Beth - Book Three

by Bronte Follower

©Copyright 2019 by Bronte Follower

Cast and Places

Cast of Characters

Girls, The Gang of Five (soccer position-if applicable, height, hair, ethnicity/nationality)

Beth Williams - The story’s protagonist plays critical roles in the story: leader of a small set of close friends; captain and starting offensive sweeper of the Elkton premier soccer team, 5’5”, blonde, white

Gracey (Graciela) García - Electronic hardware afficionado; member of the Elkton premier soccer team; 5’6”, black, Hispanic

Liya (Aliyah) Nadhi - Electronic software afficionado, hanger-on of the Elkton premier soccer team; 5’4”, black, India

Rhee (Rhiannon) Devlin - Beth’s best friend, member of the Elkton premier soccer team; starting center forward (striker); 5’5”, black, white

Heather Wilkerson - Impetus of the Gang of Four becoming the Gang of Five; member of the Elkton premier soccer team, starting right wing; 5’2”, white blonde, white

Girls, Elkton Premier Team members mentioned (position, height, hair, ethnicity/nationality)

Abby Huber - Backup right fullback; 5’5”, brown, white

Alex (Alexandra) Sinclair - Backup left wing; 5’3”, brown, white

Ann DeJong - Starting center fullback and (eventually) co-captain; 5’10”, dark brown, white

Brianna Maguire - Starting goalie; 5’8”, black, black

Dakota Brigham - Backup right midfielder (halfback); 5’5”, blonde, white

Emma Parkinson - Starting right midfielder; 5’4”, brown, white

Haven Randolph - Backup center midfielder; 5’6” brown, white

Kanda Obi - Backup left midfielder; 5’5”, black, Tanzania

Lana (Svetlana) Porchenko - Backup fullback; 5’7”, brown, white

Lissa Schmitt - Offense backup; 5’4”, dark brown, white

Marli Davidson - Backup goalie; 5’10”, brown, white

Mia Abernathy - Starting left wing; 5’5”, black, white

Padme Fahrad - Backup member of the offense; 5’3”, black, India

Rathi Dewan - Starting center midfielder; 5’5”, black, India

Sophia Reynolds - Backup fullback; 5’6”, auburn, white

Tonda Byers -- Backup center forward (striker); 5’7”, black, black

Zahira Khalil - Starting left fullback; 5’5”, black, Palestine

Zala Tadesse -- Starting right midfielder; 5’6”, black, Ethiopia

Soccer-team members (others)

Charlize Sanderson - Starting center forward (striker) of the Grass Valley premier soccer team; former teammate of Beth and Rhee when her family lived in Elkton; 5’5”, blonde, white

Katie Weeks - Member of Elkton Central High’s varsity soccer team and of the staff at The Cold Sweets; 5’6”, brown, white

Boys

Brett Jacobs - A very girl-shy heartthrob in Beth’s grade; 5’5”, brown, white

Bradley Whitford - A rich, bigoted boy in Beth’s grade; 5’6”; black, white

Adults

Charlie (Charles) Williams - Beth’s father is handsome and well built; 6’1”, blond, white

Sandy (Sandra) Williams - Beth is nearly a copy of her mother; 5’5”, blonde, white

Carol Devlin - Rhee’s divorced mother and friend of the Williams family; 5’6”, black, white

Coach Pam Virtanen - Coach of Elkton premier soccer team; 5’8”, brown, white

Constance Wilkerson - Heather’s mother; 5’1”, blonde, white

Horace and Harriet (Harry) Jacobsen - Retired university professor and wife, next-door neighbors of the Williams family

Inez García - Gracey’s mother; 5’7”, black, Hispanic

Chapter 30

July 22, 2017 (Saturday)

Dear Ms. Diary,

Both Rhee and I woke feeling crampy. At breakfast, Dad seemed to watch us quite carefully and noted our less-than-stellar moods. I saw the decision on his face to ask us again about concerns about doing sex stuff with him, so I cut him off.

“No, Dad. Our periods are approaching, probably today, and neither of us is feeling all that great. However, the memory of last night is still shining, still wonderful. Thank you.”

He looked into me through my eyes for what seemed like minutes but wasn’t, then briefly nodded his head. Carol and Rhee took off around 8:30 and I spent much of the day curled up in bed writing the previous day’s account. Heather and her mother are coming for lunch tomorrow with my parents and Carol.

---

July 23, 2017 (Sunday)

Dear Ms. Diary,

Dressed in “normal” shorts and a T, I met Carol and Rhee at the front door after they’d walked in around 11:00. I hugged Carol, after which Rhee and I headed off to kill some time in town and get lunch; Mom would text when they were done.

We hit Second Chance Wear, again, but found nothing of particular interest, so strolled around, gabbing about nothing of real import. We walked back in the front door a bit after 1:00, in time to hug Heather before she and her mother headed back to their house. Behind her mother’s back, she cracked a grin at us, her eyes sparkling, so I guess the discussion went well.

“Do you two want some pie,” Mom asked.

“Oh, yeah,” Rhee responded. “Beth said you’d made peach pie.”

We joined the three parents at the kitchen table while they gave us the run-down on the Heather discussion. It went very well, with Heather’s mother being amenable to Carol and Dad working on a solution for Heather’s education. She was even willing to sign a document giving either or both of them the right to deal with schools. Dad and Mom’s lawyer had prepared it and Heather’s mother took it with her to sign three copies in front of a notary public. Also interesting is that Heather is nearly caught up to where the Intro Calculus course at the university is, so she’ll be sitting in it starting next week. Dad will pick her up and take her to class and then drive her to the soccer pitch for practice on weekdays.

---

July 25, 2017 (Tuesday)

Dear Ms. Diary,

Today is our penultimate game of the regular season, against Baskerville. We dominated them (4-1) in the second week of the season. I expect us to do even better today. Tomorrow, we’re having an impromptu sleepover of the Gang of Five, as neither Liya’s nor Gracey’s moms were available to cart them to the field on Thursday for our early afternoon game against Paradise. Dad is taking Rhee, Heather, and me to the field later this morning; Rhee will be here shortly; Heather around 11:00.

---

As I expected, we ran away with today’s game, despite Baskerville’s goalie making a dozen saves. Unfortunately for her, we had 21 shots on goal (and >10 wide or high) and won 9-1. We spread the wealth around, with six notching goals: Rhee, Heather, and Mia getting two each and Haven, Lissa, and Tonda getting the others. I got assists for five of the six goals that our starting front line tallied. With her two goals today, Rhee’s lead is 16 over Sanderson, though we don’t know how Charlize did today. GV played New Paris today, which is tied at the bottom of the nine teams with only two wins, so I expect Sanderson to have gotten at least a couple.

While we had already clinched one of the four slots in the league tournament before this week, that really means little, as only four teams have a chance at double-digit wins, and three of those are already there. Watermelon Mountain will probably win twice this week, giving them 10 wins. Unlike in the past two years, the league was highly unbalanced this season. At least three of last year’s six best teams, Central, Midland, and New Paris, were decimated this season by the loss of most or all of their good players either because they aged out of our level or moved or whatever. New Paris was particularly stricken, losing seven starters and even a few backups.

With our win today, we’ve clinched the tournament’s first seed, not that that means much, as the whole tournament takes place on a single day; at New Paris this year. The one meaningful part of our seed is that we won’t have to play GV in the first game. We’re a game up on GV (13-1-1 versus 12-2-1) and two games up on Paradise (11-3-1). Although we lost to Paradise in our first meeting, we would still have the first seed even if we lose to Paradise on Thursday, because of our better head-to-head record against GV. So, the seeds are all set today, as long as GV doesn’t lose this week. All of this means that, barring various miracles or disasters, we’re the first seed in the tournament, Rhee has won the scoring title, and I’ve won the assists title (leading by 11, now). Of those three facets of this season, only one is a repeat: Rhee won the scoring title last year… by a single goal.

---

July 26, 2017 (Wednesday)

Dear Ms. Diary,

Today’s practice was three hours of full-team scrimmage, though with a few ten-minute breathers mixed in. Coach mixed and matched starters and backups, although reunited the regular starting offense against the starting defense for the last half-hour, with starting and backup midfielders mixed. It was a lot of fun, but exhausting, and I was quite happy when Coach called it to an end.

The whole Gang trooped happily back to my house, everyone excited to be back together and looking forward to some fun. Rhee’s and my periods were just about done and, since we hadn’t spent a night together since Friday, we were jonesing for some multi-person sex.

A block from my house, Heather said, “I move that this sleepover officially start when we close Beth’s front door behind us.”

“SECOND,” shouted everyone else.

My query about discussion met silence and after asking for votes, said, “The motion passes unanimously.”

As I closed the front door, there were already four gym bags on the floor and four semi-naked girls in the foyer.

“How long ‘til Dad or Mom is home,” asked Heather.

“Not ‘til after 5:00 for Dad, assuming he doesn’t play hooky.”

“I bet he’d love that, coming home to five naked girls,” Liya exclaimed.

“Yeah, that he would,” replied Rhee.

I glanced at her and she gave me a minuscule shrug. I headed upstairs, removed my shirt on the way, and finished stripping in my room. The others clumped up the stairs after me, clothes and gym bags in hand.

“What do we want to do after lunch,” I asked.

“Well,” said Gracey, “I want to shower first.

“Okay, which shower do you want?”

“Would you mind if Heather, Liya, and I showered up here?”

“Not at all. Rhee. You coming,” I asked as I headed out the door to go downstairs to the master bath.

After showers, we all returned to my room.

Liya said, “I’ve got something I’d like to do before lunch. Beth, would it be okay to use your mom’s sewing machine?”

“Uh, okay. What for?”

“I made a thank-you gift for Heather, but I need to finish it.”

“You made something for me? You didn’t have to do that.”

“Yes, I did. Gracey and I wanted to thank you for getting us together, you know, sexually. I made a top for you and Gracey found a pair of shorts to go with it.”

Heather looked a bit dumbfounded, at first, then hugged Liya and Gracey individually. “You… you guys. You’re too good to me.” Her face faltered a bit, but she pulled herself together. “Before I started hanging with you guys, I’d never had friends that got me things, much less made something for me. This gang rocks! I love you all!”

