Chapter 138

February 2, 2018

Dear Ms. Diary,

At lunch, as we had for Meka’s birthday, I began passing out those little cone-shaped party hats, to which Lana’s eyes went wide and she squeaked, “Are we having a p-party ... for m-me?”

“Yours is the only birthday today that I know.”

I passed out 16 hats, the extras for Seamus, who had become regular at the tables, and Jess, who joined us for the third time this week. I had brought one other spare but did not need it. Liya, again, had coordinated with Carol. She put the box she had carried carefully into the lunchroom and placed it in the middle of the table, then extracted an 11x8 cake with “Happy15^th” written in icing on it, and with a single candle. I handed Meka the small matchbox I had brought, and she lit the candle, then slid the cake to in front of Lana.

Meka told her, “Since you’re the birthday girl, I sup-po-o-ose you could serve yourself a corner.”

There was much chuckling, although Seamus and Jess could not know the reference.

We sang her the birthday song, she blew out the candle, and, once again, we enjoyed Carol’s chocolate-glazed fudge cake at school.

“Wow,” Jess exclaimed as the first bite hit her palate. “I lucked out by joining this table for lunch this week. This is brill! Thanks for having a birthday today, Lana.”

“Hey, I don’t recall choosing to be born today, but I’m happy you could join us. I don’t want to offend you, but I love how you talk. I think I could listen to you read from the dictionary.”

“Thanks, I guess. I didn’t have any choice about how I sound, but you Yanks all seem to like it.”

“We do,” responded Liya. “I’m third generation here, so I have none of that ... lilt I like so much. It makes me remember my grandmother, although only a bit, as she doesn’t have the British accent. The combo is what we like so much about your speech. Also, we’re happy that you’ve been spending time with us here this week.”

Jess shrugged, smirked, then replied, “I’m happy that my presence makes you happy.”

There was much chuckling.

During cake-eating, Brett asked Jess, “Are you going to be here next year? I know your father’s at the university, but I also know that professors come and go.”

“Yes. He’s working on a multi-year project. The family will be here for at least three more years. I’m hoping I can get all the way through university in the States.”

“That’d be great,” Meka responded. “We might not have done nearly so well this year had you and Jules not found yourselves here. Last year’s coach did not get our backups any significant game time, because she was so focused on the team winning the league so she could move up in the hierarchy of coaching jobs. And look what those same girls did this year. This year’s team would have kicked last year’s team’s butt, partly because our backups became comfortable in games, and we could give starters serious breathers. However, without you Brits, we’d have had to play last year’s backups even if they weren’t ready. Oh, presumably they’d have gotten to the same level of comfort and done reasonably well. However, while we might have made the league tournament, we may not have won the thing. I’m not sure PK would have gotten to the point where she could be Petaluma’s doom without all the game time she got this year before she sealed or won every game with them.”

“Yeah, she came on well, as did all the midfield subs. They’ll probably be pushing us next year.”

As we were cleaning up, Lana said, “Thanks, all, f-for ... this. Goddess, it’s so good to have friends! Particularly these friends!”

Civia was in the W house when we got home, and she gave each of us hugs. We stripped to match her state of nudity.

We were watching a third-season episode of Rocky and Bullwinkle when Celeste arrived an hour or so later, calling out, “Hi, honeys. I’m home.”

By chance, Civia was the first to greet her, and in the same manner she had greeted us.

After we had all hugged her, she looked around at us, then said, “There are so many things I like better about living here than on campus, but one of the best is the clothing-optional policy.”

“I know,” replied Civia. “I was a bit weirded out the first time they did this to me. Had I not already liked them and wanted them to like me, I might not have gone with it, and I’d have missed something that I really enjoy!” Her tone moderated and she added, “At home, I can do it only in my room.”

Celeste doffed her clothing right there and joined us as we watched the rest of the episode. When it was over, she donned only the shirt and jeans.

As she headed toward the back door, she said, “I’m heading to the J to get ready for work. Charlie texted me that Emma and crew are finished with the attic except for the intercom and that they put together the new Semi-super Monstrosity up there. Anyone that wants to sleep with me there is welcome. I’ve come to really like having someone else in bed.”

