Chapter 15: Chapter Fourteen

Tessa It was Thursday, Carlos’s day, I thought as I stretched in my bed the next morning. I’d let Ron drive me home in the early hours of the morning. We’d had another session of agonizingly slow sex soon after the first time, and it had opened my eyes to what I’d been missing out on. I’d had no idea sex could be so much fun, or that you could crave it that way.

I also had no idea how sore you could be the next day. I winced, but grinned as I did it. At least I’d had fun earning that soreness, I decided as I got out of bed and headed to the shower. A nice, long shower fixed most of the soreness. I went out to the kitchen to see my two best friends waiting for me, both with expressions on their faces that screamed ‘tell us everything now’.

“Hi,” I said, shyly.

“Don’t give us that ‘hi’ lady, how was it?” Kim demanded and pushed a cup of coffee toward me across the table where they sat.

I took a chair opposite them and took a sip of the coffee. It tasted so good I sighed.

“Tessa,” Cheryl chirped loudly.

“What? It’s good coffee.” I blinked at her innocently.

“Tell us, woman, how was it?” Cheryl demanded with even more impatience. She almost growled at me and I took another sip of coffee.

“Well,” I said after another sigh. “It was the most incredible night of my life.”

“That’s all? You aren’t going to tell us how big he was, or how good he was, just that it was incredible?” Kim demanded, annoyance now in place of the excitement.

“That’s it. The rest goes in my article. Or my blog. Not sure which yet.” I yawned and stretched again.

“But we’re your best friends,” Kim sputtered.

“I know, but, if I tell you everything, then what will I have to write about?” I blinked at them again.

“Oh, well…” Cheryl sighed heavily.

“I’m teasing,” I told them, then spent a half hour answering all of their questions, until they were both sighing and talking about how they wished they’d meet a man like Ron. Apparently, from what they said, the kind of man that gave you a lot of attention and made sure you got off during sex was rare.

Who knew?

“Well, that’s just selfish,” I told them and frowned. “You need to choose better men.”

“It’s not our fault so many men are selfish,” Kim replied, a little miffed.

“You still need to choose better men. If they’re dicks to you before, they will be during and never satisfy you, not like…hmmm,” I said wondering which one of them had satisfied me the most, for a split second I realized that none of them had won. This must be the reason for so many being in poly relationships. A taste of each man, gave a different flavor. Maybe that would be my new headline.

“That’s true. But it’s hard to tell sometimes. They can be super nice to get into your pants and the second they’re off, it’s game over. I’ve even had men come before we even get our clothes off,” Cheryl said miserably. “That wasn’t one of the best moments of my life, by the way. It was so embarrassing.”

“Why were you embarrassed?” Kim and I both asked.

“Well, I was embarrassed for him. Then I tried to reassure him it was okay as I sat back down on the couch and pretended it wasn’t all that bad,” she answered, her cheeks red.

“That’s a man that needs to learn some self-control,” Kim said with a wise look on her face.

“I think you’re right, which is why I never called him back,” Cheryl answered.

“I don’t blame you,” I added.

“I have to get to class. I’m glad your first time went so well,” Cheryl said suddenly.

“Cool. I’ll see you at the Old Barrel later?” I asked, just to be sure.

“Yeah, I’ll be there later.” Cheryl smiled, then left the kitchen.

“How are you?” Kim asked, concern on her face now that Cheryl was gone.

“I’m good, thanks. I wasn’t holding onto my virginity out of some misguided notion about purity, I just hadn’t felt the need to do it yet. I suppose until now I didn’t know how to lose it either. Sounds crazy, I know but everyone had a list and I felt bad for not having or for not writing a list of what should happen when I did lose my v-card. At least this way, there was some kind of purpose to it. And it was better than some of the horror stories I’ve heard about over the years.”

“Good, I’m glad. I was hoping it wasn’t horrible for you.” Kim reached across the table to pat my hand, a kind gesture that worked as good as a hug when it came from her.

“It wasn’t, far from it!”

I couldn’t get rid of this big grin which seemed to be plastered all over my face. It was a grin that was telling the world that no longer did I have my v-card. It was gone, forever lost and it wasn’t coming back!

Not that it could, even if I wanted it to.

“That’s great, it really is.” Kim smiled and I could see her mood lift visibly. “Any plans with Mr. Thursday?” she asked and stood up to wash up our coffee cups. I’d decided to grab a raspberry danish on the way to class so we hadn’t made breakfast.

“No, he’s still being shy. Wants to text more.” I was a little confused by it, but he was cautious, I’d noticed. Almost every word he typed to me seemed to be thought over for long minutes before he sent it to me. That or he was a really slow typist. Even on a phone keyboard.

“Well, have fun with that. I’ll see you at the Old Barrel, later.” She kissed my cheek and then went to her bedroom to dress.

I did the same and spent most of the day with my head down. I skipped my first class, which meant I didn’t get to see Archie, but I had to type up an article for the paper. I got it in and made my way to my second class. By the time that class finished, Jenny had texted me to tell me about how many papers they were already selling.

