Unblended Ch. 04

"Thank you," Melissa replied, "and thanks for inviting me, I really appreciate it. Your mom is a great cook."

"I'll tell her that, thank you!" Tanya turned to me. "The fourth estate is getting a little irritating, can you give us a hand? Jamie's been trying to get her to relax but nothing's working."

"I said I'd talk to her later, is she interrogating all of you now?"

Tanya nodded. "I don't know why she's wound so tight, but please talk to her, or suck her dick, or something." That got a gasp from Melissa and snickers from everyone else. I rolled my eyes.

"Alright, let me see what I can do. But I'm not blowing her, for god's sake. That's, like, second interview behavior."

*****

I'd steered Amy to the couch on the deck, which was large enough to seat us with plenty of space between. It was getting dark and chilly, but the nearby gas firepit helped on both accounts admirably. The chatter from the athletes at the other end of the deck was audible, but not distinct. As we sat, she pulled a small device from her pocket and pushed a button.

"Before we get started, may I record this?" she asked.

"Sure thing." I didn't mind going on the record.

"Awesome," Amy started, her notebook and pencil at the ready, "it's been three days since you and Tessa presumably got it on, and you're still a dude. What gives?"

I rolled my eyes. "We went over this yesterday."

"And I want to go over it again now that we're not scrambling to class."

"Fine. TL;DR: I'm not blending. At least, not the way everyone else has."

"Sure, that's evident. Have you changed at all?"

"A little bit. I've been going progressively blond over the past few days, and my eyes changed color. Also..." I glanced downward, and Amy nodded in understanding. "Not much bigger, mind, but there has been a small adjustment."

"Can I see it?" Amy asked before immediately backtracking. "Oh, god, sorry. That just-..."

"Don't sweat it," I said, laughing, "we should switch places so I'm upwind of you."

Amy waved it off. "Nah, that was strictly journalistic curiosity outstripping propriety. On that note, though, your pheromones can work that quickly?"

"Yeah, it only takes a few minutes in close contact from what I've experienced so far. Dr. Schneider thinks it's an expression of the blend not starting properly. Until my body decides to make the switch, it's putting out stronger signals that I need to get f-... that I might appreciate some blended company."

Amy snickered as she made some notes. "Speaking of, how's it feel to be one of the Royals now?"

"Royals?"

"I think it sounds better on a bunch of levels."

I nodded, appreciating the more inclusive name. "It's amazing. I've been close to Michi and Tessa for years, and I think we've always had that throuple energy brewing even before the blend happened? Now that we're actively exploring it, it feels so natural."

"Would you and Tessa have hooked up if she were still male?"

This very question had kept me up some nights, and I still didn't have a real answer for it. "Honestly, I don't know. I've never been attracted to men, and I don't know that I would have made an exception for Tessa. I feel awful about that, because we've been friends for ever, I love her so much, and it's such a stupid reason to not follow your heart, you know? It has to be for the best, though, because I doubt she would have asked Michi out that first time if we'd been together, and they are crazy for each other. Like, when the time comes, I'll be proud to be their best man." Talking about it felt good, but it was choking me up a little, and I wiped my eyes with my sleeve. "Same for Tanya, as well. I'll state right now, I'm kicking myself for not being friends before any of this. Thankfully, I think this is all helping me to be less garbage."

I heard some sniffling behind me and glanced over my shoulder. Tessa and Michiko were sitting over by the grill listening in, and they were both tearing up like I had. Michi threw me a thumbs-up and Tessa gave me heart-hands. I blew them a kiss and they both feigned fainting spells.

"You're a bunch of dorks and I hate it," Amy said. "So, yesterday, you and Michiko rush out of the lunch room, and Principal LeBeau finds her standing guard at one of the unisex bathrooms. What happened?"

"I got super horny and I felt like I was going to burst into flames, so I ran to the bathroom and jerked off."

"That's it?" Amy asked, disappointment in her voice.

"I'm sorry?"

"I mean, that's just so... pedestrian."

"I'm sorry I didn't spontaneously combust in the lunch room for all to see!"

"Use your head, next time," Amy snarked. "Now, seriously, why didn't I get an invite to the show last night?! It sounded super hot!"

"Would you have signed the NDA?" I asked point-blank. "An NDA someone blatantly ignored when they told you about it, I'd like to mention." I knew better than to ask for Amy's source; whatever her faults, she was a journalist in every sense of the word.