“I know. That’s another thing that my ... my unrelated sisters got me liking. Sometimes, at ... at my first home, I find it a bit lonely in my bed by myself. I really like it when I wake in the middle of the night and find one of my sisters curled into me or vice-versa. I really love my parents, but I’d really like to live here, where I can sleep with a lot of my friends.” She smiled, shrugged, and continued with, “At least I get two or three Friday nights a month here, as well as the occasional weekend.” She smirked, then added, “I ... I think my parents go ... a little crazy when I’m not there at night.”

Meka asked, “How so?”

“Umm ... the couch is sometimes much more ... rumpled than Mom usually lets it get.”

“And you’re okay with that,” asked Celeste.

“Yes. It shows that they still love each other. Oh, I’d know that, anyway, from how they act around me. They’re ... I’ve noticed that they touch each other a lot, you know, like Dad will lightly touch Mom’s face or Mom will rub a hand up or down his back for ... no apparent reason. Don’t you think that means something?”

“I’m sure it does,” answered Rhee. “Dad and the Moms do things like that all the time.”

“I’ve noticed that. I ... I like it. I mean, it’s good that our parents still ... love each other ... because I think it means that our parents won’t split up. Maren came over after school last Friday. We didn’t do much, but we talked a lot, mostly about our ... respective families. She said that she didn’t remember many details from when they were living with her father, but that she saw the change in how her mom, Emma, and her recent husband acted with each other. She said when she noticed that change, she began worrying, with justification, obviously.” Civia glanced around, then said, “Mom and I, sometimes with Dad, too, have had a ... number of talks about ... you know ... umm ... sex ... and stuff like relationships. Mom said that while the ... sex was important in ... committed relationships like marriages, the ... touching ... she called it ‘casual intimacy,’ is just as important. She said that ... casual touching like I see them do reminds both that they love each other.”

“Civia,” Celeste said, “you have wonderful parents, if they’re going that deeply into relationships like that, explaining more than simply how sex works and telling you not to do it. I didn’t get anything like that, particularly at your age.” She turned to me and asked, “Did you?” When I nodded, she turned back to Civia and stated, “I don’t know what you think about sex and relationships for yourself, and I don’t need to know, but with what your parents have taught you, you’re almost certainly better prepared for the realities of those things than I was. That ... lack was part of the reason I screwed up so badly in high school. Most of it was my own fault, but I probably wouldn’t have screwed up quite so badly had I known more. I had to learn all those things myself, often the hard way. I’d offer to go back in time and trade with you in order to have your parents, but I wouldn’t want you to have to live through what I did. If you ever have questions, feel free to ask me. If you do that, you need to tell your parents that you did and what I said in response. I don’t want them feeling as if I were causing you to work around them.”

Civia ran the few paces and slammed her body into Celeste’s hugging her tightly. Celeste hugged her back just as tightly.

As the intensity of the hug began to decline, Civia burbled, “I love that I now have older sisters. I love this ... new family I have.”

February 3, 2018

Dear Ms. Diary,

I woke in the Monstrosity with Kim curled around me, and I figured that out without opening my eyes. She has a little whistle, almost subsonic, in her breathing when she’s asleep. I woke because the air was stifling, as the Go6 and Kim had decided to all sleep together, and that was the biggest bed in the W. [Celeste had been dropping the “house” part of “J house” and “W house,” and it had started catching on with the rest of us.] After I warned the parents and they agreed not to come into the living room until we had gotten up, we seven had stripped off and piled in. We fit, but we were nearly edge-to-edge on the mattresses and there was no wasted space between bodies. We had purposefully put Rhee and Gracey on the outside edges so there was no chance anyone got caught between those two warm bodies. I was curled into Rhee, my right hand between her breasts. I reveled in the closeness, but I was wishing for a bit more air movement.

When Kim’s whistle abated and she moved her right hand to hold my left breast, I purposefully moaned very quietly. Although she kept her hand on my breast, I could feel her lift and look around, presumably to see where and in what state Civia was. Evidently, she was still next to Gracey and asleep, as Kim squeezed my breast, then put her mouth at my right ear.