Liya pulled a small package out of her gym bag and said, “I didn’t know how big to make this, so I’d like to put it on you and mark it, and then I can finish it in a few minutes.” Out of the package came a piece of emerald green velour cloth and a piece of something like chalk. She then looked at me.

I grinned at her, nodding.

“Turn around, Heather, and lift your arms; let me try this on you.”

Heather turned around and Liya opened the cloth and wrapped it around Heather’s torso, with the two ends at the middle of her back. It was a tube top. A very skimpy tube top. I’ll bet that it was barely four inches wide if that.

“Heather, this has got to be tight, because you don’t have much to hold it up. But it should make your pretty little titties stand out.”

As Liya pulled the two ends tight around Heather’s torso, Rhee said, “Oh, my god! That thing is even sexier on you than the crop top that Beth got you, Heather! Let me rearrange you so that it’s perfect. Hold it tight, Liya” Rhee reached inside the tube from below and sort of fluffed Heather’s breasts. “That’s got it, Liya.”

Liya held the two ends closed with one hand and marked the cloth with the chalk, then let one end go. With the cloth and chalk, she headed into the spare bedroom where Mom’s sewing machine lived. We all started following her, but Liya turned.

“Heather, it’ll have plenty of extra material to let it out. I wanted to put hooks on it, but I didn’t have them handy, so I’ll just sew it together now. When you outgrow it, I’ll fix it. Oh, and I don’t need any help and you guys would just make me nervous hanging over me. Is that all right?”

“Of course,” answered Gracey. “We’ll get lunch started.”

The four of us headed to the kitchen, where we made sandwiches and got everything else together for lunch. We were just finishing when Liya joined us, her hands empty.

“Where’s the top,” asked Rhee.

“In our bedroom. Gracey and I had an idea and we wanted to wait until we got Heather dressed in her new clothes to show you the outfit.”

She followed that with a questioning look at Rhee and me. We both nodded and dug into lunch. The five of us had a grand time, cracking wise and laughing. After lunch clean-up, we trooped back upstairs.

Rhee asked, “So, what’s this idea?”

“Hang on. Heather, come with us.”

Liya and Gracey led Heather to the spare bedroom and closed the door. Rhee looked at me, raising that left eyebrow. I shrugged at her. We then heard Heather blurt out something like a ‘yip,’ and then a loud “Wicked!”

I raised my eyebrows at Rhee, and she quietly said, “This should be interesting. Heather’s excited.”

After a few minutes, we heard the door open and the three of them filed into my room, Heather in the lead, Liya bringing up the rear. My eyebrows tried to bolt off the top of my head and Rhee’s mouth dropped open.

“Wow,” Rhee exclaimed quietly.

Heather pranced into the room and did a pirouette.

OH. MY. GOD. The tube top was only barely wider, top to bottom, than her breasts, and those breasts were highlighted by the top. It did not quite look painted on, but it did make me want to rub her chest over the top. But the shorts! They were white, bright white, and the “legs” of them were shorter than the “legs” on my short shorts, probably not even an inch long! Both front pockets extended well outside the legs and there was just a hint of cheek extending below the back side of both legs. And they were tight!

“FU-UCCCKKK,” exclaimed Rhee.

I forced my eyes from Heather to Rhee, who was not even looking at Heather, so I followed her eyes.

I immediately understood Rhee’s sentiment. Neither of us had ever seen either Gracey or Liya in blatantly sexy clothing; now, we had. Gracey, whose boobs were second in size amongst us only to Rhee’s, was wearing a Daisy Duke outfit. She had on a bright yellow and black, short-sleeved, flannel shirt, the tails tied under her breasts and with a single button buttoned, a lot of cleavage showing. When she lifted her arms, I noticed that the armpits of the shirt were cut out, showing off her upper sides and some sideboob. She had about six inches of midriff showing between the shirt and blue denim, low-rise shorts that were nearly as short-legged as Heather’s though not quite as tight.

Liya looked incredible. She had on a hot pink, spaghetti-strap, lace crop top - severely cropped. I could see the shape of her breasts behind the lace, but not any details. She had acres of uncovered skin between the top and a pair of tight, stretchy, black, low-rise, boy-cut shorts that had longer legs than Gracey’s, but only barely.

I looked back at Rhee; her eyes were nearly bugging out, her mouth hanging open.

“You three look incredible and sexy as hell,” she said.

I almost interrupted Rhee, but waited for her to finish and said, “I agree. You’re all incredibly sexy. So, does this have something to do with your ‘idea?’”

Gracey nodded. “We were talking about Dad and we came up with this idea as a way to partially repay the debts that we owe him. Beth, do you think it would be okay to wear these outfits here tonight, or would Dad… or your mom… object?”

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Rhee shaking her head strongly. Since there were two aspects to Gracey’s question, Rhee’s response was seemingly nebulous, but I was pretty sure I understood which aspect of the question she was answering.

“No, Dad certainly won’t object, and I doubt that Mom will, either.”

An obvious load was lifted from Gracey’s and Liya’s shoulders, as they relaxed, exhaled, and smiled.

“No,” I continued, “Dad will definitely not mind, though you guys might cause some palpitations. God, you three are sexy!”

“Thanks, Beth,” Liya said. “Coming from you, and from Rhee, that means something… to all of us. However, we hoped that you two could join us with sexy clothes. Rhee, would you have to go home for something like that? Do you have anything?”

I looked at Rhee who had started to deflate.

“No, I’d have to go h…. No! I’ve got stuff here!” She then proceeded to open drawers in her dresser but then turned. “Could you two step outside so Beth and I can do to you what you did to us? Heather’s already seen these.”

As the door closed, Rhee donned the shirt I had gotten her and the short skirt that she had worn on game night, though added panties. I also donned game-night clothing; we called the others back in.

Gracey grinned and Liya chuckled.

“That’ll do,” Liya said.

“Anyone wanna go for ice cream,” asked Heather.

“Oh, I can just see the guy behind the counter having a stroke or heart attack or something,” Rhee responded. “Remember how he ogled the five of us the last time we were there, and we were wearing normal clothes!”

“I think we should,” I said.

Rhee looked at me with that eyebrow raised and with an odd expression. “You think we should? Are you not only beginning to, finally, accept that you’re pretty and sexy but also starting to flaunt it? Who are you and what did you do with the real Beth?”

The gang, minus me, cracked up.

Through her chuckling, Rhee continued. “Not that I object at all. I like the idea of you coming out from behind your self-built walls.”

I had started to get warm with the laughter, but Rhee’s comment put a burn on my face, so I hung my head. Rhee stepped to me and wrapped me in her embrace.

“Beth, I love you how you are, but I do like the idea of your self-image being more positive than it has been. I know that you’re proud of your mind, and that’s a good thing. A more realistic self-image would also be a good thing, providing that you don’t go overboard into narcissism.”

I felt a second person putting her arms around me and then heard Liya.

“Beth, my wonderful friend, Rhee is right. Stronger belief in more aspects of yourself is good, particularly when justified. Just maintain a strong aspect of humility. Despite what you think and what you’ve said over the years, you are the gravity well around which the rest of us orbit. You are strong, smart, kind, and loving. Sure, you’re not perfect, but no one is. However, I must say that it’s heartening to see someone so good at assessing social aspects that cannot seem to assess her own capabilities well.

“I will be the first person to knock you back on your heels if you get too uppity, as you well know. Just keep all those aspects of you that we all like so well, but think better of your appearance and, particularly, your leadership skills. We would not be who we are, individually or collectively, without you.”

Rhee then squeezed me more tightly and said quietly, “Hear, hear.”

I then felt two impacts as Gracey and Heather added their weight, their arms to the pig pile. I could not help it. I began crying and I still don’t truly know why. Rather, I did not know all the reasons. I still do not know that my role in the Gang is as important as Liya suggested, but that’s no reason to cry. Am I afraid of fully knowing myself? Or of being a critical component of something larger than me? Both? More? I decided to put off thinking further on the subject and pulled myself together.

As my quiet blubbering came to an end, I said, “There is no doubt, none whatsoever, that no matter what I think about my appearance or my importance, I know one thing with certainty: I have the best friends in the world!”

Rhee tightened her arms again, then relaxed.

“Thank you, Liya, Gracey, Heather, Rhee, for helping make my life so good.”

Rhee kissed my cheek. The others must have seen that because they all followed suit.

“So,” Gracey said, “once you clean up, are you still interested in giving the ice cream guy a heart attack?”

I joined in on the laughter. After it died down, I wormed my way out of the multi-person embrace and went to the bathroom to wash my face with cold water. Rhee, and only Rhee, followed me in.

“I’m sorry if I said anything that made you cry. That’s about the last thing I want to do.”

“No, you didn’t. Well, you did, but a large part of my crying was that you four make me so happy, make me feel so loved. It surprises me; at times it overwhelms me.” I had to inhale deeply and concentrate to keep from bawling again. Once I felt more in control, I continued. “I’ve thought about this frequently. For much of my life, I’ve been confident. At first, that was probably because of my parents, who have always been supportive and taught me independence, even if I wasn’t exactly a model child for most of that time. My current confidence is certainly still backed up by my parents, but now, a lot of the support I get is from my incredible friends. Friends who see good aspects of me that I haven’t seen, haven’t recognized.

“I’ve always cringed from the thought that I make all of us do what I want to do. I’ve seen that in some school cliques, and I never wanted to be that way, so had trouble with being seen as a leader. Of the team, okay. Of my friends, not. No, wait. Please let me finish. What I neglected to consider, and which popped into my brain in that pig pile of a group hug, is that my friends are strong in their own right. Yes, your mind may be mush due to being ‘besotted’ with me. Yes, Heather is something of a submissive. And, yes, Gracey generally gets along. But Liya? No, she would never blindly follow anyone or anything.

“That thought got me thinking that each of you is very strong in her own right. Heather, were she any weaker at all, might have killed herself. You are a titan, certain of yourself, and Gracey is strong in her very own, quiet way. All four of you have had to be strong, all coming from broken homes. I guess I just hadn’t put those pieces together in the right way before.”

“Good,” Rhee said with feeling. “So, no more feeling sorry for yourself because you have to wear so many hats?”

I must have looked blankly at her because she got a slightly exasperated look on her face and continued.

