Chapter 107

December 17, 2017

I woke sometime in the middle of the night to Heather moving behind me. I realized that I was on my left side, that Heather was snuggled into my backside with her right arm around my waist, her crotch pressed tightly into my butt. Brett was on his back and ... not snoring, but breathing slightly heavily and regularly, so he had gotten to sleep. The “interesting” part was that my face was against his right shoulder and my right foot was resting on his legs. I remember lying there for a while trying to decide whether to move my foot and/or head, but do not recall deciding.

The next time I woke, I could feel light on my eyelids, but didn’t open my eyes, as I felt so comfortable snuggled between my lovers, lying on my left side, my right arm over one lover, another snuggled tightly into my backside. I could feel the lover behind me had her chin on my right shoulder. That felt a little odd, so I lifted my head a little and turned it toward that lover. I saw Heather’s beautiful blue eyes.

Her face beamed at me as she said, “Look that way,” as her head indicated out in front of me.

Oh, my! I had forgotten that not all occupants of the bed in which I lay were my lovers, despite that the view was very similar to other views I’ve had of the Go5 here in the Monstrosity early in the morning. There was Heather behind me, happy as she virtually always is upon waking with any of us. I could also see Liya on her left side curled into the girl beyond her. However, Brett was between us, and my right arm and leg were both draped over him ... the very same posture and position in which Brett and Liya were all laying. The five of us were a nested set.

I turned my head slightly toward Heather and shrugged my right shoulder, after which she whispered in my ear, “He’s been like that the whole time I’ve been awake, which must be 20 minutes by now. It’s kind of sweet, and I’m sure he’s still asleep, so we wouldn’t take him to task for it, but you know how he’d react. It will scare him if he realizes he’s wrapped around Liya.”

I whispered back, “Liya, if she’s awake, will not move a muscle so that she can enjoy him wrapped around her.”

Heather nodded in agreement, her eyes sparkling. The two of us just lay there, watching Brett ... and Liya for, perhaps, ten or 15 minutes. When Brett suddenly lifted his head a bit off his pillow, I slowly let mine dig back into my pillow and Heather lifted her chin off my shoulder, obviously laying her head back. I could feel Brett’s whole body go tense under my arm and leg as he began to move, so I faked a little groan, tightened my arm around Brett, and moved my leg mostly off him. He froze.

After perhaps a half-minute, he became marginally less tense and moved his butt back into me slightly, but there was not much room. It dawned on me that he might have done that to move his penis away from Liya, a penis that I assumed must be at least partially erect. Given that, as Heather said, he might be scared that we’d consider him to have broken the rules, any erection he might have had might be deflating.

I took pity on him, stretching my right arm into the air, rolling my head back, and faked a deep yawn, then leaned up onto my left elbow and looked over Brett’s shoulder. He turned his head to me, his face showing his fear.

“I didn’t do anything! I woke up like this! I...”

I quietly cut him off, saying, “It’s okay. I know. Look at us, all of us.”

He lifted his head and looked over Liya, then turned toward me as I felt Heather lift her head, put her chin on my shoulder, then stretch her right arm into the air and yawned.

She said a sleepy, “G’morning, Brett. Did you get some sleep?”

That reduced the amount of fear in his eyes, and he looked at me.

I told him, “We five occasionally sleep together here in the Monstrosity. We often wake like this, with everyone curled into each other in the same direction. We don’t think you broke the rules, so don’t worry about it. Heather, you and I should probably at least skootch a bit in your direction, because he might be most concerned about ... the part of his body in contact with Liya’s exquisite butt.”

Brett went a bit red, and Heather giggled, but she followed my direction, which allowed me to move a bit away from Brett and turn onto my back, although Heather stayed on her left side facing the others. Brett moved toward me ... or, rather, away from Liya with alacrity, then rolled onto his front, folded his arms onto his pillow under his head, then turned to face me.

“Don’t worry about it, Brett. It’s our understanding that guys don’t have any real control over that, and we’re sure you weren’t taking advantage of the situation. The fear on your face was just too real. I appreciate that you were concerned about our friendship. While we might not value the friendship as much as you do – and I’m not at all certain that we don’t, I can’t believe that we value it all that much less than you do.”

“Beth’s right,” Kim said from the far end as she rolled over onto her right side to face us. “We’ve all come to value your friendship to varying degree, and we would not cavalierly throw it away.” She looked down at Liya who was rolling over a bit, and said, “Liya, I’ve spent the night with a boyfriend a few times, but never woke feeling so comfortable and so ... safe and ... appreciated as I did waking up with you curled into me with your arm around me. I heard Beth tell Brett that you girls occasionally sleep together and wake up like we all did, nested into each other. Is that right?” When Liya nodded, Kim responded, “I find myself a little jealous of you girls. I wouldn’t have thought that I’d feel at all comfortable waking with a girl wrapped around me, but it did feel ... comfortable, cozy, and I’m ... surprised. I might want to be included in a subsequent sleepover here if one comes about.”