"Absolutely not!" Amy said huffily. "NDAs are a ham-fisted tool to subvert the freedom of the press!"

"Well, there you are. That's exactly the sort of thing I don't need hitting the grapevine, especially given my condition."

Amy gave me a stern glare, but it instantly softened once she realized the point I was at pains to make. "Yeah, the implications are pretty intense, huh."

I nodded. "Hopefully, when the specialists from Mayo get here next week, we'll know more."

"You still want to change?"

"I'm not going to throw a tantrum if it happens."

My phone buzzed, and I pulled it out to give it a quick look. I'd gotten a text from Melissa.

911 - locked in bathroom

I bolted up from my seat. "Hey, sorry, can we circle back later? I need to step away for a bit."

"What's up?" Amy asked, her nose for news clearly picking something up.

"Nothing serious, just need to go check on something." I didn't wait for a response as I turned and hustled into the house. Given that Lexi and Laurie Foster were here, I assumed they were making another play for Melissa. I considered getting Tanya's attention as I went through the living room but decided there wasn't time. I caught some concerned looks from her, Stacy, and Donna as I rushed past, I'd explain later. I passed Laurie in the kitchen on the way and felt grateful that I was at least half-wrong.

As I headed towards the master bathroom, I nearly ran into Lexi. "Ace!" she said, a look of worry on her face.

"Who is it?" I asked.

"Casey Martinez and Rhonda Harding," Lexi replied, "I'm going to tell Tanya."

I nodded and continued on. Casey and Rhonda were star receivers, thick as thieves, and incredibly arrogant about their place in the social hierarchy. They were both guys before the change, so they hadn't gotten much bigger physically, but it seemed to enhance their already giant egos. I saw them posting up in front of the bathroom door, trying to talk someone out of it.

"Come on, Melissa," Casey said in a conciliatory tone of voice, "we just want to hang out and get to know you!"

"Yeah," Rhonda added, "we're sorry about the cat-calling, you just took us by surprise!"

"I said no!" came a voice from behind the door.

"There a problem here, ladies?" I said, grabbing their attention.

"...ooh, not anymore," Casey said, licking her lips as she looked me over. "Little Miss Church Girl's just being a tease, like always."

"You want to help us loosen her up?" Rhonda asked. The pair of them stepped over, one to either side of me.

"Pretty sure she's not interested," I said as they closed in on me. They both smelled like Old Spice, not unpleasant by any means but not super enticing at the moment. "Look, I'm sure you both can find better things to do, why not just leave Melissa alone?"

"Oh, you're right about that," Casey said, leaning in closer and taking a big sniff. "Damn, you smell tasty. You know, Rhonda, I think he's right, maybe we should stay with Ace here?"

"That was quite a show last night," Rhonda said, "I wonder if you'd sing even better impaled on my dick?"

"How could he?" Casey said, smirking. "His mouth's gonna be awful full."

I'll be honest, I was absolutely terrified at that moment, and that fear seemed to come from out of nowhere. These two would turn me into their personal cocksleeve if I gave them the chance, and that did not sound enticing at all. I needed to turn things around.

"S-sorry, ladies," I said, my voice going meek on me for some reason, "b-but I'm spoken for."

"Aww, don't be like that," Casey said, her voice purring. "I'm sure your girls would be happy to loan you out." She put her hand on my shoulder, and I started flashing back to when Stacy did the same thing. The problem was not having a set of lockers to throw her into, Rhonda also being right there as Casey's backup, and being sure Tanya's mom wouldn't appreciate me starting a fight in her lovely home.

"Let's leave them out of this," I said, finally finding some steel in my spine. I slapped Casey's hand from my shoulder and tried to stand a little taller. "I think you two should get back to the party," I said with as much conviction as I could.

"Nah," Rhonda replied with a growl, grabbing my shoulders from behind, "I think the party's right here."

"Good thing we came back to join you then, huh?"

We all turned to see Stacy and Donna watching us. Neither of them looked particularly happy at what was going on, and Casey and Rhonda visibly shrunk back at receiving those vicious glares. Down the hall, I saw Amy peeking her head around the corner.

"Hey, Cap, we were just-"

"Shut it," Stacy snapped, cutting Casey off, "I think you should go thank Tanya for the lovely time and leave."

"Oh, come on, Stacy!" Rhonda complained. "They're both just asking for it! It's not our fault!"