“Look, Beth. You definitely lead us. I think you’re uncomfortable with that for the wrong reasons. While I’m not completely certain about Heather, we just haven’t known her long enough, the rest of us are more than willing to argue with you if you’re wrong. But, given your obvious skills in social interaction, you’re rarely wrong. Gracey, Liya, and I have known you well for at least three years, and we’re happy to follow you. We don’t do it because you’re some amazing natural leader, though you have aspects of that, but because you’re usually the first one to figure out the best thing to do, the critical response. And that’s because you’ve already taken into account the likely response from each of us. You lead because you can quickly think of what or how to do something that accounts for our individual interests, interests that might differ a bit from yours.

“If you’ll recall, Liya used to argue with you more, but she quickly learned that you usually do have the best plan. You were the first one to learn, and take to heart, that the four of us would have more freedom by following the rules and being less egocentric. You convinced each of us and all of us that doing what we’re asked or told, when we were asked by parents or teachers would prove more beneficial than rebellion, so long as we could understand the reasons for the requests or demands of those authorities. You remember, right? You challenged all of us to try it for a couple of months. I learned it more quickly than did Gracey or, particularly, Liya, because I spent more time with you. I, especially, spent more time with you in your house, around your parents. I saw, firsthand, how effective it was.

“We’ve never followed you blindly, but that was the turning point. For each of us. We are all a lot happier than we used to be. Therefore, you lead, and we let you because you’re nearly always right. And that last bit doesn’t bother us, because once we all realized you were, we’ve come to trust that you are, and our lives are better. Much better!”

“If you don’t stop, Rhee, I’m gonna start crying, again.”

Rhee wrapped me up and whispered, “Poor baby.”

She then lightly put her lips on mine and kissed me. I could feel the love in that long, light kiss. I disengaged our mouths but tilted my head so that my forehead rested on hers and I could look through my lashes at her eyes.

“Okay, Rhee. You’ve read me the riot act. I’ve got it. I’ll try not to feel sorry for poor me, on whose shoulders all the world’s hopes rest.”

Then I grinned at her, a grin she returned in spades.

We went for ice cream and did cause a furor. Of course, the guy who had ogled us while trying to scoop our ice cream last time was not working. A high-school-aged girl, probably in an upper class, waited on us. I did not know her name before reading it on her nameplate, but I recognized her from somewhere. She was friendly and oohed and aahed over our outfits. The furor was due to a boys’ baseball team sitting at a bunch of pushed-together tables. A team that looked, perhaps, a year or so younger than us.

Katie, the employee serving us, made wisecracks about us making those boys’ day. She suddenly got an odd look on her face while looking at Rhee.

“Um, are you Rhiannon Devlin?”

I quickly swiveled my head to look at Rhee, whose eyes were wide.

“Ye-ess,” Rhee answered tentatively.

“I knew that you looked familiar. I just didn’t recognize you not in a soccer kit. I’m Katie Weeks. I’m on Elkton Central’s team. You’re going to be starting there this fall, right?”

“Yes,” I answered before Rhee got her act together. “I knew I recognized you, too, but couldn’t think of where. Rhee and I knew that we’d be going there, so went to a few of your games last fall.”

Katie turned to me with something of a blank face, obviously trying to place me. Then her eyebrows rose dramatically.

“Oh. You’re Beth Williams, right?” When I nodded, she continued. “Some of the other girls and I have been talking about you two, hoping you’re going to try out for the team. We’ve got a pretty solid defense, but both of our big scorers graduated. Some of us have been to a couple of your games. We could really use you!”

Rhee, now centered, took over. “Yeah, this is Beth, our team captain and league assists leader. Also here,” and she pointed at Heather, “is Heather Wilkerson, our new phenom right wing. While she lives in Central’s jurisdiction, her schooling is currently up in the air. You see, she’s a genius.”

“Rhee!”

“Oh, hush, you. You are and we know it. What we don’t know is where you’ll be matriculating come fall.” In one of those blatantly false moves to ostensibly talk about someone without them knowing but being obvious, Rhee said, “She might be starting at the university this fall. She’s already scheduled to audit part of a calculus course there shortly,” after which she turned and grinned hugely at Heather.

“Wow, that’s crazy,” Katie said. “I saw your game in Sedgwick, uh… Rhee?” When we nodded, she continued. “I was in Sedgwick with nothing much to do at the time, so went to the game to scout you two, sort of. Anyway, Rhee scored, what, five? And that was you, Heather, wasn’t it, who got three?”

I grabbed Heather and pulled her forward, saying, “Yup. That’s her, the speed demon.” I then said as I pulled Gracey forward, “This is Gracey García, our right fullback and probable starting center fullback next year. Finally, and not at all least, this is Liya Nahdi, who doesn’t play but keeps us from obsessing about soccer all the time. We’re all best buds.”

Right then, a group of four came in the door, and Katie looked disappointed. “Hang on,” she said, then vanished into the back, to return shortly with an older woman trailing her.

“Okay,” she said, “let me get your cone, Rhee, and ring you all up. Were you going to eat those here?” When we nodded, she asked, “Might I join you?” When we again nodded, she smiled and said, “My mom can wait on those folks.”

Katie joined us at the table and most of us forgot about the baseball team. We talked about Central’s team, our team, and girls’ soccer, in general. It was really fun. So much so, that I do not particularly remember my ice cream.

As we were leaving, a tall, attractive man from the baseball team, a coach, I suppose, came up to us. Well, to Rhee.

“I’m sorry to interrupt, but I wanted to apologize to you ladies for anything and everything that you might have overheard from the boys. You girls, uh, fascinated them.”

“Oh, don’t worry,” I interrupted. “As my dad told both Rhee and me, if we’re going to wear provocative clothing, then we should be prepared to be, as he put it, ‘ogled.’ They didn’t bother us, though partly because we got into a great conversation with Katie, there, and weren’t paying attention to much else.”

“Well, thank you for being so forgiving. Some of them were a bit rude. I also couldn’t help but overhear part of your conversation with, uh, you said, ‘Katie?’” I nodded and he continued, “My daughter is a soccer nut and, from what I understand from your conversation, some of you are on the local premier girls’ team. Is that right?”

“Yup. This here is Rhee Devlin, who is the league’s scoring champ, this year and last year.”

“Yes, that’s my other motivation for intercepting you. My daughter tells me that Rhee is her hero, and she’s dragged me to a couple of your games. I’m a baseball guy but having a soccer-nut daughter has forced me to learn at least a bit of the game. We were in the stands yesterday. You… all of you… were impressive.

“Anyway, what I wanted to say is that I’m told by her coach that my daughter, Civia, is good. My daughter has told me in no uncertain terms that she’s trying out for the premier team next year, as she’ll then be in the team’s age range.”

“What position does she play? Wait, let me guess. Since Rhee is her hero, I’m gonna say ‘striker.’”

“Of course.”

“Ohh, that’s a difficult one. We have only two players on the team who are graduating to the next level after this year, our starters at goalie and center fullback. Our starting offense is nearly all my age and breaking into it will be tough, and even our backups are very good. However, I don’t want to discourage her from trying out. It’s just that she should be prepared, particularly as a 12-year-old, not to make it. Both Rhee and I made it as 12-year-olds, but that was primarily because nearly the entire offense had graduated the previous year. The offense next year will be comprised of mostly what could be termed seniors. In two years, I presume that there will be lots of slots available.” I changed tacks. “Will you or she be at tomorrow’s game?”

“Her mom is taking her. I have to work.”

“Well, since she knows who Rhee is, at least, have her come introduce herself to us. Before the game would work best; we’ll be there about an hour before kickoff. We can introduce her to Coach. While Coach might not have time to talk to her, your daughter ought to at least get to meet her. I know Coach keeps pretty close tabs on the younger teams and does at least a bit of recruiting, so having your daughter meet her couldn’t hurt. Just prepare… Civia for the possibility of not making the team. Our offense is currently cream of the league, and I’m one of the oldest members of it.”

“And you are…?”

“Oh,” I said, as I stuck out my hand. “I’m Beth Williams, team captain.”

“Wow. Glad to meet you, Beth, I’m Jeff Palecek. Civia says that you’re the reason, well, one of the reasons, that Rhee is so good. She pointed you out to me, explaining how you’re, essentially, the quarterback for the offense,” that last bit rising into a question.

I colored.

“Yup,” Rhee inserted, “she’s all that and more. I hope you’ll get Civia to introduce herself tomorrow. I look forward to meeting any girl who already understands at age 11 the distinctions of the workings of offense. Particularly if she’s got skills. Your daughter sounds a lot like Beth did when she was that age. When I was 11, I just chased after the ball a lot.”

“Oh, pooh, Rhee. You were much better than that!”

Mr. Palecek laughed at that, then said, “I’ll pass the message to Civia. Thank you, both, for your interest and for your graciousness about our rambunctious baseball players.”

At my request, he spelled his last name and his daughter’s name, both of which I’d have gotten wrong here.

As we finally got out the door, Gracey said, “That was weird. First, we meet one of our future high school teammates, then the father of a potential future premier-team teammate. All in the span of a half-hour at a little ice-cream parlor.”

“Yeah, mega-weird,” Liya said. “I guess we had no choice but to get ice cream today. It was destiny.”

We cracked up.

“And then there was Beth’s little breakdown,” Liya continued. “Without that, we might have been in and out before the baseball team arrived and might not have talked to Katie and certainly would not have heard about this up-and-coming replacement for Rhee. Destiny, I tell you!”

I colored but laughed with my friends.

We were all still wearing our “sexy” clothes when Mom arrived home. As she had done on Friday night, she pulled up short as she entered the kitchen and saw the five of us.

“Wow! Don’t you five look… delectable! Stand up, let’s see the entire show.”

When we did, Mom’s eyebrows rose when she took in Gracey and Liya.

“Again, wow. Having seen neither of you, Liya and Gracey, in clothes remotely this… revealing, I must say that you do sexy quite well. I assume that someone here thought it’d be a good idea to give my husband a heart attack. If so, who’s the culprit? I’m assuming that it was neither Beth nor Heather, though I have no doubt that they agreed with the instigator when she brought it to their attention. My best guess is that it was one of the troublemakers. Of the two, I’m going with the dark-horse candidate. Was this your idea, Liya?”

Some of us cracked up. Liya looked startled, while Gracey’s face wore a smirk.