“I still want Meka first, but I’m beginning to get excited by the prospect of making love with you.”

I moaned softly again.

“Sorry to sour the mood, but I’d like to get some air. Could we get out without waking everyone?”

I know not how we managed it, but even Heather, who was curled into Civia’s back side, did not wake as we slowly worked our way out of the covers, down the bed, then off.

Upstairs in the bathroom, she was sitting on the throne when she said, “The date last night was really good, so thanks for suggesting it.” When I explained that Rhee had suggested two dates per week, that I had just suggested driving around, she said, “Not important. I’ll thank Rhee, too, but the driving around was what I think made it good. Meka drove, so had to keep part of her mind on that task, and the novelty of it kept me from stressing out about not making a good impression. And that was the biggest part of making it so good. You were right that I’ve been worrying about the process instead of simply enjoying myself. I didn’t stress about it and I did enjoy myself. The date was a lot of fun. I’m ... a bit more positive about the outcome.”

She looked up at me and grinned, then said, “And here I am telling you about my date while I’ve been emptying my bladder, and I didn’t really take note of that until just now. Everything you girls do ... and how you do it, is rubbing off on the rest of us.”

I replaced her on the toilet, then responded, “We aren’t trying to make everyone do things the way we do them.”

“Of course not. But, you girls, particularly the Go5, have been figuring out how to live in each other’s pockets for much longer than anyone else and none of the rest of us have anything like that experience. You’ve figured out some of the things that work and some of the things that don’t. At least, I suspect you’ve ... jettisoned things you figured out didn’t work, as I’ve never seen anything you girls do that I thought was odd at first, then thought it was just wrong or that there was a better way to do it. Also, look at this, what we’re doing now. We’re bonding further while doing something each of us had to do and which is ... as Heather said, boring. You’ve even made peeing into something that brings us closer together. I’ll bet you that every girl, if she’s thought about it, has thought something like ‘this girl or these girls must truly like me if she or they will talk with me, even kiss me, while I’m doing something that could be considered at least a little odd to do in semi-public ... if not disgusting.’ Whether you thought this out or it just happened ... organically, it doesn’t matter. There are now at least 11 of us that don’t think twice about peeing while one or seven other girls are in the room, talking or applying deodorant or ... or whatever.”

I did not know how to respond to that. I do not know if she thought I was flustered – I was, somewhat, but she stepped next to me, tipped my head back a bit, then kissed me. I moaned into her mouth as she elevated the kiss’s intensity a bit and moaned again when she fondled my left breast briefly, after which she pulled back.

“Yes; very much looking forward to making love with you.”

“And I want you, so much. Please don’t get ... upset, but ... I love you, Kim.”

She looked at me with no expression for a few seconds, then asked, “Why would I get upset that one of the very prettiest, loveliest, smartest girls I know loves me? Yes, there was a time that I couldn’t have accepted that, but it was the same time period that I thought James was good for me. I no longer trust what I thought I was feeling back then, as so much of it was either overblown or just flat out wrong. I ran away from Meka – who I loved and who loved me in return, just because we were both girls and I believed just enough too much of what people said about dyke bitches and lesbians. Yet, here I am. I’ve just shared a wonderful kiss with a beauty of a jailbait girl, am lusting after and trying to get back the best thing I’ve ever had in my life, and I’ve even had sex within a big pile of girls in bed.

“So, why would I be upset with that beauty of a jailbait girl because she loves me. Not only does she love me, but she told me she did. I don’t know that I love you, but I can, by goddess, certainly imagine being in love with you. I think that it would feel much like I felt that fateful day in Meka’s bed. I’m certain, now, about what that overwhelming feeling was, the feeling that was simply too large to accept and do what I wanted to do: lean in and kiss my best-ever friend on the lips. And keep kissing her for as long as she’d let me. That’s what I was thinking, feeling that day, and I can easily imagine feeling that way about you. So, no, it does not concern me at all that you love me. In truth, you’ve made my morning, and I’m going to do with you what I should have done with Meka those three years ago.”