“We printed more this time, and we’re already getting requests for more.” She was so excited about it I couldn’t help but laugh at all the emojis she’d sent.

“I’m glad it’s working, otherwise my poor interviewee would be so embarrassed.” I typed out.

That was a secret, even from Jenny. Only the guys and Kim and Cheryl knew that I was the subject of the articles. They were the only people who needed to know, it was no one’s business but mine and the guys.

I went to lunch later and had a burrito with a salad. An odd mix, but it worked for me. The day had turned boring, but it wasn’t long before Carlos texted me.

“Hey, how’s your day going?” he asked.

“Fine, just having lunch, want to join me?” I texted just in case he wanted to meet up after all.

“Sorry, I’ve got to get to a meeting with my student adviser.”

Hmph. Well, fine then.

“Cool. I hope it goes well.”

“Thanks.”

“How are you?” I asked, wondering now if he was in trouble academically.

“Fine, too, just working out what classes to take next semester. I’m good otherwise.”

“Oh, that. I forgot we needed to do that. I’ll have to set up a meeting with my adviser too.” Choosing classes could be a pain because some had pre-requisites, and all of the ones I wanted to take had those. I should have those all covered by the end of this semester, so I was looking forward to taking some of the classes I wanted to take.

“You’d better hurry, before all the good classes are filled.” He added a wink to the text, and I laughed softly.

I sent my adviser an email and set a meeting up for after lunch. I was lucky he had time open, otherwise I’d have had to wait another week. I headed over to his office and he made it as painless as possible as we discussed which classes I wanted to take and how my schedule would look. I was happy with his suggestions.

It was the beginning of November now, and I’d soon be heading back home just outside of the city for Thanksgiving. I wonder what would happen to my men then? Would we still all be seeing each other? I thought about it as I walked down to the paper. I’d meet Cheryl and Kim at the bar later, for now, I needed to check in with Jenny.

“Oh, here she is, the porn-peddler that’s saved us all. Let’s clap for her everybody.” Carter stood up from his desk to slow clap sarcastically as he talked loud enough for all of us to hear.

“Eat a bag of dicks, Carter,” I hissed at him as my cheeks turned bright red and I headed to Jenny’s office.

“Yeah, eat a bag of dicks, Carter. You’re just jealous,” Mary said and scowled at him. “We all know it so stop being such an asshole and sit down.”

Wow, I thought as I sent a smile back to her over my shoulder, I hadn’t expected that. I still had the smile on my face when Jenny called through the door for me to come in.

“Hey, how’s it going?” I closed the door behind me, always worried she’d start to bawl me out at any point over this whole polyamory thing.

“Great. We’ve already got enough money to cover extra copies Friday, and for a couple of months, I think. Actually, I think we’ve made enough from online revenue and the paper sales that we’re good until the end of next semester too.”

“Oh, wow. You’re serious?” I asked, floored at what she’d just said.

“Yes, people are loving the series and theoretically, you could stop writing the articles now, but only theoretically. Don’t stop writing. People love this story.” She pointed her finger at me and frowned as her glasses slid down her nose comically.

We both laughed as she pushed them back up.

“I’m glad it’s going well.” I took a deep breath, satisfied that I’d done my job that well. “I guess it wasn’t such a bad idea after all.”

“I wasn’t sure about it, but you know I can’t tell you what to write about. I might have tried to discourage you, but the way you explained it made sense. It’s not porn we’re peddling, as Carter so ineloquently put it, it’s information. Information that people obviously want. And Mary’s right, he’s only jealous.” She gave me a deep look, and I knew she meant it.

“You heard that?”

“The door is thin, I couldn’t help but hear it, as I’m sure he’d planned.” She shrugged and rolled her eyes. “You’re a woman and that threatens his sense of what he is. He thinks he’s better because he’s a man, he’s made that clear from day one. Probably not the best thing to do when your student newspaper adviser is an award-winning female.”

“Not made a very nice bed for himself, has he?” I couldn’t help the smirk. He’d earned it.

“Not at all. He’s made a bed of nails for himself is what he’s done. He’ll probably do alright once he’s out in the world, but here? Nope, he won’t get an easy ride from me.”

“Thanks.” I nodded not sure what to say.

“Anyway, take a break for now, then send me something Sunday evening, Monday morning at the latest. I think if we put too many articles in a week, we’ll burn the readers out, but two a week should be good for now. Especially with everything you’re doing online as well. You have to have time to work on your classes, too. Don’t let that slip.”

“I won’t.” I had already done that, but the reminder was a good one. I’d have to buckle down, somehow, and get back to my schoolwork too.

“Okay, well, that’s all for today. Why don’t you head home and get some homework done, or have a break even? Do something fun.”

“Thanks, I will,” I answered and got up to go.

A night of texting Carlos was what I had planned, in between I’d work on some schoolwork and work on taking things to the next level with Carlos.