Liya started to respond. “I don’t see why, just because I used to cause a few problems, that you should….” However, she couldn’t get it all out before her fun-loving personality caused her, first, to smile with bright eyes and then begin laughing. After she quit, she said, “I admit to the germ of the idea, but I feel I must share the credit… er… I mean, pass the blame for a large part of the idea to Gracey. She’s so evil,” and then resumed laughing.

“Whereas,” Gracey noted, “I willingly take a tiny portion of the credit and leave blameless any other persons, nameless as they are, though the main culprit’s name does rhyme with ‘See ya!’”

Mom smiled along with the rest of us, but then take on a more-serious mien.

“I’m very glad you’re all here. Charlie and I both love having you all here and we really missed not being here when you had a weekend-long sleepover, although I’m sure you appreciated our not being here. We’ve not told Beth this, but Charlie and I had planned to have more than one child. We both very much enjoy children and were nearly distraught when we learned I shouldn’t have more. We’re very glad our quasi-adopted girls fill most admirably that hole we used to have in our lives. We love and treasure the young women that you’ve become.”

Liya, who was closest, threw her arms around Mom, hugging her tightly; Gracey was not far behind in doing the same. The rest of us just watched. Those two spent the least amount of time here; they deserved their own time with Mom. The two stayed entwined with Mom at length. Eventually, Liya stepped back.

“Quasi-adopted Mom, Gracey and I each love our respective mothers, particularly over the past few years after Dad’s and, we assume, your personal intervention with those mothers in our favor. We both owe you and Dad a debt that we cannot really repay. However, we’ve done our best to repay where and how we can. Our, well, mostly my more-responsible behavior is part of that payment.”

“Yeah,” interjected Gracey, who had also stepped back. “Liya and I were discussing this very thing early this week. While we know we cannot possibly have the positive impact on your lives that you’ve had on ours, we do try to give back, but there are few meaningful and serious ways in which we can repay that debt. So, while not serious, we figured that this apparel idea of ours is at least one whimsical way to repay you. Well, to repay Dad, at least.

“This outfit makes me a little nervous, because I’ve never worn anything like it. While I’m not certain whether Liya is embarrassed wearing such minimal clothing, I’m sure she’d agree that any trepidation is well worth it if these outfits light up Dad’s life even a little.”

Liya nodded her head emphatically.

Mom replied, “I can tell you that Charlie will greatly appreciate the sight in his kitchen when he walks in. I also appreciate this, both the effort and the presentation. I can appreciate the sight of a sexy young woman, though possibly not as much as does Charlie. However, you’re both wrong that you cannot or don’t repay us for our efforts. You, all four of you, have made our lives better by filling our desire for more children. And we didn’t even have to change diapers to get the benefit!”

“I guess we’ll take your word, though I don’t know that either of us can truly believe that it’s anything like payment in full. However, know this. Other than our legal mothers, you and Dad are the only people we’d want as parents. And, though we love you, you must know that, because of our own lack of reasonable facsimiles thereof, it’s Beth’s father for whom we feel the most need. In fact, now that our mothers are reasonable parents, Gracey and I figure that Beth got the world’s best dad only because the four of us had such piss-poor examples of the category. Beth had to balance the negative-dad values all four of her best friends bring to the group.”

Mom wrapped Liya up and stated, “Particularly if it came with no negatives, like having something bad happen to your mothers, we would love to have both of you… heck… all of you living here. While I agree about what you said about Charlie, you’re wrong about the rest of it. Statements like that more than repay us for any past effort on your behalf. Besides, we’d already quasi-adopted you and that’s the sort of thing parents are supposed to do.”

While the maudlin lovefest might have continued, the sound of the garage door being activated meant that Dad was home.

Mom quickly asked, “Gracey, Liya, would you mind if I joined you in your knock-Dad’s-socks-off ploy?”

Liya grinned, saying, “Go for it.” She then turned to me. “Beth, you’ll need to head Dad off at the pass.”

I chuckled and nodded, as I already had something I wanted to ask him, and that point would work as well as any other time. In fact, better. I stepped around Gracey and Liya (Mom had already headed to their bedroom), walked through the mud room, and opened the door to the garage. Dad was a little surprised to see me there, possibly partly due to my outfit.

“Wow! You could bring a dead guy to life with how you rock that outfit!”

I hugged him, saying, “Thanks, Dad.”

“I’m guessing you want to ask me something you don’t want the others to hear. Or, are you here to slow me down so I don’t interrupt something?”

“Da-addd. Why would you think that? I have a favor to ask. You were planning to come to our game tomorrow, right?” When he nodded, I added, “I’d like to do something for the whole team, whether we win or not, in celebration of our season and our first seed in the tournament.”

“Okay. What do you want to do? And where do I come in?”

“I thought that, with your help, we could take the team out for ice cream after the game. I could pay for some of it, but don’t have enough to pay for all of it. If you’re willing, I could call Coach and plan it, particularly with the ice-cream parlor.”

“Hmm. That’s not bad. In fact, it’s a great idea. Where did you get it?”

“When we went to get ice cream after lunch, there was a boys’ baseball team there. Oh, and…. Actually, that’s something mostly unrelated, but we need to tell you about something else… well, two somethings else from there.”

“Okay. But you don’t have to help pay. Sandy and I would be more than willing to do that for our favorite genetic daughter.” Then he grinned at me.

“Da-addd.”

He grinned again, then said, “If you were the coach, then paying would be reasonable, and if and when you become a coach as an adult, it’s something you should keep in your encouraging-team-morale arsenal. But that is not something you should do as team captain. In fact, this would work best if Sandy would join us. I’ll ask her about the possibility. Is that all you wanted?”

I hugged him again, saying, “Yup, that’s all. You’re the best, Dad! Oh, it’s casual Wednesday, so you should change immediately.”

“Is that why you’re wearing that, pardon my French, ‘you’re-gonna-get-lucky’ outfit?”

“No. They made me. Rhee said something about me… I’m paraphrasing here… becoming more comfortable with my [air quotes added] ‘attractiveness.’”

Dad chuckled and smiled. “Okay. Lead on, MacDuff.”

“Da-addd. You want me to lead just so you can watch my ass.”

“No, women first. That’s the way I was raised.”

When he stopped talking, I turned and started into the mud room.

“And I like to watch your ass.”

I wheeled around and mock whined, “Da-addd!”

“Of course, I do. It’s just so lovely.”

I looked up at him.

“Are you just saying that?”

“No, Beth. Your ass is just one of the many lovely things about you, both physical and mental.”

“Oh, Dad,” I said as I hugged him again. “I love you, so much. I also really like that our relationship has changed enough for you to be able to say things like that, in that explicit fashion. That’s actually nicer than some milquetoast thing like ‘you have a lovely figure.’”

Dad put his arms around me, putting both hands squarely on my ass cheeks.

I chuckled and said, “I particularly like that you’re willing to do that.” I then reached up and pecked him on the lips and told him, “Thanks, Dad. Things like that enable me to be more accepting of the positive things you say about me.”

I then wiggled my butt a little from side to side to feel his hands moving on it. Oh, man, that got my motor going. And me with no undies on.

Dad squeezed briefly with both hands, then said, “Move out, succubus.”

I turned with a huge grin on my face and virtually pranced through the mud room to the hall. I heard Dad turn off the hall into their bedroom while I continued to the kitchen. The empty kitchen. However, I heard voices coming from the living room, so continued to that room.

Oh, wow! The first thing I noticed was Mom. She was wearing her outfit from Friday night, although with a bra. The five of them were standing around by the couch and love seat, and the sight was delicious.

“You took long enough,” Rhee said. “What did you do to delay him for so long?”

“Jumped his bones, of course.”

I paused to enjoy the immediate reactions of my friends, who were every bit as surprised as I’d hoped they’d be. They realized I was joking and smiled.

“I really did have something that I planned to ask him, so took the opportunity to discuss the topic with him. It was nothing much, but you know. Talking with Dad. He doesn’t have to do anything special, he’s just… so….”

For some damned reason, my eyes began leaking.

“What’s wrong, honey,” Mom asked.

I shook my head and said, “Nothing. How did you find him? He’s just so… so… so wonderful.”

Mom hugged me. “Yes, he is, Dear. And I count myself the luckiest woman because he wanted me. The smartest move I ever made was to ask him on a date. I’d never been so forward before and never had to be again.”

“Oh, my god!”

I think Dad surprised all of us with that exclamation, as we all wheeled to see what had sucked that phrase out of him.

“Is Victoria’s Secret having a photo shoot here? My living room is full of incredibly sexy women. Incredibly sexy women in skimpy clothing. Now, I see the true reason that Beth is in that… that outfit.”

“Yes, dear, and the girls were very gracious in allowing me to play, too.”

I had stepped out of Mom’s arms with Dad’s exclamation, so Mom simply stepped over to Dad and hugged him, saying, “Welcome home, Charlie.”

She then reached up and kissed him and Dad put his arms around her and kissed her back, with feeling. They were still going at it 15 seconds later, so I turned to see the others’ reactions. There were smiles or grins all around, with Rhee’s being particularly huge; her eyes sparkling. My parents finally came up for a breath after about a minute.

“I want to wish all of you sexy young women welcome to our home. However, you’re always welcome here. You don’t need to buy that welcome with outfits such as these, but I greatly appreciate them. You all look… scrumptious. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen so much of Gracey and Liya. You make those outfits look incredibly sexy. What I said of Beth when she surprised me at the garage door is also true of you: You could make a dead guy sit up and smell the coffee.”

Liya’s eyes flashed at that, and her grin got even larger. She walked over to him; Mom stepped back to give her room, figuring Liya’s likely move. Liya walked right up to Dad and put her arms around him, leaned into him, and put her right cheek on his chest, her head tucked right under his chin.

“Thanks, Dad. We hoped you’d like the clothes. We wanted to do it to say another ‘thank you’ to you for what you’ve done for us over the years. However, we were both nervous about showing so much skin, so we asked the others to join us to make it easier on us, so that we didn’t stand out so much.”

By this time, Gracey had wormed her way into the embrace, though with Dad, all she really had to do was make her goal obvious. He pulled his right arm from around Liya and offered it to Gracey.