Liya stretched as she answered, “We’ll see how it went all around, but I feel well rested and you’re a perfectly reasonable bed partner. You don’t kick or move around all that much. Rhee’s a bit too active on some nights, but she’s warm, so the equation sort of balances.”

Both Heather and Kim snickered, and Brett gave out a single low chuckle.

He turned over and said, “Liya, I really didn’t ... wrap around you ... knowingly. Please, believe me.”

She rolled toward him, replying, “I do. Don’t worry about it. Over the past few months, I’ve probably woken with five different girls wrapped around me from behind. As Kim said, it’s a nice way to wake, given that one probably doesn’t go to bed very often with someone that one doesn’t like. I don’t recall waking like that this morning, but it is comfortable. If you woke wrapped around me because that’s simply how you found yourself, then no foul, as we told you last night. I understand that it could be embarrassing from your end, but none of us will complain if we find ourselves in that situation with you if it was something you didn’t consciously do. There’s no need to feel embarrassed, although I don’t expect my words to cause you not to be embarrassed if you wake like that.”

“I’m so glad I overcame my shyness with girls enough to sit with you girls that first day. My subsequent happiness and friendships with most of the pretty girls in 9^th grade ... and some of the prettiest seniors is all due to that. I almost declined Beth’s invitation, but I just couldn’t do that, as I’ve always wanted to be her friend.”

Liya rolled onto her right side, raised her eyebrows at me, then began leaning into Brett. I understood, and the two of us each kissed one of his cheeks.

After the quick kiss, I said, “Thanks for managing that and for your friendship. You, the girls with whom we’ve developed friendships at the lunch table, and the soccer team have made our 9^th-grade experience quite enjoyable.”

Kim leaned on and over Liya and kissed him quickly on his left cheek and said, “I thank you, too, particularly for showing me by your example of how you treat us girls that I had settled for less than I think I deserve in a guy.”

She inhaled deeply, then exhaled, as Liya glanced back and forth between Kim’s chest and face only inches in front of her face. I barely kept my laughter to myself.

Kim began, “I wish...” She shook her head rapidly, then leaned back away from Brett and off Liya, but said, “I hope that we’ll have further sleepovers and I hope that you’ll be invited, Brett. From what Beth said last night and this morning, if they do happen, you could sleep with more of the ... what did Victor call us? The ‘Central soccer babes?’ Yeah, that’s it. Maybe you could wind up sleeping with all of us!”

Kim’s slight smile spread into a huge grin, and she giggled, but her mien then moderated to a neutral appearance.

“Thanks, Brett. You’re not directly responsible, but at least partly because of you I am more comfortable, happier with myself than I’ve been in a while. I don’t have a boyfriend anymore, but I certainly don’t need a boyfriend like that. I think I want to remember how to make myself happy, rather than depending upon a boyfriend for happiness which, if I’m honest – and I’m sorry to be so ... direct if you or the girls object, turned out only to be sexual satisfaction, and not even that all that often. That’s going to be my new rule if or when I date again. I have to be happy with and by myself before I can share intimacy with someone else. I think it’s too easy to look for my happiness in someone else. I’m happier lounging in this bed with you ... and these girls than I ever was waking up to my ... ex-boyfriend.”

She giggled again, then looked up at me with a smile, and said, “You freshmen are another cause of change in ... my ego. You five that live here are nearly always happy, and none of you are even dating. If you’re okay with it, I want to spend more time with you girls, the lunch-table girls. Brit’s obviously got something of a problem, but the rest of you are happy, and I’d like to spend time with happy people. You also brought Meka back to all of us. Yes, you didn’t do that on purpose ... or for us, but because Meka spent time with you, you worked your amazing freshmen-girl-soccer-nut magic and even with her massive problem, she’s happier than she’s been in ... a long time, although I was clueless for most of that time why she seemed so unhappy.

“I haven’t really talked to Hope about what’s gotten her to reassess her life, but she came to you girls, too. If you object to us imposing ourselves on you girls, you need to tell us, specifically, because we’re probably going to be spending more time with you for the foreseeable future and screw those bitches of senior girls that we used to think were our friends. Meka and Katie never fell into that ... clique, and Katie never liked them, but she never held that against us, thank goodness. Of course, Rachel hardly talks to anyone, and she’s happy spending time with her boyfriend – who’s a great guy, and us.”

I lay there absolutely stunned by how much I’d learned about the seniors in the past few minutes. While Meka had opened up to us about her dad, little of the rest of the lives of those five seniors had come to light in all the time we’d spent with some or all of them. And Kim kept going in the same, quiet, understated voice.