"Is that what you think?" Donna said in a voice that rumbled through my spine. She'd used it before in D&D, and I always gave her skill check bonuses for it.

"We both said no," I added, "I'm pretty sure that's the opposite of 'asking for it'."

Rhonda turned and gave me a venomous glare before shrugging it off. "Pfft, fine," Rhonda said, brushing past me in a huff. "C'mon, Case, we can have fun back at my place."

"Party was getting dull, anyway," Casey mumbled as they walked past the football captains. When they were out of sight, my legs gave way and I collapsed against the wall. Donna moved quickly to catch me, hugging me to her epic chest as I regained my footing. I leaned in to her for a moment, feeling completely safe and warm in her arms.

"Thanks for that," I said eventually.

"Thank you for running interference," Stacy said with a smile. "Those two have always been a problem."

"I don't think Coach will let them off this time, either," Donna added. "I certainly won't."

I turned back to the bathroom door, gently waving the captains away as I knocked. "Melissa? It's Ace, everyone else is gone." I eventually heard the door unlock, and I carefully opened it and slipped inside. Melissa's face was a mess of runny makeup, and she was clearly scared witless. When she saw it was me, she fell into me and hugged me tightly.

"I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have come here! I shouldn't dress like this!" She babbled like this for a bit as I held her gently.

"Hey, hey!" I broke in. "That wasn't your fault! None of this was your fault!" I held her for what seemed like an eternity as she came down from her frightened state. We looked around and found some makeup removal wipes, and Melissa took a moment to clean up a bit. Even without the make-up, Melissa was still a knockout, and I was sorry I had to find that out this way. My shirt was ruined, but that was alright.

"Thank you," she said as I helped assess the damage.

"It's no problem," I said, wiping a stray bit of eyeshadow from her cheek. "They had no business trying to force themselves on you, no matter what their physical reaction was. I'm glad I got here before they tried breaking the door down."

"I thought they would! They wouldn't stop trying to touch me on the shoulder or arm, even after I asked them to stop. Rhonda tried to kiss me and I kicked her in the shin and ran."

"Top work," I said. I was furious by the time we exited the bathroom, and Tanya had joined the others by then.

"They need to burn." I said. My voice took on a bit of a growl, and I felt Melissa slip her arm around mine as I said it. The others seemed to quail a bit from me, but I could have imagined that.

"They will," Tanya said, turning to Melissa. "I am so sorry for what they tried to do. I promise we won't let them bother you again. I understand if you'd rather leave, but we want this to be a safe space for everyone and you're welcome back anytime."

"Thank you," Melissa said weakly. "I should probably go, I'm still freaking out a little... um, could I get a ride? My mom dropped me off."

"Sure thing," Stacy said. "Donna can take you home, she'll explain what happened to your parents. Coach Traeger will want to reach out to your mom, too."

"My car's pretty big," Donna said, "you can sit way in the back if you'd feel safer."

Melissa turned to me. "Will you come too?"

"Of course!" I said. "Let the girls know?" I said to Tanya.

"Sure thing." Stacy and Tanya parted as Donna led the way to her Range Rover. I got a weird look from Amy as we passed by, like she was seeing me for the first time, but I didn't think about it too hard.

*****

Melissa asked to be dropped off at her mom's house on the other side of town. I hadn't realized her parents were separated, and my confusion must have shown on my face. She looked down and said "It's complicated," and that's where we left it.

The ride over was mostly silent, the local classic rock station quietly playing over the radio. Melissa and I sat in the back of Donna's SUV, and I kept my arm around her shoulders the whole way. She was still pretty shaken up, and I hoped her mom wouldn't judge her too harshly for the events of the night. By the time we got to her mom's house, she had relaxed a little and was resting her head on my shoulder.

"You want me to walk you in?" I offered.

"Thank you, I'll be alright with Donna," Melissa replied. We all got out of the car and Melissa gave me a big hug before she headed in. I told Donna I'd wait in the car and slid into the passenger's seat. I saw them enter the house and be greeted by Melissa's mom, though I couldn't see much from where I was before the door closed. It was about 15 minutes before the door reopened and I saw Donna receive a hug from Mrs. Bourne before leaving. She jogged over and slid into the driver's seat with a sigh.

"Everything alright?" I asked.

"For now," Donna replied. "Melissa's probably okay, or she will be soon, but her mom is on the warpath."

"That's fair," I said.

"Wanna head back?" Donna asked, and I nodded. She started the SUV up and we headed back to Tanya's place.

