Mutual Benefits Ch. 16

I looked at the guys once more and sighed. I guess my message came through loud and clear, I guess. With the girls it may have been awkward, but I had to put that behind me. I walked over to my discarded bag, checked to make sure my poor 3DS was okay, then made the journey to the girls' section. Given this was supposed to be a party for everyone, it was actually a decently long walk.

Once I was there, I sought out Morgan immediately, getting her attention by waving at her. She gave me a confused expression, but waved back. "Hey, what's wrong? Did you need something from the car?"

"I wish," I grumbled. "No, Milo got ousted from the boys' group-"

"Yeah, he's over there," Morgan interrupted quietly, gesturing to a nearby towel. Milo was on it, curled up in an upright ball, with some girl I didn't recognize supportively rubbing his back.

"Well, I didn't like what the boys said, and they kinda kicked me out too," I finished.

"Quinn, they can be jerks, you just have to stand your ground sometimes with them," she replied softly.

"I did, and they threw my bag," I complained. "I'll be good, I promise, but could I please just stay here a bit? We can just pretend I'm checking up on you or something."

Morgan moved her mouth to the side of her face in thought. "Yeah, okay," she concluded. "I'm sorry the guys are like that. Good news is, we're away from them now."

"I don't know why you wanted me to be around them anyway," I told her. "The only people from there are guys I know from parties, Joel, and I guess I just met Nathan."

"Nathan's not terrible," Morgan thought out loud. "Like, he's kinda pushy, but he... Nathan at least tries."

"Yeah, I think I got that impression. He still was a dick to Milo for no reason though," I replied. Morgan went back to her spot without another word, and I joined her.

Immediately, the girls were way friendlier than the boys. It was clear none of them knew why I was hanging around, but unlike the guys, they didn't make a stink about it, and a few used it as an excuse to actually talk to me, which was sweet, if invasive.

"So, what's Morgan actually like?"

"Is she your first girlfriend? What's your, like, body count?"

"Oh my God, I love Korea, I've always wanted to visit."

After a few minutes, I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned around to see Milo. His eyes were a little red but aside from that he had basically fully recovered. "Hey, can we, uh, talk? Nothing bad, I just wanted to talk to you in private," he told me.

"Uh, yeah, sure," I managed. I followed him down some path into an area by the parking lot, a little nervous but also believing him that this wasn't just him stirring the pot again. Once we figured we were out of earshot, Milo found a nearby bench and gestured for me to sit next to him.

"So, uh, I can get a little protective of the group sometimes," he began. "And I have my principles. Like, when I feel something is wrong, I really feel it's wrong, and I won't deny, I've gotten crazy red flags from you for the past few months. But, uh, I, uh..." His voice got murkier. "I heard what you did."

"Anyone would have done that," I asserted.

"No, Quinn, anyone wouldn't have, because all that would happen is that the guys would hate them," Milo assertively replied. "The girls, even Morgan, they talk a big game, but they know that if they ever stand up for me or even acknowledge I'm a boy around them, their reputation is in the toilet." He got up and paced for a bit. "I'm not popular. No one in my situation could be. I just hang with a popular crowd and I get to look popular because no one dares to get into the group to rip me out of it. I was really lucky my friends accepted me for who I am, but... they never really stood up for me like that."

We were silent for a bit. "So I guess I'm saying, I don't get what your game is."

I had a theory. "I'm not popular, so I guess popularity doesn't mean anything to me. As far as I can tell, I don't know those guys, so if I stand up for you, I don't lose anything like they would, I guess."

"Yeah, but people don't think like that," Milo protested. "They don't go around doing good things as soon as the bad shit is dropped. They need reasons to do the good shit in the first place. What was your reason?"

Another beat of silence passed between us. Eventually, I shrugged. "They were harassing you just because of who you were," I replied. "That's not nice. You deserve to feel good about who you are."

Milo began to tear up again, although his expression looked closer to anger than joy. Eventually, I turned away. "I don't get it," he murmured, looking away from me.

"Do you need to?" I asked. "I'm not trying to get with you. I just saw you hurting and wanted to help." I let my words sink in. "I'm not just mindlessly trying to get with the others either. It's just how shit has happened. Consider, maybe, that I'm doing this because making others feel good makes me feel good, and that's why Taylor and Lexi wanted to use that and help themselves."

