly at first, our passion and intensity quickly mounting as our tongues met and danced together.

Sliding one hand down Alex's back, I lifted her t-shirt to give access to her taut, panty-clad ass. I cupped a cheek, squeezing as I pulled her into me firmly, feeling her bulge press into mine. We made out as we grinding together rhythmically, our passion helplessly inflamed by our admission of love for each other.

Eventually, Alex drew away and I felt my belt pull free in a quick, fluid motion. She wore a sultry grin and growled sexily as she freed the button to my pants and slipped a hand inside my underwear, grasping my throbbing cock and squeezing firmly. I lifted my hips from the couch and shimmied out of my pants and boxers, kicking them to the floor as Alex kissed and nibbled at the sensitive skin of my neck. I moaned softly at her touch as her soft hand stroked me sensually, sliding my own hand into her panties and wrapping around her big, hard cock. Her warmth and density felt divine in my hand, and immediately I was overcome with a desperate longing to take her in my mouth.

Alex must have felt the same desire, for she shifted over and sat up on the edge of the couch, slipping her panties off before repositioning herself, her head at my groin and mine at hers. I stared at her beautiful, eight-inch member, its crown of puckered foreskin wet with precum as I felt her mouth engulf me. I moaned at the feeling of her warm mouth swallowing my dick, snapping me out of my reverie. Taking the base of her turgid cock in one hand, I kissed her, lapping at the soft folds of flesh concealing her glans as I pulled gently, exposing more and more of her swollen head as I took her deeper into my mouth. The sweet taste of her clear nectar set my head adrift as it spread across my tongue until every last taste bud was saturated with her flavor.

A muffled moan congratulated my efforts, each of our individual passions ramping up until they became one singular expression of love and desire. We lay on our sides, our hands exploring each other's bodies, pumping ourselves into the other's mouth, vocalizing our pleasure in a muted symphony of carnal song. I cupped Alex's smooth ass as she pushed into my throat, the angle making it easy to swallow her without gagging, at the same time feeling her tonsils stretch over me as I bottomed out against her lips.

We made love to each other's throats; hungry, passionate strokes all the way down, breaking off occasionally to come up for air with an ecstatic gasp before diving back down. I adored the sensation of Alex's huge cock fucking my face and filling my throat, even if I did gag occasionally - or perhaps even more so because I did. The taste of her skin and her precum on my tongue, the sound of her soft noises of delight, counter-balanced by the feeling of her equally hungry efforts devouring my own member... I was in heaven sixty-nining with my gorgeous lover, wanting for all the world to pleasure and love her as she pleasured and loved me.

As I felt myself nearing orgasm, I could sense the same in Alex, her muscles tensing while she pumped into my throat, moaning and whimpering as I likewise pushed myself deep into her. Our thrusts had synchronized in both tempo and forcefulness as we swallowed each other over and over. I longed to taste her warm juice in mouth, flooding against my tongue and rewarding my efforts; I'd never felt as hungry for someone's cum as I did in that moment.

Our moans and cries built rapidly, hitting a crescendo when Alex drove herself forcefully down my throat. I had one hand against the small of her back and one on her upper thigh, pulling her into me when her cock twitched powerfully, shooting the first jet of her essence directly into my stomach. I pulled back, desperate to taste her, at the same time that my own orgasm ripped through me in a crashing wave of pure rapture. My cock pulsed just as Alex's second contraction coated my mouth with her semen, taking me to the highest peak of ecstasy as her warm, salty flavor overwhelmed me. The taste of my lover filling my mouth made my head spin as my own cock emptied into her, both of us grunting and humping ourselves empty.

I held Alex's cum in my mouth, relishing the texture and flavor until it threatened to spill past my lips and I had to swallow. Shivering with delight as her semen coated my throat, I moaned when I felt her mouth and tongue coax the last drops out of my cock. We remained like that, lovingly kissing and cleaning each other for a while, Alex giggling happily when she swallowed my load.

Finally spent, I sat up and shifted around to lay next to her, her brilliant green eyes twinkling joyfully as she watched me slide down at her side. A thin trickle of my cum had escaped her lips, leaving a wet smear half-way down her cheek. I smiled and licked her clean before kissing her, our tongues meeting in a wet, passionate medley of our juices. We kissed slowly, but with unbridled intensity as we snuggled against each other, finally breaking away with contented sighs, Alex burying her head against my chest.

"God, I love you so much." I said softly into the top of her head.

"I love you too." She replied, her voice alive with joy as she hugged me tight.

* * * * *

"Hey, Matt! You picking up Liz?" Krista, another waitress at the restaurant Liz worked, had found me sitting at the bar and came up for a chat.

I always felt vaguely uncomfortable picking Liz up at the restaurant. Something about being Liz and Alex's boyfriend had endowed me with a minor celebrity status and the female staff had a habit of fawning over me when I came around. Of course, Alex was well known at the restaurant as well, so conversely, being the man who somehow landed them both earned me anywhere from polite apathy to passive-aggressiveness from the male staff members. It was a reaction I was strangely much more comfortable with. I did the small-talk dance with Krista until I saw Liz emerge from the back of the restaurant, grateful she was coming to my rescue.

Liz was smiling brightly, her big, beautiful eyes alight with joy at the sight of me. She looked especially sexy in her uniform; a tight, black short sleeve Henley t-shirt she wore with the top two buttons undone, showing off the cleavage between her ample breasts, and a pleated black mini skirt. She had been growing her hair out since I first met her, now tied back in a short pony-tail, a few errant strands hanging loose down either side of her face, framing her adorable features. My heart swelled at the sight of her.

"Hey baby!" Liz exclaimed happily, rushing to hug me and knocking me off balance as her petite frame slammed into me.

"Happy birthday, gorgeous." I squeezed her tight.

She stood up on her toes to kiss me before stepping back, taking my hand in hers. Krista backed off at Liz's arrival and wished her a happy birthday as she departed. We headed out to the street and I opened the car door for Liz, kissing her on the cheek as she slid into the seat. On the way, I asked how her day went; apparently some of the staff and made her a card and gotten a bottle of wine for her birthday. She was especially cheerful today, her joy infectious as always, and I smiled adoringly at her as we talked and drove. I could hardly wait to give her the necklace and tell her what I was finally ready to reveal.

Back at the apartment, I got to witness Alex and Liz's joyful reunion; Liz bouncing into Alex's lap and the girls kissing lovingly. I got us a round of beers from the kitchen and the three of us sat together on the couch for a while catching up on our respective days. When we had drained our bottles, I announced that I needed to shower before dinner and stood up from the couch. Liz wanted to come too, so I reached for her hand and pulled her to her feet, the two of us leaving Alex on the couch and heading for the bathroom.