“For whatever reason or reasons, the junior class never had more than a couple, at most, girl soccer players, and Rose is the only one that stuck with it, until the Brits arrived this year, so we’ve never socialized much with the juniors. And, of course [she rolled her eyes], we couldn’t exactly slum with the girls two years younger.” She shook her head in sarcasm, then added, “Now, of course, we’re latching onto freshmen, and a gob of them at that. How stuck up were we? We never even really talked last year with Jordan or Nicole or any of the other seven current sophomores, girls that we learned this year are perfectly pleasant people because we allowed you freshmen to act as bridges between us. I would change a lot, if I could, to make the past better. I can only make my future better, and I choose to do that by spending more time with Meka, Katie, and the big crop of freshmen girls ... and one boy ... that I find are fun to be around, despite that they’re so much younger than I am ... but seem to have their heads screwed on straighter than mine has been in quite some time. If you’ll put up with a stupid senior, I would like to spend more time with you.”

I stared into Kim’s eyes as I could see and feel Liya, Brett, and Heather look hard at me.

“I think we’d like that. However, I have to ask a question that you could consider insulting.”

She held up her hand to stop me, then said, “I probably know what question. Even if I’m wrong in that, I’ll still answer that question: No. I’m not trying to ingratiate myself with Brett. Yes, he’s very attractive, incredibly nice, very funny, and an all-around nice guy. If I were even a year younger...”

I nodded and responded, “That was the question. Thanks. We would like to get to know all of you seniors better and would like spending more time with you. We’ve spent more time with Meka than the rest of you, combined, but in the couple minutes you were talking, we’ve learned more about Meka than we learned in all the time we’ve spent with her, not counting stuff about her dad and her younger life. You seniors seem to be more private than we understood.”

She nodded at me, saying, “Obviously, Meka should tell you about Meka, but she is, particularly for as outgoing as she is, a private person. You girls had, perhaps, a better prybar to get details of her life out of her, but she does open up to long-term friends. She obviously really likes you girls ... and you, Brett, so be patient. Hope is probably the least private of us, but she’s also been the biggest ... social butterfly. Even though Rachel is a much more intensely private person, we know more important things about her than we do about Hope, who tries to keep most interactions on a superficial level. As I said earlier, we don’t know the cause of her recent apparent reassessment of her life, so don’t know if she’ll be more forthcoming ... with us, with you ... or not. But she is fun.”

“Thanks, Kim. I also wanted to say that, while we’re friends with Brett, he is not ours, and if he wants to date you, that’s his decision. I’ve always considered Brett to be a nice guy and one or more of us may want to date him in the future, but again, his decision is his. I will say that it’s become much more likely some of us would like to date him since he’s pulled himself at least partly out of his shell.” I turned to him, saying, “I don’t mean to talk about you in front of you; I apologize. I will tell you that coming out of your shell will make you more attractive to ... a lot of girls, not just ... Central soccer babes. Brett, I would like to get to know you better. Hell, we all would, even Kim over there. We freshmen are not dating this year and we won’t decide about next year until after school soccer season, as we’re committed to education and soccer. I’m sure that one or more of us might like to try a date with you once we begin dating as we’re all ... interested.”

“I hear more activity, so at least some of the Go6 should probably begin thinking about breakfast.”

“Hey,” Kim said, “That’s another thing. What’s that Go6 thing?”

“Oh, sorry. Dad dubbed Rhee, Gracey, Liya, and me the Gang of Four way back when, borrowing a term from something in China’s history. I keep meaning to look that up; I should really get around to it. Anyway, we changed it to Gang of Five when Heather joined us, then Gang of Six when Civia did,” I finished, then shrugged my shoulders at her. I looked around, then said, “I don’t feel like changing, so I’m heading to the kitchen in my PJs.”

Meka, followed by Civia, beat us to the kitchen by seconds, and the two of them sang out a chorus of, “Morning,” to the five of us.

“What do we want for breakfast?”

Civia asked, “Waffles?”

I scratched my head, thinking, then answered, “We can do that. You know where the irons are. I’ll get dry ingredients.”

Meka said, “Waffles sounds good, but some of you might want to think about getting near a brush sometime soon,” after which she grinned at us.

I felt my head, then rolled my eyes, but came back at her with, “Obviously you’re behind the times. Don’t you know that bedhead is in?”

She grinned at me and riposted, “I’ve never been one to chase after ephemeral styles like a lot of airhead blondes do.”

I shook my head at her, then stepped over and hugged her.

“We’re so glad you’re in our lives!”

She hugged me back and replied, “Ditto, Girl. Ditto.”

Others began showing up and the Go6 and a couple others began dealing with waffles, eggs, and table settings. All sleepover participants were in the kitchen by the time we had started pouring batter onto the irons, with the warming oven heating. Fortunately, everyone dove into the process at one point or another, so Civia and I did not have to make all 30 of the waffles we ate. We had maple and boysenberry syrups and some of Dad’s mango-raspberry compote.

Meka said, “You should all try either or both non-maple options. The boysenberry is great, and Charlie’s compote is to-die-for. We don’t have much of the latter, so don’t take a lot.”