I tried to stand, but she put her hands on my shoulders to keep me seated, then straddled my lap, parked her butt on it, pressed her torso against mine, slowly moved her face to mine, and kissed me thoroughly.

When she pulled back, she looked in my eyes, and said, “That was good! I don’t know how I’m going to be able to love so many, like ... so many of your family seem capable. You told me the other day that your dad has ‘an infinite capacity to love.’ You seem to be your father’s daughter. I have no doubt that you love every girl in the ... group, well, perhaps, save for Lana, who you’ve known for only a month. But with how many are you ‘in love?’”

As I looked back into her eyes, I pondered her question carefully. I tried to think of just one at a time and feel what I felt for that girl ... or woman as I gazed with my mind’s eye at the memory of each. Yes, Kim was right about Lana. I’m crazy about her, but I’ve spent only a few days with her. However, I could easily imagine falling in love with her, given how pretty, interesting, smart, and dynamic she is. She pushes every button of mine that I know causes me to fall for people. I thought about the sex. Yes, I’ve certainly had sex with girls, at least a couple, before I felt myself becoming to love them and be in love with them. I thought about Civia. Yes, I certainly love her, but she doesn’t twang my libido like ... every other girl or woman in the group does. Perhaps, she’s too young. She’s more than pretty enough. She’s certainly more than smart enough. She’s more than interesting enough. In fact, she’s become much more interesting than she was when we first met her, thanks to her coming out of something of a shell, becoming comfortable with us. Do I need her to have boobs before my libido is engaged? I did not know but decided that I was wasting time pondering that oft-pondered counter example of how I respond to girls.

I focused on Kim, again, and responded, “Virtually all of them. I don’t want to live without any of them. I don’t want to live without Civia, but I’m not in love with her, and I’ve not been able to figure out why that is, why we keep the sexual side of us away from her. But ... the answer you wanted is all but Civia and Lana. I have no doubt that I’ll fall in love with Lana, I just don’t know about Civia.”

“That’s what I thought. The real question is, ‘How is it that all those girls are also in love with you?’ Do you put a special ingredient in the waffles? Do you spike Carol’s chocolate-frosted fudge cake?”

I shrugged at her, then said, “I realized I was in love with Rhee in a sexual fashion long before I made a move with her. I was nearly positive she was in love with me, too, but I was so scared of being wrong and ruining an incredibly good friendship. I had read her correctly, and our relationship, which had been spectacular, became even better. She and I began hanging with Heather and on, I think, only the third day she spent with us, we had sex. I really liked her then, but I’m not sure I even loved her, yet, and was certainly not in love with her. Rhee and I had the same reaction to her, and we didn’t understand why that would be. We’re now mostly sure that that was sexual interest, but sexual interest for us was something that had built slowly between us as we went through puberty together, so we think that’s why we didn’t recognize that for what it was.

“That, having Heather become a sexual partner, changed our lives. With Heather, we were friends, then lovers, then committed and in love. We didn’t figure any of that out until months afterward, so our analysis may be suspect, but it makes sense to us. Then, through something of an accidental occurrence, we began spending sleepover time with Gracey and Liya naked. The four of us had been fast friends for years, but our experience with Heather – again, analyzed after the fact – got us understanding at least a little of what we’d been feeling for them, and the next sleepover was their introduction to sex, and that introduction was in a group format with lots of ... changing of partners. That introduction also got Gracey and Liya to realize what they felt for each other, and they’ve been a couple ever since ... except...”

“Except most of your sex now involves even more girls ... and various of your parents.”

I nodded, frowned briefly, then added, “There’s still a little separation between our trio and their duo, but that separation was not huge at the beginning, and it’s been getting smaller and smaller.” I furrowed my brow in thought, then said, “With ... the group, if Rhee and I are, say, a binary star system, Heather’s a passing star that we captured into our gravity well and have mostly figured out how the three of us orbit the midpoint of all the mass. Of course, that gets into the three-body problem, but one can take analogies only so far.”

I looked at her to ensure that she understood the three-body problem reference. She nodded, so I continued.