“You two. Don’t you know that you long ago paid off any debt that you might have owed for what little assistance Sandy and I may have provided. Just your presence in our house so often is more than payment enough. Also getting to see what wonderful - and, I must say, attractive and sexy - young women you’ve become is icing on an already quite-tasty cake. However, given this opening, I want to repeat something I said to you two recently: I don’t get to see enough of you. And I didn’t mean that in an expanse-of-skin way. You brighten our lives just by being here. Is there any chance Sandy and I could buy more visitation rights from your mothers? If we need to, we’ll take out a loan.”

“Charlie, I told them that very thing, though in a different fashion, right before you got home.”

While Mom said that, both of them burrowed further into Dad’s embrace. I could see Liya’s face; she was silently crying. I could not see Gracey’s face, but her shoulders were shaking slightly, so I figured she was crying, too. Dad could obviously feel it, and he tightened his embrace of the two and placed a kiss on each crown.

Mom’s statement also reminded me that I had to remember to ask them about the family that they had wanted; why they had not told me. I am not mad, not even upset. I would just like to know.

Gracey and Liya pulled away from Dad, both wiping their eyes.

Dad said, “What does everyone think about pizza for dinner?”

There was complete agreement, so we spent some time determining what we wanted on them and how many of them we needed, then called for delivery. Everyone had settled down by the time we were all back in the living room, ensconced on the couch and the love seat with those soft slip covers that Mom had bought because of the needs of bare tushes. Heather and Liya, the two smallest of us, were on the couch with my parents, while Gracey and Rhee were on the love seat. There were drinks, plates, and napkins aplenty on the coffee table awaiting the pizzas.

I, however, was off in the dining room talking to Coach on the phone, explaining about the ice-cream parlor trip and the incredible set of coincidences having to do with soccer that we had encountered there. She thought the ice cream idea was great and thanked me for it. She wanted to pay for it, but I told her that my parents wanted to do it. She agreed to contact all team members to let them know of the side trip and to tell them to figure that into their post-game transportation plans. She also indicated that she knew of Civia but didn’t elaborate and begged off further discussion so she could contact the team.

I rejoined the family…. Yes, I did think of that hodge-podge of various genetic material as my family, which meant that there was only one family member missing from this convocation: Carol, who was working late. Anyway, I rejoined the family in the living room and caught the beginning of a discussion of Heather’s top.

“You made that?” Dad saw me, then, and said to me, “Heather looked quite yummy enough in that crop top you got for her. This… this… band - it’s not at all big enough to be even a ‘tube’ - that Liya made is… I’m at a loss for a suitable adjective. I do know that someone better keep an eye or three on her if she were to wear that in public. Wow! Oh, I’ve got the adjective: ‘tongue-hanging.’ Her breasts look so inviting in that.”

He suddenly looked around quickly with something of a concerned look on his face.

“I’m sorry, everyone. Well, I’m sorry Liya and Gracey; the rest here know the backstory. We, the five of us plus Rhee’s mom, were discussing clothing such as this the day Beth got that top for Heather. Someone, I can’t remember who, introduced your turn of phrase, Liya, about Heather’s breasts being ‘pretty little titties.’”

I quickly looked at Liya, whose eyebrows rose in response to Dad’s mention of her witticism.

“By the way, Liya, that was a great little phrase, being alliterative, rolling easily off the tongue, and a perfect description of Heather’s breasts, making it memorable. Anyway, the six of us were discussing sexy and revealing clothing on women and the interpretations that were made of such clothing by viewers, particularly male viewers, and it became important to discuss the matter frankly. So, Heather’s breasts became something of a remarkably unremarkable discussion point, one with which everyone became comfortable, even the notoriously blushing subject. So, I apologize if you thought I was being flippant or, worse, engaging in typical male boorishness. I wasn’t. I was simply extending a previous conversation without remembering that not everyone here was present for that previous conversation.”

Gracey and Liya looked at each other; Gracey pointed her chin at Liya, who spoke.

“While a little startling at first, we know you and know you would not speak cavalierly. But we thank you for the explanation. I thank you for the compliment. I liked the turn of phrase, myself. It does describe Heather’s breasts, which are little but so perfectly shaped that they’re incredibly attractive. Additionally, we wouldn’t have really blamed you for speaking of her breasts in that fashion. I cannot imagine what guys think when they see Heather’s breasts in something like that, but even I get a little thrill. I’ve got to believe that guys mostly go gaga over her and them. I thought it would be nice if she had another top that would cause men’s tongues to hang because Heather was, until very recently, unaware of her attractiveness and sexiness. However, it’s been a little easier to convince Heather of those qualities of hers than it has been to convince Beth of hers.”

There was much chuckling; my face heated.

“That’s all that we had to say. Please continue your point.”

“Oh, I think my point is made about the top, except…. Heather, you should be very happy with your breasts. They are enchantingly pretty. As I’ve indicated to Rhee and Beth on prior occasions, I’m a male, but one with strong paternal feelings for all of you. I’m still a male, though. We males, at least those who want to, have to work hard to suppress our kneejerk, testosterone-driven responses to visual stimuli such as your pretty little titties. The upshot is that I love you as a daughter, and I respect you for who you are. I particularly respect you for your mind, which is the sexiest, most attractive of your many attractive assets. However, I also must admit that when I see you looking like that, I just want to run my hands all over your top.”

Heather immediately thrust her chest toward Dad, who was sitting on the other side of Mom from her. Shortly thereafter, she flushed bright red and sat back against the couch back. We all burst into laughter. Her face still blazing red, Heather started to apologize to Mom, who was having none of it.

“No, Heather. It’s quite all right.” She quickly surveyed the others and continued. “I’m fully aware you girls have certain desires when it comes to my husband. Oh, you probably didn’t realize I’m aware of that, but I’ve seen the looks from every one of you.”

She looked at each of us, some shrinking back, thinking Mom was mad.

“Don’t worry that I know, because I don’t mind at all. I’m married to the most wonderful man I’ve ever known, but it’s still nice to get validation of my choice from other attractive women such as yourselves. Your interest in him is flattering.”

I glanced at Dad; his face was red. Wow! Mom can be so surprising.

“Please don’t be uncomfortable with your interest in him. I’ll never take any of you to task for simply looking, enjoying, and wondering. Hopefully, he won’t be uncomfortable with it. However, you must return the favor and not be uncomfortable with any interest he may show in you. You know he would never do anything to harm you, do anything to you that you didn’t want him to do. Instead, revel in the fact that you’ve attracted the eye of the most wonderful man any of us knows. However, know also that Charlie’s attraction, like that of most discerning males, is more firmly held by an attractive mind in an attractive package than by just an attractive package. Finally, know that he finds all of your minds VERY attractive.”

“Now that I’ve probably embarrassed the love of my life to within an inch of his life, I’ll quit, except for a synopsis. Don’t be uncomfortable about being near him, no matter what you’re wearing. Also, don’t be embarrassed should you think he’s appreciating you for your physical attributes. He might be, just as you might be appreciating him for his.”

I looked first at Rhee, who was waiting for my eyes, left eyebrow raised. I raised both of mine and shrugged my shoulders in response. Yes, my motions agreed, what was Mom doing? Is she laying groundwork? She obviously wants Dad to be comfortable ogling me and my friends and she wants us to be comfortable with that ogling. She also wants us to be comfortable ogling Dad. I couldn’t see his lap from the chair, but I wondered if he was hard in excitement or shriveled in embarrassment. However, I could see Mom’s nipples poking through her bra and shirt. Her nipples aren’t all that large, so she must be incredibly turned on. I’m afraid to speculate about what she wants. I know what I want her to want but am afraid of the results of incorrectly assuming that my wants and hers are the same. I’ll have to ponder this further when my mind is less awhirl.

The doorbell rang.

There was much consternation about answering the ring of the pizza delivery, considering the sort of clothing most of us were wearing.

“Dear,” Mom said, “you best answer the door. I’m not sure it would be wise for any of us girls to answer it. Besides, maybe the delivery person will be a really cute girl, in which case we wouldn’t want to cramp your style.”

Despite the intensity of the last few minutes’ discussion, despite the uncertainty of what was behind Mom’s expostulation, we girls all cracked up. Dad, who had been sitting in the seat on the couch farthest from the door (Carol’s game-night seat), simply rose from the couch and went to the door. The answer to my internal question was ‘partly erect.’”

Dad returned with the four ordered pizzas but without the partial erection.

“So,” I queried him, “the driver was not a really cute girl?”

He looked at me, arms full of boxes, and said, “You’re grounded until your thirtieth birthday. No, the driver was not a ‘really cute girl.’ Not even a girl, unfortunately. I was more than willing to flirt with a cute girl until the pizzas got cold, but perhaps this result is the best for our gastronomic pleasure.”

There was much smiling. Once a couple of the boxes were opened, there was much grabbing of slices.

We carried on a conversation that was patchy, as everyone was hungry and wanted to eat. I announced that the whole team was hitting the ice cream parlor after tomorrow’s game. Once everyone was sated and drinks were refilled, Heather took the floor.

“I have a question for you, Dad, one that will help me with something about which I am ignorant. Are you willing to answer it truthfully to the best of your ability?”

“Absolutely and always. I’ll never consciously tell you or anyone else here a lie. I may be incorrect in my understanding of something, but I will not lie to you about items of import. I may refuse to tell you the truth, though I would never do so when not providing that truth would hurt you more than telling you.”

“Thanks, Dad. As Beth says, you really are the best. My question is about clothing versus nudity. You said that when you saw me wearing something like this top and the way it accentuated my small breasts you wanted to run your hands all over the top. Would it be different if my breasts were bare? Would you not want to run your hands all over my chest or would you want that even more?”

“You would cut straight to the crux, to the question that probably remains insufficiently answered, despite that it’s probably been asked thousands of times. Clothing and material do different things to different people. Just like individual people have particular body preferences, clothing can add another figurative layer to that interest as well as a literal layer.

“Clothing is an odd thing. It serves its original purposes, but we humans have co-opted it to do quite a few additional things. Clothing can hide. Clothing can encourage incorrect assessment. Clothing can also accentuate. As Carol and I said in that kitchen a while ago, your two velour tops perform that last task on your pretty little titties. Despite the top covering your breasts, it makes them more apparent, not less. The softness of the material, by itself, produces in many, including me, the desire to touch the shirt. The combination of the material’s sensual feel and how it highlights your breasts makes for a doubly powerful interest in my wanting to rub my hands on your chest.

