Josh Knows Best Ch. 10

I was working on my last pancake and wondering if it would be weird to ask Nora if she was going to eat her last piece of bacon. People tell me I'm reasonably intelligent. Perhaps, but it takes me a moment to switch gears.

"To the lake? Together?"

"Yes, Josh, that's what she said," Maggie snorted. "The lake. The one we've been going to all summer. The one where you got a tan."

She was right but I was nowhere near as dark as Maggie or Nora and I still had to be careful with the sunscreen.

"You guys go there together?"

My two friends, I only rarely thought of Nora as my teacher any longer, exchanged a glance.

"Josh, Nora and I have been seeing each other." Remember I don't play poker. Maggie read the confusion on my face and shook her head. "As in dating each other."

"Wait," I stammered. "I thought you were joking about being a lesbian?"

"I was and I'm not, dork. Turns out I'm a little bi, or fluid or whatever. Please keep it quiet though. I never had Nora as a teacher but my parents would shit a brick and do their best to get her fired if they found out."

"Yeah, sure, cool, yeah," I mumbled. "But I don't want to be a third wheel and crash your party. I'm fine. You guys go on."

Nora shook her head. "Joshua, we would like you to come. We enjoy spending time with you. We'll just be relaxing by the lake. I want, we want, to hear about what you're reading, movie recommendations. We enjoy your company. We're not asking you because we think you need rescuing or something."

I searched her face. Memories of the last few days of school and the way she had eyed me flashed across my brain. I nodded.

The drive to the lake passed quietly. And quickly. My thoughts tumbled, collided, coalesced only to shatter and form into new patterns. My brain as abstract expressionism.

"You're very quiet today, Joshua," Nora observed as we unloaded Maggie's car. Ever the gentleman, I offered to lug the cooler.

I was unable to muster a reply and settled for a nod.

It was the first time I had visited the lake on a weekday. I was surprised to see several people already scattered about. I did not recognize any of the weekend friends I had made. Maggie and Nora shed their clothes, utterly at eased. I joined them but remained on the blanket as they walked hand in hand to the lake.

I supposed holding hands was not overtly sexual and did not violate the nude is not lewd rule. A pang of jealousy caught me off guard. I shook my head and stretched out on the blanket.

The warmth of the sun eased my body and my mind. I stopped trying to figure out what everything meant and lost myself in simply being alive. I managed not just to stop and smell the roses, there were none, but to smell and feel and even taste the world around me.

For a few moments I no longer worried how I fit with other people and enjoyed the way the world interacted with my body. I was not ready to believe in one interconnected cosmic consciousness but for the first time in my life I realized I was simultaneously both independent and alone, yet part of a much bigger whole. I was not conscious of any sexuality to my thoughts, or lack of thoughts.

"Ah," Nora's voice brought me back to earth. "You might want to roll onto your stomach."

I lifted my head and opened my eyes. My cock bobbed above my belly. "Sorry," I muttered and rolled over.

"Not a problem."

"Where's Maggie?"

"She's chatting with Mike and Jon."

"I don't think I know them."

"Probably not. They work weekend shifts."

She sat down beside me. Not close. Not far away.

"That last few days of school were you looking at my dick?" If Nora was shocked or offended, I did not hear it in her voice.

"Where you trying to show me your dick?"

"Not the first time," I admitted. "So, you're bisexual too?"

"Uh-huh, I am. And you, Joshua," she added with a chuckle. "Are a bit of exhibitionist."

"Yes, I suppose I am." I wondered how she would react if she knew I like my mom spanking me before we fucked.

"Hmm, this is not the right place for this conversation."

"Yeah, mom said overt sexuality was taboo in clothing optional settings."

"Public ones at least," Nora replied.

I refused to tie myself into knots trying to parse her words. I closed my eyes and got back to enjoying the feel of the world pressing in on my body.

†

The rest of the day was relaxed. We swam. Dried off in the sun. Talked. Napped. I called mom once and she texted me back saying she was fine. It was only after returning home I learned that was not true.

Nora invited me to have supper with her and Maggie. It seemed Maggie had more or less moved out of her parents' house. They were not happy about it. They were more convinced than ever that allowing her to go to college would lead straight to eternal damnation. Maggie was eighteen and her parents were not helping her pay for college. There was not much they could do.

They could make trouble, a lot of it, for Nora. If not for that fact, I suspected Maggie would have simply moved in with Nora. Nora was renting a beautiful home, older than ours but bigger and better maintained. The nicest feature was the backyard. It was fenced and the surrounding homes were all single-story. Total privacy.

Maggie and Nora were out of their clothes as soon as we unpacked the car. It was too early for supper, so we each grabbed a beer and headed to the backyard. The yard was shaded, thank God. I had had enough sun and was not interested in slathering on more sunscreen.

We moved three lounge chairs into a rough circle and relaxed.

"Thanks for the invitation," I told them after taking a sip of my beer. "It was a good day."

"It was. I'm glad you came," Maggie replied. She took a drink of her beer and sat in in the grass. She pulled her legs up and sat in a lotus position. She was far more exposed than I had ever seen her.

"Josh, Nora tells me you used to flash her your hardon in class."

I stared at her, then looked at Nora, who shrugged. "It's true, Joshua. You admitted it."

"Yeah," I stammered. "But you seemed to like it." I imagined that was a defense.

"I did," Nora replied with a shrug. "Just as I've enjoyed seeing it out in the open. Of course, at the beach too obvious an interest is not appropriate but, I confess, I did enjoy gazing at your erection today for a few minutes before telling you to rollover."

"What? You got to see Josh's cock hard? That's not fair. Was it huge?" Maggie leaned forward and her breasts swayed in what can only be called an enticing way.

"Well, he's not what you would call small even flaccid," Nora laughed. "It was," she paused, "impressive."

"Uh, you guys, I'm sitting right here," I protested.

Nora snorted. "Welcome to our world."

"Josh?"

"Yeah, Maggie?"

"Your cluelessness is super cute, truly, but at the risk of being blunt, we want to fuck you."

"Wha...? you want, the two of you want to have sex with me?"

"Yes, Joshua. Seems fair. You did tease me something awful the last week of classes," Nora replied. "Maggie and I love each other. That happened fast, so, so fast. We have amazing sex but neither of us is exclusively gay. Maggie is a virgin, as far as sex with a man. I've had a few lovers but I can count them on one hand."

"You're not dating anyone are you? This should be a dude's dream come true?" Maggie added.

I frowned. I wasn't dating Mom. We didn't need to date. We were together already.

"You're thinking too hard again?" Maggie whispered. "Remember how you told us you'd let go of all that for a time, back by the lake, how you felt connected to the world? Look for that place again."

I nodded but I doubted I would be able to do that.

We did not have sex that night. They did not push. We had a nice enough supper. I assured them I would think about what they had said and Maggie drove me home.

She did ask for a kiss goodnight.

It was a very nice kiss.