“And if Gracey and Liya are another binary star system, they’re the very next star system over, while all the rest of ... our various lovers make up the galaxy in which we reside. While the trio and the duo may seem far apart, relative to all the rest of the stars in the neighborhood, the five of us are packed tightly together. Does that make sense?”

“Perfectly so. Beth, you’re fucking amazing! I don’t know that I’ll ever know anyone else that can make a connection between sets of lovers and orbital mechanics.”

“I wouldn’t take that bet,” said Heather as she entered the bathroom from the hall. “Beth is ‘fucking amazing!’” She looked at both of us, shrugged, then said, “Sorry. I’ve been listening to your conversation. I really don’t like it when people do that to me, but it seemed ... important. However, other than the problems inherent in correctly predicting the future of the three bodies in a three-body problem, her analogy is solid. Even Dad is off elsewhere in the galaxy for us. But there are gobs and gobs of light-years between our galaxy ... and ... any ... other ... astronomic bodies of any sort ... although we do seem to attract to our gravity well a few passing stars that share our interests, even some who don’t recognize that they share our interests.”

Kim nodded, saying, “That fits me, precisely. I found myself still within the gravitational pull of Meka after seemingly achieving escape velocity, and I got pulled back in and noticed these other stars in her vicinity. After making a few strongly elliptical orbits, I realized that she was orbiting you five. I told Sandy when she asked me the question that I knew I was orbiting you girls. At first, it was only because I had an outer-shell orbit around Meka, but you girls definitely perturbed my orbit of Meka, and I think I’m orbiting the center of the mass of you five and Meka. It’s something of a crazy, weird-ass orbit, but I’m really liking it.”

“Excuse me. May I join this fascinating conversation?” When we turned to look at Celeste in the doorway from Gracey’s and Liya’s room, she said, “I generally don’t eavesdrop, but you may not be aware that I got lonely in that huge bed in the attic and decided to come sleep in the GL bed. I truly tried not to listen, but you were talking astrophysics, and I have something of a minor interest in the subject.”

We chuckled at her, after which she said, “I might quibble with some of the astrophysical particulars, but, like Kim, I was thunderstruck by your initial analogy, Beth. I was also surprised, and very happy at both Heather and Kim continuing the analogy in a surprisingly cogent fashion.

“However, I can also tell you that I have felt – oh, what the hell – the effects of dark matter astir in more-distant parts of your universe, specifically in the parents’ bedroom and the vicinity of the Monstrosity. I fear our family is awake and may be aware of some parts of a private discussion held in a different sector of the universe.”

I stepped to Celeste and hugged her, saying, “You do know I love you. Right? You’re a stellar addition to this crazy family.”

She laughed, then said, “All right, all right. Enough of the space terms!”

Dad made his mango-raspberry compote, the Moms made pancakes and bacon, and we had a wonderful time sharing breakfast with so many of our favorite people.

Civia caused a bit of furor when she asked Inez, “Did you sleep in the parents’ room?” When a sudden and dread silence descended, she realized the problem and stated, “I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to be nosy. I...” She turned back to Inez and added, “Where you sleep and why is your business and none of mine. I was just trying to figure out...”

Inez responded, “Last month, I wouldn’t have known how to answer your question, but I spent a lot of my free time in Florida this month analyzing where I found myself and trying to figure out how I felt about it. Unlike Sandy and Carol, I’m not married to Charlie. I know you’re smart, very smart, and you ... and your parents have been wonderfully accepting of the three-way marriage my co-parents have formed. Yes?”

“Yes, I am, and so are they. In fact, Mom mentioned that marriage recently, saying that she really liked everyone and enjoyed hanging out with them. I think they’d like to spend more time here, or, at least, with ... my second set of parents.”

“That’s good that Jeff and Kalina accept them, because I hope they’ll accept me, too. While I’m not married to them, you could consider me Charlie’s girlfriend, but a girlfriend that his wives know, know about, and like very much.”

Civia’s eyes went round, but she did not otherwise react.