“Were you topless, there would be little diminution of your attractiveness as compared to wearing that top, but most, if not all, of that diminution would be due to the loss of the feel of the velour. In other words, it would not matter to me. I would be interested in playing with your breasts regardless of what you were or were not wearing. The same is true for all of you. Despite my particular interest in smaller breasts, I like breasts of a variety of sizes, with Rhee’s mom’s probably approaching the limit beyond which I find them to be just too much and not attractive. But that’s me. There are plenty of men who feel the opposite.”

“It must be difficult for men to talk about breasts to girls, given how legally difficult our society has made interactions between men and girls. Thanks for clearly explaining a touchy subject… sorry for the unintended pun… that I’d never understood. I also greatly appreciate your candor about your own feelings and interests, and that you didn’t waffle about your interests in my breasts. You also made my week by calling my little breasts ‘enchantingly lovely.’

“Mom, since you were so open about our desires regarding Charlie, I will be open about mine for him. I was so tempted, when I was going to ask him about clothing versus nudity, to just take my top off and then ask the question. When he first said he wanted to run his hands all over my top, I really wanted him to do it, as you could see. Thanks, Mom, for not being annoyed or mad at either of us. It’s obvious that Dad couldn’t have been as explicit or as thorough in answering my questions without being convinced that you wouldn’t get upset with expressing a sexual interest in my breasts.”

“Thank you, Heather, for being open and honest. Would you really just take your top off in front of all of us?”

“Sure. I’d have no problem being naked in front of all of you, although, of those here, only Dad and you haven’t seen me naked.”

“Do I take that to mean that if this house had the same clothing policy as the Devlin house, you would be willing to be naked here? With Charlie here?”

“Absolutely. I love being naked, a facet of my personality I didn’t learn until becoming friends with the best set of friends a girl could have. Besides, if I were able to be naked with Dad here, we could do an empirical test of my velour-covered enchantingly pretty breasts compared to my little naked tits. I wonder what we could use as a measure of reaction difference?”

Heather then grinned widely. Mom chuckled, then whispered in Heather’s ear. Whatever it was, it was not short but not particularly long. I was dying to know what she said. Heather bussed Mom again, then returned to her seat.

Gracey said, “Heather. You wouldn’t mind being naked in front of Dad?”

“Not at all! It would be great! What can I do to encourage a clothing-policy change?”

“Oh, god,” Dad exclaimed.

“While I have the floor, I wonder if I could ask something else of you, Dad. It would be along the same risqué lines as you dealt with for me. It would require forbearance on Mom’s part and agreement of the other girls.”

I looked a question at Rhee, but she didn’t know where Heather was going. Dad and Mom were looking at each other, both looking confused.

“You can ask. Always. But I may not be willing to do what you ask.”

“Dad, Mom, Gang of Five. Dad just put me on the spot regarding an item of my clothing. He did it in a fashion to which I not only did not object but appreciated very much. And he did it while paying my breasts a wonderful compliment. Since this entire clothing thing was Gracey and Liya’s idea, I propose that Dad pick one aspect of one clothing item on each woman here and explain to us how and why he finds that aspect sexy. I feel we girls don’t have clear ideas about why men and boys find certain parts of females attractive and how clothing interacts with those parts. Is that something you’d be willing to do, Dad? Is that something about which you wouldn’t get upset, Mom?”

I was looking at Dad and Mom when Mom turned to Dad with a smile on her face and said, “Well, honey, what do you think? I have no objection whatsoever to Heather’s request. I applaud it. I know that I’d certainly have liked to have that knowledge when I was our girls’ age.”

Dad colored a bit while looking intently at Mom’s face. They had looked at each other for, perhaps, 30 seconds when Mom reached up and kissed him lightly on the lips. Dad inhaled deeply and released the breath.

“This is potentially embarrassing. Girls, what are your thoughts? Is this something you’d like to know and want enough to deal with possible embarrassment? I warn you, too. Since I try not to ogle your bodies when you’re here, if I’m to do this well - and why bother to do it if I don’t do it well, I’ll have to have you model briefly.” After nearly a half-minute with no responses, Dad said, “Okay. We’ll do it this way. Since I’ve already covered Heather, I’ll go clockwise from her. Liya, how do you vote?”

“Umm, sure.”

I raised my eyebrows because she’s rarely as uncertain as she just then showed.

“Beth?”

“Yes.”

“Rhee?”

“Yup!”

“Gracey?”

“Okay.”

“Sandy?”

“Oh. I thought I’d not have a vote. Yes.”

“Why not? You’re a woman, aren’t you,” asked Dad. “At least, I sure hope you are, because I married you under that impression.”

There was much chuckling.

“Okay, then. I guess I’ll start with Liya. Please stand, walk to the TV, turn, and walk back to your seat. Each of you should do the same when your turn comes.”

Liya nervously followed directions.

“Liya…. Oh. First, I need to warn you that since Heather’s request was for what is sexy, I will use terms that relate to her request, rather than other, more-clinical terms that I might otherwise have used. Liya, your ass is exquisite. Its shape and firmness are what I would call ideal. If I were your lover, I would pay a lot of attention to it. It is wonderfully exhibited by those lovely stretchy pants and your obvious lack of undies. Finally, it looks really nice in motion.”

Although Liya blushed, she picked her way past Heather and Mom and threw herself into Dad’s lap, curling up and putting the right side of her face on Dad’s chest.

“Thanks, Dad. You say the nicest things.”

“Huh,” I said. “You didn’t crawl into my lap when I told you the other day that your ass looked particularly lovely in motion.”

Liya stood and stuck her tongue out at me, grinned, then returned to her seat. I did the modeling session and returned to my seat.

“Beth, that clothing item masquerading as shorts accentuates your long, very lovely legs.”

Rhee did the mini-catwalk and returned to her seat.

“Rhee, that shirt, with its very short tail that doesn’t permit the shirt to return to your skin after diving off your breasts is very sexy. Because you’re obviously bra-less, one can imagine just walking up to you and reaching a few inches inside your shirt and caressing your lovely, firm breasts.”

Gracey walked the walk, then parked her butt back on the love seat.

“Gracey, that shirt, as worn, shows off your cleavage. But the sexiest aspect of it is that nearly the upper halves of both breasts are on display, and that display makes me imagine doing some fun things with your alluring breasts. That display also makes me wonder how far down I’d have to pull the shirt before I found your areolae.”

Gracey blushed and ducked her head down, but said, “Not far at all.” She then mimicked Liya, crawled into Dad’s lap, curling up just as Liya did, and stated, “It was so hard for me to wear this shirt like this, but you’ve just made all the embarrassment I felt worth it. Would you really want to find how far you’d have to pull it down?”

“Oh, god, yes, Gracey. I told each of you the truth. I’d really like to rub Heather’s pretty little titties through her crazy sexy top, reach a couple of inches under Rhee’s top and rub her large, firm breasts directly, and lower your shirt an inch or two and lick your nipples. I’d also love to rub my hands all over Liya’s ass, and I’d love to rub my hands up and down and all over Beth’s great legs.

“I don’t want you girls to think that when you’re here that all I do is ogle you and imagine myself playing with you. I try not to do that and most of the time succeed. However, the first time I saw Heather in the green crop top I was nearly stupefied. I’ve also noticed Liya’s exquisite ass on more than one occasion, though usually not so wonderfully accentuated. I’m partly immune to Beth because she’s been around here so much, but once she started growing, most of that growth was in her legs, a feature men generally like long. I watched Rhee grow from a flat little girl to a strikingly busted woman in an amazingly short time. Gracey, you’re somewhere in the middle of all of your friends. That is, not as large-busted as Rhee, but larger than the others. Not as long-legged as Beth, but longer-legged than some of the others. But this shirt and how you’re wearing it drives my eyes and hands crazy.”

Gracey sat up, turned around in Dad’s lap, and faced Mom while saying, “Dad, if you really wanted to find out how far you’d have to pull my shirt down to see my areolae and nipples, I’d let you.” She then turned to look at Dad. “Do you really want to do that?”

Dad closed his eyes, and then re-opened them, looked right into Gracey’s eyes, and said, “Yes, Gracey, I would love to do that.”

Gracey lifted her head further and pushed her chest out toward Dad, obviously wanting him to do it. While I was pretty sure he wouldn’t, I would have liked a peek inside Mom’s brain, because I got the feeling from her expression that she wanted him to do it.

While staring right at her cleavage, Dad said, “Oh, Gracey, I really do want it, but I shouldn’t and can’t.” He then lifted his eyes to hers, leaned in, placed a kiss on her lips, and said, “Let’s pretend that I did pull your shirt down and that kiss was on one of your nipples.”

Gracey closed her eyes and then shivered. “Thanks, Dad. You really are wonderful.” She turned her head to look at Mom, asking, “Would you guys really go clothing optional in your house?”

“It’s a distinct possibility. Would you be willing to be naked here like Heather is willing?”

“I wouldn’t have thought so before today. But, dressing like this today, letting Dad see parts of me that no male has seen in, well, ever, I’m not at all sure which way I’d go. However, I wasn’t kidding. I’d have let Dad expose my nipples.”

“I know you weren’t kidding, Gracey. And I wish that could have gone differently for you. I wouldn’t have objected, because you wanted it so much. Remember what I said earlier. I understand you, all of you, want Charlie in some fashion or other. I can appreciate that, as I want him in all fashions. Also, as I said earlier, don’t be uncomfortable around him, with him knowing that you want him. I’m flattered and he damned well ought to be flattered. You, particularly, Gracey, should think about getting additional sexy clothing. Soccer keeps you in great shape and now that we’ve seen them to better effect, your breasts are lovely.

“If you want to practice wearing provocative clothing, feel free to use Charlie and our house as guinea pigs. You know Charlie will never ridicule you, never hurt you. You’d be safe with him in just a bra-and-panty set. Heck, you’d be safe with him in your birthday suit. Even I’d like to see that, so I imagine Charlie might pay good money to see that.

