The ABCs of Polyamory

"Gabe who?" she said, smiling.

That was what I wanted to hear. I kissed her again, and we lay back and fell asleep quickly, due to the exertion of the night.

I awoke the next morning to the aroma of frying bacon. Lynn was still sleeping. I dressed and went to the bathroom, moving slowly and quietly so not to disturb her, then made my way downstairs to the kitchen, where Chris had already made a start on preparing breakfast. Our eyes met warily, both of us wondering how the other felt in the dawn of a new day. We talked a little while.

"That was a wild night," he said. "Everything cool on your end?"

"Yeah, man," I said, "how about with you?"

"Great, bro. I actually was turned on watching you and Jen, and I know she was too watching me and Lynn. In fact, she said before we went to sleep that she wants to make this at least a weekly ritual."

"How do you feel about that?" I asked.

"It doesn't bother me. Two sexy birds in hand are better than one bush. You and I still have it, bro. Those girls were hot to trot with us."

Pride and confidence welled up. We did a fist bump.

When everything was ready, the ladies had still not shown, so I volunteered to go upstairs and spur them along. The door to the guest room was open, but Lynn was not inside. I heard laughter coming from the master bedroom down the hall, and proceeded there. The door was open a crack, and I was about to knock when a snatch of conversation caused me to freeze.

"It worked like a charm" Jen said. "The guys are into it completely. Male egos being what they are, they're probably congratulating each other over what studs they are, even convincing themselves it was all their idea." The girls both laughed, and then I heard Jen ask, "Think they know we played them a little?"

"No, although we should level with them soon," I heard Lynn reply.

"I don't know," Jen advised. "It isn't the kind of secret that hurts anyone, and it may benefit their egos more if they don't know. Let it rest a while. Meanwhile, you should thank Gabe for playing his part so well."

"Yes, we're definitely indebted to Gabe for helping boost this." They both laughed.

"How do you intend to thank him?" Jen asked, laughing. "Even though I don't really recommend it, you'll have the chance to give him a good gratuity on your business trip."

"You know, he's such a good looking, fun guy that I wouldn't mind," Lynn replied, "except that you're probably right it's best to keep the playing within our polyamorous group, where we can all look out for one another. And then, there is that other thing about Gabe." They both laughed again.

"Tell me once more how you and Gabe set this up," Jen said. "It is so awesome."

"It was just amazingly fortunate that as we were getting to our lunch place, from across the street we saw Michael enter it, but he didn't see us. I told Gabe I wanted to jolt Michael a little to improve our love life, and Gabe was into it. As an aspiring actor, he does a lot of country playhouse stuff, and he's always pleased to show off his skills. We developed a quick strategy on things Gabe should say to me in Michael's presence, and he immediately came up with some lines that got me laughing hard before we even went into the cafe. Then I was lucky enough to spot the empty booth near Michael on the other side of the divider, and I steered Gabe there rather than to Michael's booth. We just pretended we didn't see Michael, and Gabe altered his lines a little. He played the seductive role perfectly, coming on to me with raunchy jokes and suggestive banter, and working in our upcoming trip with all its romantic possibilities. Michael must have been completely sucked in, as were the people in booths nearby, who were staring at us. Gabe's performance was so good that even I almost forgot he's gay."

Both girls laughed heartily.

"Well, gay or not, he advanced the cause we were working on, and did Michael a favor since you probably would have found some genuinely hetero stud to explore your variety fantasy with" Jen said. "I'm glad you called to let me know how you were thinking and that you and Gabe had strung Michael along so I could offer you Chris and get my polyamory arguments ready in case your worried hubby dropped in to talk." she added. "Well it was all for a good cause. Everybody benefits."

They continued laughing as I made my way back the hall. When I reached the top of the staircase I called out, "Breakfast is ready." They called back that they would be right there.

As I made my way downstairs I reflected that I was not angry at this little play action because they were right. Everybody benefited. And I was relieved that I didn't have to worry about Gabe any longer.

To use Chris' term, both those girls sure were ABC.