Shifting Gears Ch. 20-22

The tower controller replied, "Good afternoon two-eight-golf. Cleared to land, runway one-four. Winds from one eighty at five. Altimeter three-zero-zero-five."

I repeated back into my microphone, "Clear to land, two-eight-golf."

Deke leaned past me and pointed to the artificial horizon. "Put the little plane one needle width below the horizon. Power back to two-thousand RPM and ensure the carb heat is on and mixture is full on." I did as he indicated. I knew enough to also add in ten degrees of flaps. That earned me a satisfied smile from my instructor.

I pulled out the checklist from the space between the seats and rapidly and vocally went through each item. On this plane, there weren't many. Deke had also taught me about GUMPS -- the short version of the most important things: gas-undercarriage-mixture-power-service.

We landed on the first thousand feet of the ten-thousand-foot runway and taxied to the Fixed Base Operator's building. Deke said, "Just come to a stop. Do not turn off the engine." A second later, he held up his handheld radio. "I'll be listening on this. You go up by yourself now. Solo. Do three touch-and-go landings and then come back here."

"Now?" My voice had a panicked edge to it. I had fifteen hours of flight instruction under my belt from Deke, and now he was having me fly ALONE. Oh, shit.

Deke got out and slammed the door. I knew enough to re-latch the handle from the inside. That was on the checklist. No pilot wanted a door flying open as they lifted into the sky.

I went through the pre-taxi checklist three times, and then checked in with the ground control. This time I explained my situation to them. "Student pilot on first solo slight at Drake FBO ready to taxi to runway one-four. I have information Quebec."

The tower had been hearing me about four times a week during my lessons, so probably knew that I knew the airport. None the less, I got detailed instructions. "Roger, two-eight-golf, taxi to one-four using taxiways Charlie and Bravo. Hold short of runway."

"Charlie and bravo, and hold short of runway one four. Two-eight-golf."

I crept along the long taxiways back to the threshold of the active runway. As I taxied, a Boeing 737 swept in and landed, and then started to taxi to the main passenger terminal. I felt very important in the little Cessna trainer.

I did my run-up and the rest of the pre-take-off checklist, and then contacted the tower on the right frequency. "Sarasota Tower, November-six-one-two-eight-golf holding short at one-four ready for takeoff. I'd like to do three touch-and-go landings with a full-stop on the last one."

They responded immediately and cleared me for takeoff and to stay in the left traffic pattern. I took off -- ALONE -- and after the forty second roll it took the plane to reach takeoff speed, I soared into the Florida skies. My heart was in my throat beating at about a thousand times a minute.

I did my three landings, and then taxied back to Drake aviation. Deke was sitting on a bench outside with a pair of binoculars. He tapped the binoculars; "You've got to stop biting your lower lip when you're on downwind."

"You could see that?" I exclaimed before I realized he'd just had fun at my expense. I punched his arm.

He laughed, but then hugged me. "You did it. You're a pilot. Now all we have to do is get you licensed and teach you a few more things." He laughed harder. There was a HUGE body of knowledge I had to absorb to even get my private pilot's license.

We turned in the plane, tying it in its parking space, and then went to dinner. Deke and I had fallen into a routine. I'd show up at the airport in the late afternoon, I'd have a lesson, we'd go to dinner together, and then go back to my apartment where I'd fuck his brains out.

There were exceptions if he had a potential customer for one of his real estate deals, I had another date, the weather was bad, or other similar situations.

In return, Deke wasn't charging me for the instruction time because he was a friend -- a friend with benefits, I might add. I did have to pay for the airplane and fuel, but Deke had negotiated a discounted rate with Drake Aviation who owned the plane. They also serviced Jake's Gulfstream 650ER and knew Deke in that regard, so the rate to me was exceptional.

Sheri teased me about being a cheap prostitute, since I was fucking for about a hundred dollars given what I'd normally pay a flight instructor for the time of my lesson. I explained in mock horror that there was other knowledge being imparted. Besides, I liked fucking for the discount.

Deke also had a small bachelor pad near the airport. If we did an earlier lesson, we'd fuck before dinner and then I'd leave to eat alone or connect with my friends that lived in town. With increasing frequency, I'd also end up having sex with one of my 'regulars', maybe after dinner and some dancing. I loved fucking two different men the same day; something I could get used to.