“Remember, Gracey, and all of you. Charlie has now opened a bit of his soul to you by being truthful about his reactions to your clothes, but, more importantly, to your bodies. We now know that he’d like, no, that he’d really like to take your shirt off and see your nipples. He’d like to play with Liya’s great ass, with Rhee’s crazy large-and-firm breasts, and Heather’s pretty little titties. Even his own daughter’s lovely legs. Now that you all know these things, don’t feel uncomfortable knowing that he thinks about you in such a fashion. He didn’t change how he thinks of you today, but your knowledge has changed. Don’t let that negatively change how you interact with him. He loves you all dearly and, like me, wishes you lived here. We’ve talked about that very thing more than once and would love it if you at least lived closer.”

Gracey hugged Mom, then released her, though looked into her eyes while saying, “I really want him to pull my shirt down. Would you… truly be okay with that?”

When Mom nodded at her, Gracey’s eyes went round, and she turned back to Dad, then slowly moved her chest to right in front of his eyes.

“This is your last chance tonight, Dad. All you need do is lower the front by about an inch. But you wouldn’t have to stop at one inch.”

Dad was eye-to-cleavage and I could feel the want radiating from him.

She then lowered her torso, leaned in, and placed a kiss on Dad’s lips, then returned to the love seat.

“Your turn, Sandy,” Dad said.

Mom slinked on the mini-catwalk.

“This is hard for me, as I’m so crazy about you Sandy, that it’s difficult to pick a single feature. I have to go with the combo of see-through button-down and skimpy bra. Your erect nipples grab my eyes and make me want to suck them. However, what I really want to do is to reach inside your shirt and cup your breasts.”

Mom then surprised us all and climbed into Dad’s lap, straddling him.

“Do you really want to do that?” As she was saying that, she unbuttoned the bottom two of the three buttons that had been buttoned, looking into his eyes all the while as she said, “If you want that, I’ll let you. And, no, Gracey, I’m not making fun of you. I’m crazy for Charlie and I’d let him do that. I’d let him do anything he wanted to me.”

She then unbuttoned the top button and pulled the tails apart. She waited a minute or so staring at Dad’s face, then leaned in and kissed him lightly on the lips.

Mom returned to her seat and, once there, said, “Gracey, may I ask a favor of you?”

Gracey was a little surprised, but said, “Sure.”

“Would you please sit on Charlie’s left leg and face me?”

Gracey acceded to Mom’s request.

Mom then asked, “Do you trust me?” When Gracey nodded, Mom raised her hands toward Gracey’s chest and asked, “May I?”

Gracey was a little taken aback and looked past Mom to Liya. I followed her eyes and saw Liya nod her head slightly.

“Okay.”

Mom closely inspected the shirt. I suspected she was trying to figure out whether she could move it in such a fashion that she could simply lift the shirt back up over her areolae. She seemed not to like what she saw, or, truer to Mom’s character, she thought she’d push the envelope further. Mom unbuttoned the single button, untied the tails, and pushed the tails aside to fully expose Gracey’s breasts to everyone but Dad.

“Oh, Gracey, they truly are lovely,” Mom said. “Thank you. You know, Gracey, we could just leave the shirt like this if you want.”

“Oh, god! I don’t know if I could, but it’s an exciting idea. However, I don’t want him to see them until he’s willing to expose them…. No, until he’s willing to ask me if he can expose them himself. I’ll make it easy on him because I will say ‘yes…’ if you’d be okay with that.”

A long, heartfelt moan emanated from Dad.

“That’s fine and perfectly understandable, nor would I object,” Mom said, then cocked her head.

Oh, dear lord, what’s she up to, now?

“Do you have the nerve to push the envelope a little further?”

“Uh, it’s scary, but I trust you. Okay.”

Mom pushed the shirt off Gracey’s shoulders, exposing most of Gracey’s front above her shorts.

Another moan escaped Dad’s lips.

While looking at Gracey’s face, Mom said, “I think it’s time for pie. Does anyone else?”

A chorus of agreement met that question.

“Good. Why don’t we girls go get our man’s pie and bring it to him here.”

We all quickly stood, though Gracey stood very carefully, keeping her back to Dad’s eyes.

Once Gracey was standing, Mom asked her, “How do you feel?”

“Nervous. Excited.”

“Do you like the feeling?”

Gracey nodded and answered, “Yeah, I’m feeling tingly all over.”

“Do you still trust me? Interested in more envelope-pushing?”

Gracey hesitated but then nodded again.

Mom then reached around and pulled the shirt farther down her arms and then completely off.

“Now how do you feel?”

“Crazy! Very nervous. Incredibly tingly. Twitchy.”

“Are you wearing undies?”

Yet another moan emanated from Dad.

Another nod.

“Are they opaque and not a thong?”

Another nod. I’m not sure that Gracey could speak right now, as she certainly knew where Mom was going.

“Do you still trust me?”

Nod.

“Still feel excited?”

Nod.

Mom put her hands on the button of Gracey’s shorts and asked, “May I?”

Gracey hesitated, then nodded.

Mom unbuttoned and unzipped the shorts, then slid them down Gracey’s legs and got Gracey to step out of them.

“Oh, god, Gracey, you’re lovely!”

Gracey quickly looked over her shoulder at Dad, turned back to Mom, and grinned. Mom then leaned in and whispered to Gracey. At one point, Gracey’s eyebrows rose up her forehead and she shook her head. Mom went back to whispering and Gracey then nodded her head. Gracey wrapped her arms over her breasts and turned to face Dad.

“D-Dad, I misspoke earlier. You have another chance tonight. If you want to see my breasts, all you need do is ask me to move my arms out of the way. I will not let you see them unless you’re willing to ask.”

Dad stood, facing Gracey directly, and responded, “I know that, Gracey. I’m still unable to do that. However, now, not only do I really want to uncover your nipples, I also really want to slide your panties off you.”

He put his hands on Gracey’s shoulders, leaned down and in, and then kissed her on the lips for about 15 seconds; she kissed him back. He removed his hands from her shoulders and returned to his seat on the couch. Gracey turned back around to Mom, who reached up and pulled Gracey’s arms off her breasts and put them at her sides.

“Let’s go get that pie for our man.”

Once Gracey was out of sight of Dad in the kitchen, Liya wrapped her in her arms.

“I’m so proud of you!” With Gracey still in her arms, Liya turned to Mom and asked, “How did you know?”

“I’ve known Gracey a long time. While she quickly became comfortable around Charlie, she has only recently stood up straight around him. Until then, she’d slouch, hiding her breasts, even though she never wore anything even slightly revealing. I don’t know what the cause is of her concern about men seeing her figure, and I don’t need to know. I just know she has something to get over, and I thought I could help her.

“Gracey, I apologize, but I used your want of Charlie to get you to a point where you were willing to take a chance. You really do have a lovely body. You heard Charlie’s exclamation. That was not planned; you surprised it out of him. He also told you that, in addition to his wanting to see your breasts, he now wants to see all of your lovely body. How do you feel?”

“Umm. Tingly and nervous, and somewhat exhilarated.”

“Gracey, from now on, at least until you succeed, you have my express permission to offer Charlie the chance to expose your breasts. Just be prepared for it to take a while for him to succumb. I’ve known him for a long time, and I assure you that he wants to do that. You may offer the chance to him whenever you want, however often you want. I suggest you offer the chance in a variety of your moods: happy, turned on, whatever. Also, be prepared to be frightened if he does expose you. But remember, Charlie will never hurt you. He’ll never do anything to you that you do not want him to do. I promise you that.” She cocked her eyebrows at Gracey, then asked, “Do you want to push the envelope differently?”

“Okay. I trust you, and this has all worked out so far. What do you want me to do?”

“When we go back to the living room, we’ll put your shirt back on you. However, don’t put your shorts back on. I suggest you take them upstairs and leave them on your bed. You can cover your breasts with your arm on your way to the stairs and your return. Can you do that?”

“Umm.” Gracey then took a deep breath, held it for a short time, then released it. “Okay”

“I’d offer to have Liya go with you, but I think you need to do this for yourself.”

She nodded, then stepped out of Liya’s embrace and grabbed her shorts.

“If you can, use only one arm to cover your breasts.”

Gracey headed out.

Mom then asked, “Do any of you know the cause of Gracey’s problem? I’m not asking for the cause. I just want to know if any of you know.”

“Yes,” Liya responded.

“Just you, or do you all know?”

“All of us.”

“Good. Keep supporting her. Keep sugg…. Oh, you’re so damned smart, Liya!”

Mom then hugged Liya tightly, while I wanted to smack myself on the forehead.

“I’m sorry, Liya,” I told her. “I didn’t twig to your plan. You convinced her that she had a large part in deciding to do this provocative outfit thing. I’d like to see what Carol thinks about it, but it seems to me like a good idea.”

Shortly, Gracey stuck her head in the kitchen and said, “I’ll be right back.”

“Okay,” I said.

Rhee had gotten the pie from the fridge and was in the process of getting plates and utensils. Mom was getting drinks. I grabbed the pie slicer and went at it. We had seven plates with a slice of pie on each and Gracey had yet to return.

“Where did Gracey go?”

“I thought she went back upstairs for…,” Mom started. “Oh. I suspect she’s giving Charlie another chance. Heather, sneak your eye around the corner and look.”

Heather did so, then gasped.

“What,” Mom asked quietly.

“They’re kissing!”

“Does she still have her breasts covered?”

“Yes.”

“Are they still kissing?”

“They just pulled apart. She’s coming.”

When Gracey came around the corner, she made a beeline for Mom and pulled her into a tight hug.

“Thanks, Mom, for what you’re doing for me. I really appreciate it. I hope it’s okay that I kissed him back.”

With that, Gracey leaned away and awaited Mom’s reply.

“Yes, that’s perfectly fine, Gracey. From now on, at least until you succeed, you may also kiss him back any time he instigates a kiss with you. And you’re allowed to enjoy it. He’s a great kisser.”

“Yeah, it was really good.”

“In fact,” Mom continued, “he’s all-around great at sex.”

Gracey nodded, then said, “I hope this doesn’t annoy you, Mom, but we all figured that he probably was, given how nice and giving he is in other aspects of his life.”

“What did I say earlier? I’m pleased that women I respect think so highly of Charlie. I’m not upset. Charlie was not my first lover, but he’s far and away the best lover I’ve had. He never fails to… make me orgasm. I was going to use a tamer word, but we’re all women and friends here. Oh, we need to get Gracey half-dressed again.