"You're trying to tell me that this whole thing that has happened has been because of others being selfish and you happen to be the only one not being selfish," Milo quietly retorted.

I hung my head. "A part of it is enjoying what's happening, yeah," I admitted. "Is that so bad? I would have helped Taylor, or Morgan, or Lexi, or you, without expecting anything in return. Are you angry because I got something in return?"

"I'm angry because you did stuff with a girl in a relationship, caused trouble for us, then fucked two other girls in my friend group. If I already see you as a skeezy perv, why the fuck wouldn't that make me angry?!" he demanded.

"So what? I'm supposed to just go away? I'm Morgan's boyfriend now. I care about her. You can't expect me to just walk away from that," I replied, standing up.

"So what the fuck is the deal with Lexi?!" he asked, voice building.

"I'd kind of like to know the answer to that too!" I replied, my voice matching his. "She and I get closer, as friends, then out of nowhere Morgan tells me I have her blessing, then it all just falls into place."

Milo's eyes narrowed. "Is that the whole story?" he asked.

I paused, then sighed. "Maybe not," I admitted. "Lexi had one of those 'if you weren't with Morgan' conversations with me like a week earlier."

"A week?"

"I don't remember exactly when, does it matter?"

"It all matters, Quinn," he huffed. "...Something about all this doesn't add up."

"Milo, I feel the exact, same, way," I replied, putting emphasis on each word. "And fuck, don't believe me if you want, but I can't help but feel like I want the most for me to be monogamous with her."

He gave me a weird look. "What does that mean? Just say no to Lexi. Have you done anything with Taylor since I did... you know... that thing?"

"What, you mean telling Joel and causing the exact rift in the group you're pretending was my fault?" I asked with heat. He didn't answer, so I huffed. "No, of course I haven't. Is that good enough for you?"

We didn't say anything for a bit. A shifting sound caught Milo's attention, and he whirled his head around to something nearby. I followed his gaze to see that a certain somebody was spying on us.

"Lexi, what the fuck are you doing here?" Milo asked.

Lexi emerged from behind a rock. "What?" she asked as if what she was doing was completely normal. "I mean, you're talking about me anyways, don't I deserve to be here for this? Or are you trying to do something here?"

I didn't know what the implications were. 'Do something' as in stop me from being in the group? Maybe something sexual? I didn't know. I just looked at Milo and he looked back and forth between us for a bit, then something in his face changed.

"Quit treating him like your plaything."

"What?!" Lexi asked.

"Quinn is not some toy to be passed around, and he clearly feels uncomfortable in this situation," Milo continued. "He did this stuff for you, but you can't not know that he's unsure of his own feelings. Give him space, it's not hard. Treat him like a human being instead of a service."

Lexi was looking more upset with each word Milo said, so I decided to jump in. "I'm not unhappy we did what we did, Lexi, but this kind of stuff is very new to me, and I'm still not sure if it's the path I want to go down," I added soothingly. "I enjoyed, uh, eating you out, but we may end up not doing this anymore. We may keep doing it too. I just don't know, okay?"

Lexi stared at me for a bit before pouting and stomping away. "Well, at least she took it well," I quipped to myself.

"It's Lexi. She'll probably insist on cuddling up to you on the drive home," Milo humorously shot back. "I didn't like that she spied on us, though. She's getting bolder."

I turned back to Milo and shifted. "So, where are we at? I didn't expect you to defend me to Lexi."

He stared at me. "I just don't get why..."

"You don't need to always know why. Imagine if I myself don't know why. You're going to keep chasing for an answer I don't have, and if you think I know the answer and I don't, anything I do will be suspicious." I breathed dramatically for a bit. "What's more likely, that I'm secretly nefarious or that I'm a clueless nobody that had all this shit thrown at him over the course of a few months?"

He slowly nodded. "Yeah," he admitted. "Well, if everyone else is cool with it, I guess I'll just shut up." He exhaled noisily. "I mean what I said. I can't remember the last time someone defended me like that."

I shrugged. "You're worth defending. You deserve to feel happy as who you are."

"Now you're just trying to guilt trip me," he laughed, and I joined in. "But, okay. Clean slate. Everything up to now is null and void. Forgive and forget. If you do something bad, I'll call it out..."

"I definitely believe you'll do that."

"...But until then, you're not a skeeze and you're being nice to my friends. Thanks for, uh, doing what you did today."