One night, I had dinner with Owen in my apartment and then he started to go down on me. I warned him, "There's already a load in there from something I did this afternoon. Are you sure you want to do that?"

Owen said, "Would it turn you on or bring you pleasure?"

I nodded, and in a microsecond, he was lapping my pussy and using his tongue on my little hot button. Owen was right, he did turn me on -- a lot. I got aroused that he'd eat me when I was leaking out another guy's cum, plus he knew how to give me orgasms.

Eventually, I moved so I could suck on Owen. He teased me, "Are you sure you want to do that? That dick has been in another pussy this afternoon and I haven't had time to shower."

I took every inch of his dick in my mouth, added some extra saliva, and slopped around his whole groin area. Eventually, I pulled off of him. "You fucked Maryann?"

"Good guess, yes. This was our first week working together and we couldn't resist, just like you and me when we travel together. We worked, fucked, worked some more, and then fucked some more."

I asked, "Neither of you are getting in trouble with Jake, are you?"

Owen told me, "I worried about that when we were hiring Maryann to work with us. I talked to Jake, and he laughed. He told me, 'Maryann is her own person. I am not bothered by her fucking other guys; in fact, it turns me on and I love her that much more. I know she's safe with you, so go to it.' He told her to fuck my brains out."

"Is he playing around, too?"

"You know he is," Owen laughed. "For one, Susan, his bodyguard, and then Sheri comes by, too. They have the most open relationship of any people I've ever heard of. It'll be an interesting marriage if this is the engagement."

I said, "Well, both Jake and Maryann tell me that after the wedding nothing will change in that regard. He said that he feels love for Maryann, and that has nothing to do with their social or sexual lives. She feels the same way. Further, they both know they can love other people."

"Does Maryann get jealous because Susan is around Jake a lot of the time?"

"Neither one of them gets jealous of the other. They want for each other's pleasure. Maryann said it's called compersion. Of course, the two of them are lovers, too."

Owen added, "If you and I were a serious couple, I wouldn't get jealous of other men being with you. I guess it's because our whole relationship so far has been mostly group sex. I do love you; you know."

"And I love you. I sort of thought we were in a serious relationship."

Owen looked at me and said, "I guess I have a requirement for 'us' being a serious relationship."

"What's that?"

"We live together."

I thought about that proposition. It didn't upset me one bit, but I wondered how it would impact the rest of my social life and dating. I recalled Sheri telling me to play-the-field for a couple of years before I started to get really serious about somebody. Moving in together sounded serious.

I started, "I'm very interested, but... I'm still coming out of my shell. At least, I think I am. Sheri told me to stay loose for a few years yet."

"That'd be all right."

"But if I did that, I'd want you to be like Jake and I'd want to be like Maryann. We'd see other people... we'd be fucking around with them, literally. We'd each want to bring them home to romance."

Owen nodded. "I don't want to give up that side of things either. I guess I want my cake and eat it, too. I want to be in a committed relationship with you, and be able to enjoy dates and sex with other women."

I teased, "What if we're living together and I want to bring a guy home, and there you are."

Owen laughed, "We'd have a threesome, of course, or maybe I'd already be home romancing another honey. You catch us in bed, and then the two of you join in. We swap partners and have a wild time for hours."

I laughed. "If we live together, we'd need a two-bedroom apartment. That would solve the problem without resorting to more complex arrangements or having awkward negotiations."

"Who would you bring home?"

"I've been taking flying lessons a few times a week, and Deke is my instructor. We often finish up by fucking at either his place or mine. There's also Luke, often after a bike ride; Kevin; Blake; Jake; Sean; and I could go on to the other guys in our circle that I see less frequently, plus we keep meeting and adding new girls and guys to our group. I might want some private time with Sheri or one of the other girls, too."

Owen nodded, "At least, two bedrooms. You're right. We'd also want his and her offices since we're independent contractors now."

I suggested, "Three bedrooms, one with two cubicles in it?"

"That'd work."

I shifted back, "You really wouldn't get your nose out of joint if I brought Deke back and fucked him all night? It might mean you're in our bedroom sleeping alone while you're hearing me across the hall getting banged hard for the fourth time that day."