"So," Donna said once we were underway, "you and Tanya looked real good together last night."

"Yeah," I said, a goofy grin painting itself on my face. "That was so much fun."

"Was that your first time streaming yourself for 'strangers'?" she asked. I thought about how I should respond before recognizing that we were actually pretty good friends.

"No. Yesterday, when I tore out of the lunchroom?" Donna nodded. "I needed to jerk off real bad, and I streamed it to Tanya, Michi, Tessa, Stacy, and Becky."

"No shit!" Donna said in amazement. "Why?"

"It just felt like a good idea, and it definitely made getting off feel incredible. I made a giant mess"

"How'd you end up talking Tanya into going live with you last night?"

I thought about that for a moment before deciding to defer, I honestly wasn't sure of that myself. "I'd rather you ask her that. I have an idea, but I don't think it's right for me to mention it without checking with her first."

Donna nodded her head slowly, as though she were mulling something over. "What made it feel better? Can you describe it?"

"Yeah, I think so. It was that I wasn't alone, that I was sharing myself with everyone and hoping it made them feel as good as I did. I'll send you the video, and I'll ask if I can share the chat log, it might help explain it better?"

"Thanks," Donna said. She got real quiet for the rest of the drive. We got back to Tanya's place, and it looked like most everyone had left already. Thanks for ruining the party, assholes, I thought to myself.

Donna turned off the SUV before turning to me. "Look," she said, "I don't want to make things weird between us, but..." She let it hang there for a moment, and it looked like she was trying to figure out what to say.

"Hey," I said, putting my hand on her shoulder, "if it's weird, we can deal. We're friends, aren't we?"

She looked at me with a small smile. "Yeah, okay. If... if I wanted you to watch me... you know... would you maybe be interested in that?"

I wanted to laugh so badly. Here was Donna Mulgrew, a giant amongst women, one of the most intimidating people I knew, shuffling around meekly as if she had just handed me a "Do you like me? Yes | No" card and was waiting for a response.

"Yeah, I think I would," I responded, "and I'm sure I'm not the only one."

She shook her head. "No, not yet, I'm... I'm kind of body conscious, but I feel like you wouldn't judge me for it, if that makes sense."

"Sure, I think I get it." She was really putting herself out there, and I felt proud that she trusted me with this. "You just let me know when you're ready."

Donna nodded. I suddenly felt the need to kiss her, and I gently placed my hand against her cheek. She placed her hand over mine, and we leaned in to kiss softly. The lightning I'd felt recently kissing the girls returned, spiky and exhilarating, and I started to wonder if I would feel like that kissing anybody, but that didn't matter at the moment. All I knew was that Donna's lips were soft and pliable, and that she seemed to like kissing me as much as I did her.

*****

"How did it go?" Stacy asked as we came into the living room. She and Becky were the only ones who'd stayed, and they were lounging in the conversation pit with Michi, Tanya, and Tessa.

"Mrs. Bourne is not happy," Donna said, dropping down next to Stacy. "She's going to raise some hell on Monday, but that's no bad thing. You get ahold of Coach?"

Stacy nodded. "She's calling the principal right now, they'll likely want to talk to all of us."

"Fine with me," I said, fixing a sandwich and a drink in the kitchen. "Whatever it takes to nail their balls to the wall."

"Our receiving corps is going to be a little thin without them," Donna said, "but I'll take that over playing with those assholes any day."

I suddenly felt like I was being watched, and I looked up to see Stacy staring at me from across the house. She leaned over and whispered something to Donna, who also started looking at me before giving a shrug. I noticed the other girls were getting really cuddly, bordering on outright handsy, and wandered back over.

"You've got time to get it sorted out. Besides, your ground game is pretty effective, or was Harper Lake that bad?" I carefully sat down next to Michiko, who detached from Tanya to wrap herself around me and steal bites of my sandwich.

"Supposedly the 2nd-best run defense in the state," Donna said with a smirk.

"Well, there you go," I replied, holding my depleted sandwich away from Michi. Unfortunately, that essentially offered it to Becky, who took it graciously.

"You know how to make a good sandwich!" she said brightly in between bites.

"You're very welcome." My stomach grumbled a little.

"Hey," Tessa said, "if you're still hungry, I'm sure Tanya has some sausage she'd love to feed you." That got a round of laughs from everyone, and I noticed Tanya blush a bit.