She thought for a few seconds, then stated, “Both Dad and Mom have told me that just because someone’s lifestyle was different from what I knew, did not necessarily mean that it was bad. I love my second Dad and my second and third Moms and I really like that because they decided to marry each other, Rhee and Carol now live here, and I get to be with both a lot. I love my first family, but I also love my second family, and it’s getting so that there’s not much difference between how I feel about both families. I think it would be great if my first family lived here, too, because I could be with both all the time.” She looked at Sandy and Carol, then added, “I know that can’t be, but I’d like it.”

She turned back to Inez and said, “I know you and Nira are going to move into the A when its remodel is done. I’m glad that you’ve been living here when you’re not traveling, as I know you a lot better now than I did before. I’m looking forward to when you’re finished traveling so much for your study, as I know I’ll get to know you even better, and will probably come to love you, too, like I do my second and third Moms.”

“Come here and let me give you a hug.”

After the hug, Civia stated, “Charlie is a really lucky guy. His wives and his girlfriend are all pretty and fun.”

“Yes, I am, Civia. Very lucky, indeed. However, my good luck with wives and girlfriends extends to my large and growing cast of daughters. They’re also pretty, and you are one of those pretty daughters of mine. I love that you’re in our family and I love you like the daughter you are in our lives.”

That earned Dad a ferocious hug, although she did not crawl into his lap to give it to him, like she might have done four or five months ago.

I doubt she was hearing my thoughts, but it seemed like she had when she said, “I mostly like that I’m getting taller, but I’m sad that I’m getting too big to jump into either of my dads’ arms or climb into their laps for a hug. I’ll miss that.”

“Get up here, Girl!”

She grinned, then crawled into his lap and hugged him again, and he hugged her very tightly to him. I saw a tear trickle down his left cheek, a tear that Carol surreptitiously wiped away.

Kim ... Come to think of it, Kim seems to be very close by a lot. That thought gave me a shiver of pleasure. Anyway, Kim whispered in my ear, “He’s amazing.”

After Civia set out for her home, I wondered if she would tell her parents about Inez, and if she did, hoped that it would go well. However, that tidbit was kicked out of my mind as we prepared to go on Brit’s shopping trip. We picked up Brett and Lana in the Sprinter, Mom driving. Everyone got their greeting kisses in with the two of them as Mom headed us toward Cera’s house. After those two climbed in and got and gave their greeting kisses, I thought of something and talked to Cera next to me.

“It seems a bit weird that you can easily walk to Central, but you couldn’t to your middle school, whereas Rhee and I ... as can Civia, could walk to our middle school, but can’t walk to high school.”

“Yeah, that’s the vagaries of the physical placement of schools. Someone has to be close and that’s me. However, if we lived just up on the main street and southeast a bit, so just a few hundred yards, I’d have been in your middle school and wouldn’t have been able to walk to that one, either. While Brit isn’t close to the line between middle-school districts, we rode different buses, despite that it’s an easy walk between our houses. Since we didn’t socialize in middle school, nothing would have changed for her, but if I’d have been on the other side of the line, maybe I’d have found you girls earlier. Maybe I’d have been part of the original gang.”

“Does that bug you?”

“No! I’ve thought about this, because we are so close to the line. I might not have been part of your gang, and that would have changed how I reacted to you in high school and might not have decided to eat lunch with you. I wouldn’t change a thing to get to know you girls sooner, because I so love where I am, now. I cannot imagine that a better life than I have now could have come about if I’d been in your middle school. Perhaps, it could have been the same, but it might not have been, and virtually anything else would be worse than I have now.”

She looked around the Sprinter, leaned closer to me, and asked, “Do you truly understand how many lives you girls have made better?” When I did not reply, she continued with, “You girls are directly responsible for, not only getting Brit out of her shell, but also getting her to shine, to be happy. You had a large part in ... saving Meka from herself. You’ve helped Kim figure out what was wrong in her life and encouraged her to fix those things. And all you girls did was befriend those girls. You made no herculean efforts, you just showed them, showed us how to be happy with ourselves. You girls are fucking amazing and I’m in love with you all. As Heather said, I’m in through my last breath. Besides, if we figure everything out, my husband will be Brett and I’ll have Charlie as a lover. I need say nothing else to make it clear how much better you’ve made my life, and I thought it was pretty good before.”