I gave him a smile in return and then that was that. We walked back to the group, with me feeling very happy and validated. Finally, the chip the size of Arkansas was off of Milo's shoulder, or at least, so he said. Morgan saw that we came back together and raised an eyebrow, and I gave her a reassuring smile.

"Good conversation," I told her as I sat down next to her. "Milo seems cool with me."

I didn't notice that Morgan was mid-conversation with another girl, and immediately added, "Oh, sorry," and got up. I recognized the girl; Abby, the Student Council President. I never talked to her personally but everyone knew who the President was.

"No no, no worries," the other girl replied. She smiled at me, and wow, did she ever have a politician's smile. She'd done up her hair in box braids, which looked really good with her hair half black and the rest dyed a kind of red. She wore a surprisingly revealing white bikini, which even with my newfound experience, made me blush.

Kevin had a huge crush on her, although I think he just had a thing for black girls which he refused to outright say. I could only imagine how jealous he would have been of me to see her this way.

"So this is your boytoy?" she continued, looking me up and down.

I chuckled. "Jeez," I couldn't stop myself from saying bashfully.

"Oh, sorry, I'm just like this," she laughed it off. "Don't be nervous. Morgan has talked a lot about you. You seem like quite the gentleman, Quinn."

I turned to Morgan, who shrugged ambiguously, though her eyes were twinkling humorously. "I, uh..." I managed. "I... thanks."

Abby gave this cute little chuckle and readjusted herself. "So how long have you two been together, anyway?"

"Oh, like... a few months?" I asked Morgan.

She nodded calmly. "A few months, yeah."

"Aww, so cute, you're so in sync!" Abby marvelled. "Well, we're glad to have you Quinn, and I'm sure you two are going to enjoy the fuck outta Beach Day." She turned to Morgan. "You're lucky. Me, I couldn't even get me a man for Beach Day."

"Oh, come on," Morgan replied dismissively. "You could get, like, any guy, you just didn't want to let any of them know they could feel like owning you, even for a day."

Abby laughed her melodic laugh again. "Maybe, maybe," she teased, then turned to me with some kind of knowing grin. "What about you, Quinn, would you say you own your girl?"

"Wha- of course not!" I spat. "That's such a -- 'owning?' No, definitely not."

"Oh," Abby replied, the humor gone from her face. "So, like, she can do anything with any man she wants?"

"Um..." I turned to Morgan, who weirdly, wasn't saying anything. "I-if she wants, and... communicates openly about... is there something I should know?"

Both Abby and Morgan started laughing at me. "Relax, relax, I'm fucking with you," Abby soothed me.

"It seems kind of private," I managed. "I feel weird when this stuff is brought up, even as a joke."

If I thought the humor left Abby's face before, it really left now. "Oh. Um, sorry," she replied seriously. "I'm sorry. My sense of humor is all about riling people up, but I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

"It's okay," I replied. "But yeah, Morgan and I are happy. And, uh, she owns me as much as I own her."

Abby started laughing again, probably at my wording. "Oh my fuck, that's good," she chuckled. "I'm gonna hold out for a man that admits I own him."

"If you ever stay with the same guy long enough for that to even happen," Morgan replied with a wink. "Did you want to go swimming, Quinn?"

"Yes," I immediately replied. I didn't want to, but I was happy to get away from this. Grabbing my bag, I turned back to Abby. "Nice to meet you, Abby," I told her.

"Likewise, Quinn," she told me with a pleasant smile. Quickly, I started to walk towards the water, with Morgan following closely behind me.

"In case you're wondering, Abby is off-limits," she began, clearly meant more as a joke than anything.

"She scares me," I admitted.

"So, are you going to swim in your jeans, or what?" Morgan asked, looking me over.

"Oh. I just, uh, wanted to..." I fumbled with my words.

Morgan laughed. "You wanted to end the conversation with Abby," she inferred.

"Kind of, yeah."

"She's harmless, Quinn," she reassured me. "She just likes pushing buttons. All Presidents do. Come on, changing room is thataway." She turned me around and soon we were walking in the other direction, back past Abby.

Abby noticed, and looked at us, smirking. "And just where do you think you're going? The water's that way."

Morgan looked at Abby as if she was just realizing something. Weirdly, she had a full reaction: gasping, turning pink, and holding her hand over her mouth.

Abby's knowing smile only widened. "Ohh, I seeeee, Quinn needs to change, doesn't he? I guess he needs to go to the changing house."