Owen raised his right hand. "I swear, I won't. I might sneak to the door and watch while I jerk off."

"Fair enough. I might want to do the same thing, if you were fucking some hot dish from the club."

Owen asked, "Do you have a lease?"

"I rent month to month. I'd just give a month's notice. How about you?"

"Same, although I'm supposed to give two months' notice."

"What about location?"

"I'd love to get a unit with a view of the bay, and even a balcony where we could sit outside."

"Pricey? We could fuck on the balcony, however."

"I bet we could get something lower than our combined rents."

"We'd split all the costs fifty-fifty, right?" I insisted.

"How do we start?" Owen nodded and asked.

"Sean's in real estate. He doesn't normally handle rentals, but I bet he'd help us. Deke does tiny houses, but I KNOW I want something larger than one of those. Lots of square footage, please."

"You might have to fuck him," Owen speculated thoughtfully.

"Consider it done."

"Let's call him."

Sean came over a half-hour later. I did fuck Sean as Owen lay near us on the bed stroking his cock. He then took another turn. I loved group sex.

Sean sat at my laptop and called up apartments that his real estate company was representing and managing. Our combined rents were just under three-thousand a month. Sean showed a 'luxury' apartment on Golden Gate Point that could be had for less. The owner was in Europe on assignment for three or four years, and just wanted the place maintained.

The next morning, Sean, Owen, and I, plus the rental real estate agent that listed the property, went through the unit. It was gorgeous. The decorating was superb. The place was mostly furnished.

I nodded to Owen, and he said, "We'll take it. I'll write you a deposit right now."

The unit was on the tenth floor of the condo unit. We had to be approved by the HOA, but that wasn't expected to be any problem since we both worked and could afford the rent. The place also came with two parking spaces in the garage.

Coming in the front door, you were in a large living room, that opened onto a large balcony that overlooked the city marina. There was nice porch furniture on the balcony, and we were told we'd have to bring it inside if a hurricane or other major storm was expected. No problem.

A powder room, and then a master bedroom suite was on one side of the living room. On the other was a kitchen, family-media room, and two other bedrooms. Everything was modern, up to date, and decorated with expensive tastes. We were so lucky.

Owen and I both wrote checks. He covered the damage deposit and half-of-the-first month's rent. I covered the other half of the first month and the last month's rent, as the lease specified. We were renting for a year and then month-to-month thereafter. If the owners wanted to come back, they'd have to give us ninety-days' notice.

As we finished, we took a whole lot of pictures on both our phones. As we shut the door, the agent left us and said he'd arrange our move-in date with the condo board, and a few other things.

I looked at Owen, "Hello, Lover."

Owen grinned. "Hello, Lover."

Suddenly, I felt like I'd just taken a huge step in my life. Is this what getting married felt like? I was outrageously happy, and Owen seemed that way, too.

We went back to work and agreed to meet for a late dinner. I had a flight lesson that afternoon. I winked at Owen and he laughed. He knew that meant I'd likely have sex with Deke. I knew he was spending a couple of hours in the afternoon working with Maryann, getting her up-to-speed on some aspects of network security.

Chapter 22 -- Condo Living

Our friends organized themselves into two teams the day we moved into the condominium apartment. I had Sheri, Maryann, Kevin, Luke, Susan and Jake helping me pack and move. Owen had Sean, Ryan, Marsha, Sarah, Derek, and Allie.

Both Owen and I had gotten a lot of cardboard boxes and packed much of our possessions into them. Neither of us had much in the way of furniture; the apartments we'd been renting had been partially furnished. The last of our possessions got packed, and the boxes, lamps, and things lugged to various cars, and then they were driven to the condo where both teams converged to get everything inside and in the right room.

By the end of the day, many of the boxes were gone and possessions were where they should be. We all sat and talked as we thanked everyone for their help. Later, Owen and I took everyone out to dinner.

We ended up with Kevin, Sheri, Jake, Susan, Maryann, and Ryan, back at our new condo after dinner. We broke in the three beds and two sofas in the living room, as well as the two chaises that were on the balcony. I urged people to not get us expelled from the condo the same day that we moved in.