“By the way, I think we should do this again. That is, the provocative outfits thing. Are you in, Gracey?”

“Yes!”

“Good. We don’t want our man getting bored with the same old provocative outfits. Can we all go shopping one day this weekend, my treat?’

“For provocative outfits? I’m in,” Rhee said. “Either day is good for me.”

“Ditto,” I said.

“Saturday would be better for Liya and me.”

“Could you two stay overnight?”

“Uh, we’d have to get back to you about that. We could stay for dinner, at least.”

“Okay. Gracey, will you trust me on outfits?”

“Yes! How can I not? You let me kiss your husband and you’ll let him expose my breasts. I’m having one of the most exciting nights of my life, and you’re a lot of the reason for that. You also have much more experience with this girl-boy thing. I trust you. I also trust that you’ll take me beyond even my new comfort zone as far as provocative outfits go, right?”

“Of course. We’ve got to get our man turned on enough to bare your breasts for you. You do know that that won’t be the end of your… issue. Before you object, the others haven’t told me anything other than that they know what it is. I don’t need to know it. Charlie definitely doesn’t need to know it. I can see the shape of it, and that’s all I need. You might consider talking to Carol, though that is not a replacement for real professional help. In fact, I suggest you talk to Carol if only to see if she thinks that you ought to see a professional. Regardless, I’m pretty sure the Gang has told you that they’ve got your back. Yes? Good. Well, I do, too.”

During the time Mom was talking, we were getting Gracey’s shirt on her.

“Wait, wait,” Mom said. “What did I just see? Gracey, please lift your left arm, again. Oh, wow. I hadn’t noticed that earlier. You know, Gracey, you could use that side entrance as another route to your desire. Show Charlie a good stretch of side boob and, although he’s not putty, he definitely likes it. Do you still trust me?”

“More than ever.”

“Okay.”

Mom proceeded to rearrange Gracey’s shirt so that we could see just the top edges of her areolae. She also managed to expose more front view of the sides of her breasts. When she had finished fiddling with Gracey’s shirt, she whispered something in her ear, I know not what.

We took pie and drinks to the living room, rejoining Dad. Poor Dad. He doesn’t know what he’s up against. Gracey and I took the love seat, Gracey sitting across the coffee table from Dad. She extended her legs and placed her heels on Dad’s side of the coffee table about two feet apart. She held her plate up off her lap and began eating the pie. When I peeked at Dad, he was obviously looking up her legs at her crotch.

Because Gracey was concentrating on her pie, never looking up, I leaned over and whispered in her ear. “He’s looking at your crotch. I think he really wants you.”

Gracey turned to me and whispered, “Is Mom truly okay with this? I like what she’s doing for me and letting, well, you know. However, I really don’t want to annoy her.”

I whispered back, “Mom thinks of this as flirting, and she lets anyone she likes flirt with Dad.”

“But what about the kissing,” she asked in a whisper.

“Mom sees that as flirting, too. Just, flirting… physically.”

“That’s crazy. I really hope that she’s okay with it because I really liked kissing him. I also hope you’re not upset with me for it.”

“Not at all. Both Rhee and I have ‘physically flirted with him;’ and so has Heather. Both you and Liya could do it. He’d love it and Mom would not be upset by it. If you can work it, try to be able to see Mom’s face when you kiss him good night. If you manage it, let me know what you see. Oh, and I mean kiss him on the lips.”

Once we’d finished eating and the conversation wound down, we bused the dishes and flatware. Mom declared that she was tired and going to bed. The five of us said our good nights to Dad and Mom. When I hugged Mom, whose shirt was still unbuttoned, I could see her nipples protruding. I was sure that she would not immediately be going to sleep. When the “good nights” were all said, we girls trooped upstairs. Heather, as per usual, was nearly naked by the time she hit the top step. The rest of us followed her lead, both in undressing and entering my room.

Gracey came up to me and said, “She smiled at me.”

“Yes,” I told her, “that’s what I expected. Do you believe me, now?” I then leaned in and whispered, a whispering that would be further masked by the somewhat raucous conversation among the others, “The permission you got to kiss Dad back if he initiates a kiss is different. For some reason, that’s different to her than you kissing him. Also, since she sees you kissing him as flirting, I suggest you avail yourself of that frequently.”

Yes, I had my reasons behind wanting Dad to get used to my friends kissing him. He would never not allow such, as he would be afraid the girl would see it as rejection. I want to move him to a mental space in which kissing us girls is normal, expected. I want him to be the first male lover for each of us. Getting him to be comfortable with intimacy with us is part of my plan to effect the outcome of him making love to each of us. Oddly, I didn’t think I would get so much help from Mom in furthering the plan.

I am coming to believe that she also wants Dad to be intimate with all of us. Consider her sitting in Dad’s lap in view of all five of us and trying to get him to expose her breasts, an act that might lead to others. Consider how much she has been throwing Rhee and me at Dad, and vice-versa, in ToC, and how she negates his objection to Rhee or me getting frisky with him. I do not know why she has been encouraging intimacy between him and the Gang, but I have been afraid to bring up the subject with her, even in her guise as Supplicant.

Holy shit! I may have it. Just the process of putting these thoughts down on electronic paper has enabled me to derive a plausible reason for Mom’s actions. Perhaps she wants to provide something that Dad has wanted and not had for more than 25 years as the balance for her infidelity. This idea is strengthened by a facet of her relationship with him that she expresses to the Gang, though in a different format. She would do anything for him, and she knows his secret desire. Now that she’s gotten over her jealousy, a phenomenon mentioned a few times, if somewhat tangentially, in these pages, she can give him the freedom to have other women, particularly the type of women for which he has lusted for so long: post-pubescent girls. She is already sharing him with Carol and seems not at all put out by that. In fact, she seems quite happy. She is now more confident that Charlie won’t leave her, even for someone with whom he has a sexual relationship.

I’ll cogitate on this further. Meanwhile, Gracey was looking oddly nervous, so I asked her what was up.

“Um, Liya and I would like another favor, but I don’t know who to ask, or, at least, who to ask first. I don’t want to cause any problems.”

Apparently, Gracey’s comment broke into the others’ conversation and they turned as one toward us.

“Just ask,” I said. “We’ll understand.”

“Well, we’d like Heather to spend the night with us. We’d like to know what that’s like.”

“Oh. Then you need to ask Heather. Despite her insistence, she doesn’t belong to us.”

“You don’t have to ask, At least, not again. I’d be happy to spend the night with you two. I have many chances to sleep with Beth and Rhee. I hope you want that because you want to sex me up.”

“Actually, yes. We want to see if we can drive you crazy like Beth and Rhee do. Thanks to your teaching and the practice we’ve had, we think that we can do it.”

Heather turned to us. “Would you guys mind….”

Rhee cut her off with, “You’re your own person and a person who’s developing stronger feelings of self-worth. We love you. We’ve been encouraging that sense of self-worth, that independence. You don’t have to ask us for permission. We’ll miss you in our bed, but, as you said, we’ll have lots of chances in the future.”

Rhee then leaned in and kissed her. Heather wrapped her up and extended the kiss. After a minute, I replaced Rhee with Heather. Of course, after that, we still all had to do nightly ablutions in the same bathroom, so got to kiss each other good night again. Rhee and I returned to our room and closed the door.

“You know,” I said, “that Dad and Mom are certainly having sex right now. If they took your advice, the door might be open. I also wanted to point out that we wouldn’t have to be sneaky about watching them.”

Rhee threw herself into me, hugging and kissing me. “You’re right. They’ve got to be going at it. Mom’s nipples were, for her, huge when we got off the couch. I think she’s been turned on all night, what with that little discourse of hers about her not minding us wanting Dad and, even crazier, that she’s fine with Dad wanting us and then topping that off with Dad telling each of us how we got him hard with our apparel.”

“So, do you have an interest in going downstairs and watching Dad pound Mom’s pussy? I’m so turned on that I might be able to cum just from watching them.”

Rhee answered positively as she opened the bedroom door. As we quietly stepped into the hall, we could already hear sex noises from the spare bedroom. Good. That should cover our descent. We avoided the squeaky stair and walked through the living room and kitchen to their hallway and then to their door. It was open! Hell, yes!

We looked into their room at an amazing sight. Mom was on all fours facing the door (and us) with Dad behind her on his knees rocking his cock back and forth in her pussy.

“Hi, girls,’ Mom said. “Do you… uhnnn… ohhh… need something… nnnnn… specific?”

“No,” I said. “Well, yes.”

Dad continued to slowly slide into and partly out of Mom. My pussy, which had been tingling for hours, was now raging for action.

“Y… ohhhh.. you want me… god, yes… me to guess. Well… f-f-f-fu-ucck. God, that’s so good. I’ll guess. You… mhnnnn… you’ve b-been horny…ahhh… for hours and y-you want to watch us… ohhhh fuckkkkk. Right?”

I got out a tentative, “Uhm, yeah,” but then said, “Yes, we want to watch you. It’s so fun and exciting and, as parents you should appreciate this reason: You enable us to learn,” which I followed with a shit-eating grin.

“You minx,” Dad said. I quickly looked at his face to find him smiling as he said, “Okay, but please don’t distract us.

“May we move around so we can see all of what’s going on?”

“A little bit.”

We fully entered the room; Dad was still slowly stroking in and out of Mom. We grabbed the two chairs, and I placed one at the foot of the bed, to the right, and sat in it, while Rhee put hers on the left side of the bed. She had a good view of their joining, while I was watching their two faces.

God was I hot! I wanted to play with myself, but that seemed a bit embarrassing to do within a few feet of Mom’s face. Mom was giving out various low sounds, moans and the like, and would periodically close her eyes in particular enjoyment, nearly always accompanied by a louder, more intense sound. When her eyes were open, they stared into mine. As a couple minutes passed, Dad hadn’t seemed to alter his seemingly slow-motion loving of Mom’s pussy, but Mom became more vocal, louder.

At one point, she motioned with her head at me, but I didn’t understand what she wanted. She then shifted her weight to her left hand and made a brief come-here motion with her right. I stood and stepped up next to the end of the bed and put my ear by her mouth.

“Play with… ahhh-ohhhh… your pussy.”

I stood back up in surprise and stared down into Mom’s eyes, both my eyebrows raised.

That was a preview of Beth - Book Three. To read the rest purchase the book.

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