At the mention of 'changing house,' the few girls around us took notice and started giggling. Morgan was only blushing deeper. Abby looked over at Morgan and laughed. "You know the rules, Morgan," she sang.

"What rules?" I asked Morgan.

"So, uh... I'm sorry, I totally forgot this..." Morgan mumbled, her face red. "So, there's this dumb tradition involving Beach Day, the changing room, and the year's power couple..." She trailed off, blushing too hard to even look me in the eye.

I turned to Abby with a confused expression, who only nodded. "Changing room's yours, you two," she laughed. "It's school tradition." She eyed my confused expression and rolled her eyes. "It's Beach Day rules. The year's power couple goes and fucks in the changing room."

I looked at Morgan in disbelief, who only cutely shrugged. "Wait," I began. "We can't possibly be the year's power couple. No one knows me, and we've only been together for a short time!"

Abby lowered an eyebrow, a smirk painted on her face. "Who here knows Quinn?" she asked, and nearly every girl who was paying attention put her hand up.

What? Why?? What even was there to know about me? Morgan added, "Plus, it just sort of became any couple that's still together on Beach Day. I'm uh, sorry, I totally forgot."

"Well, we don't have to..." I began, though quickly got booed by Abby and her little gang.

"Quinn, honey, at least drag her in there and give her a kiss," she laughed. "It's tradition. You care about us, don't you?" Faux hurt was dripping off of every word.

"It's a dumb tradition," Morgan added in a voice so quiet only I could hear it. "Your boundaries are important."

I surveyed the group and saw Milo, Crystal, and... Taylor among them. She was no longer wearing her shades, and wasn't shy about looking me in the eye. Interestingly, she didn't look vulnerable, or sad, or even angry. She caught my gaze and gave me a kind of gesture with her face. One that said, 'hey, might as well.'

I turned to Abby, who was giving me this mock concerned expression, with a humorous undertone. I turned back to Morgan, who was still pink and looking down. I exhaled and grabbed her hand, and murmured, "Come on," leading her away to the changerooms. The girls cheered, even though I didn't want to look back at them, and soon enough we were out of sight and earshot from the cheering crowd.

"Sorry," Morgan repeated. "I know how much you must hate these situations."

"Why would I hate it?" I asked, not recognizing my own voice. "We're the power couple."

Morgan looked at me with a confused smile, and I stopped walking and kissed her. "Do you want to do it?"

"You're taking this way better than I thought," she admitted.

"Sweetheart, you keep setting up things you'd think I'd like, like telling me it's okay for us to be open or something, but more than anything, I want you," I told her. "It's kind of nice having people know we're doing it, especially if they're, uh, wayyyyy over there."

She giggled. "You really don't like Abby, do you?"

"I just think I need to adjust to her."

"Totally fair." She glanced at the changing room and looked back at me. She bit her bottom lip. "So, uh..."

I gave an adventurous laugh and took her hand again, walking into the building with her. It was not very big, but definitely big enough to accommodate us. As soon as we were inside and the door was closed, our lips were locked, enjoying our public-yet-not display of affection.

I don't know what came over me in that moment, but some part of me really wanted to have Morgan, and have her right then and there. I loved the feeling of my body pressing right up against hers when we kissed, and when Morgan was wearing this cute little blue bikini that left little to the imagination, well, that was just the cherry on top.

"Do you like what I'm wearing?" she asked between kisses.

"Of course I do," I practically moaned back. "I love anything you wear."

"But I bought this especially for you," she said with a mock-pout. "I thought you'd like what it, uh, shows off." She grabbed her boobs with both hands and moved her hands around her chest to solidify her point. Like the hypnotized horny teenager that I was, my eyes could only follow what her hands were doing, much to her amusement.

Eventually, I had enough of only being a spectator, and my hands quickly replaced hers. I loved how hot Morgan's body felt. Of course, having a big pair of breasts in my hands, being rewarded with a popular hot girl moaning for me when I massaged them, that just made this whole thing perfect.

I gasped in realization even though my hands didn't stop moving. Morgan's eyes shot open. "What is it?"

"Do you have a condom?" I asked, realizing only now how far we were going.

Morgan's eyes squeezed back shut and she threw her head back and groaned. "No, I don't," she said quietly. "Fuck."

I waited until her head was back up and matched her look of disappointment with one of my own. My hands were still moving though, of course. "It's okay. We can just fool around and if they as-"