Owen and I were one of the couples that made love on one of the balcony chaises. We wanted to be together to celebrate our new status of 'living together', even though we planned to have a revolving door into our bedroom of other friends and lovers.

Between two of the rounds of lovemaking that night, I got a chance to talk at length with Maryann about her viewpoint about their open relationship. She had well thought out responses to my questions, particularly about jealousy.

Maryann and Jake had already run into the situations where one or both of them brought someone home to fuck, and the other was there, perhaps involved with someone else. Owen and I had covered the bases in our thinking about that, but she said the best you can do is laugh at the various complications that result.

After the other left, Owen and I curled up in the large bed in the master bedroom and went to sleep cuddled together. I felt so loved and also sexually sated after our fun evening. I also felt the support and friendship from all of our friends who'd helped us that day.

The next day, Owen and I quickly set up our offices and got to work generating billable hours. I was on the phone with Connie in Denver, and later Sheri about the work I had her doing. I think I had a better work ethic, but when she realized that she was only getting paid for results accomplished during billable hours, she made a noticeable improvement.

Maryann came over and worked with Owen in the afternoon. I sat in on the part of their meeting where Owen was teaching her more about network security. I had the basics, but wanted to get some of the finer points. I was surprised to learn that Maryann knew C+ and a couple of other languages to help reprogram or debug their client computers and servers.

The work week went quickly. I'd also set a goal to get rid of at least one more cardboard box every day. By the end of the week, the pile of unopened boxes in my part of the condo had shrunk. Owen focused on work.

Saturday came, and we divvied up the duties that a couple living in a condo should have. I took the shopping list and did groceries. Owen vacuumed and dusted, and cleaned the four bathrooms in the place. Those took all morning, but I'd gotten enough for us to have lunch without resorting to Ramen noodles, as we'd done the day before.

Owen unpacked a few more of his boxes, while I worked.

About five o'clock, the door chimes rang, sounding like a miniature Big Ben. Owen and I both went to the door and opened it.

A couple about our age stood there nervously smiling at us. He said, "Hi. We're the Carson's, your neighbors. I'm Brent and this is my wife Roslyn or Roz for short."

Roz quickly spoke, "We wanted to welcome you to Marina View Condo. I made cookies for you." She held a covered plate in her two hands.

I recovered my social graces before Owen did. "Come in. Come in. I'm Brie and my boyfriend is Owen."

The ice cracked and we started to converse without the nervousness. They'd lived in their unit adjacent to ours for three years, since they got married. He worked for one of the trust companies in town, and Roz was a newly minted paralegal. They were a cute couple about my age.

We told them about my having worked at Knightsbridge and branching out on my own, and Owen having been with Retail Software and then also going on his own about the same time. We told them about some of our clients, without getting too specific or techie about the work.

Roz asked, "What do you do for fun?"

Owen responded, "We have a lot of friends nearby. Several have boats; one a plane.

I told them, "I'm working on getting my pilot's license and I love to take long bicycle rides."

I pulled back and studied the two of them. Brent was older than my first impression, in his early thirties, and had a yuppie air about him. I guessed that he'd gone to an ivy school or one close to it. He was sophisticated, but still growing into being on his own despite his age. He also wore thick glasses and had that Clark Kent look.

Roz was the energizer bunny. If she hadn't been a cheerleader in high school and college, I'd eat my hat. She was Miss Congeniality, and she made great cookies. Further, she was built like what Sheri would call a brick shit house. She was petite and stacked. I could see in Owen's eyes that there was some attraction and even I wanted to play with her boobs.

Now that I mentioned it, I had some attraction to Brent. He wasn't hunky, muscular, and built like some of the guys I hung out with, but he had an intellectual air about him that I liked.

We chatted about the condo and for the first time heard about some of the other residents and their eccentricities.

As we talked, I sensed there was still some anxiety about us in the couple. I finally asked, "Do we make you nervous? If so, I'm sorry. Tell us so we can fix the situation. We really want to be friends."

Brent and Roz looked at each other. He whispered to her, "You ask them."

Roz took a deep breath. "We do want to be your friends... good friends, I assure you. Why we're nervous is that a few nights ago -- the night you moved in -- you and your friends celebrated your arrival."