Part 12 -- Back in the Real World

 

After spring break the semester moved on pretty fast and I settled into my routine. Go to class, come back home and eat, and then spend a long time talking dirty with Lisa on the phone; the Science Fiction Club and the Queen Students Association meetings helped break things up, as did karaoke nights at The Mersey Ferry. I got my prints back from out trip and filled an entire photo album with them; there was also a somewhat "secret" album of the Polaroid photos of us. When I showed the photo of Jan and his Speedo bulge to my bisexual friends there was almost universal agreement that they considered Rita a very lucky girl. Even Sam commented that he was "Hung like a horse," and she blushed adorably right after she said it. Lauren and I shared a bed a few nights but mostly, if Lisa wasn't around, I spent quality time with my Magic Wand.

 

I was able to get some work in April and those hours moved me a little closer to my journeyman's card. Dr. Hirschhorn, who had loved my photo of Alpha Centauri over the ocean, was having work done updating the back porch and the deck at his house. He knew the guy doing the electrical work and suggested heavily that hiring on an apprentice to help out would be a good move, and helpfully he happened to know a very capable apprentice. It was several weeks work and I was there after my classes and on weekend putting in outdoor outlets and lighting as well as providing electricity for the little observatory Dr. H had constructed from a metal shed. I also helped him out with the task of expanding his stereo system so that he had numerous outdoor speakers (some of them even looked like rocks!) for playing music when he and his wife had friends over. I would go with Lisa to the IWU observatory whenever I could to look through the telescope and to just absorb some of the incredibly vast volume of knowledge he possessed. He was probably the smartest person I had ever met but he never made people feel dumb, he just loved talking about the glories of the universe. I did notice he had started walking with a cane; he had always had a noticeable limp. I asked him about it one time; he told me it was due to him still having some Japanese shrapnel in his hip from the Battle of Saipan in 1944.

 

Mom had called me on a Sunday night and, without warning or prelude, she asked if I would come take photos for the Queer Prom since once again no local photographer would take the job. She was still involved with PFLAG, as was Lisa's mom, and while it did not look like it was going to be as big as the last year's event, she had taken it on because she really wanted other queer young people to have an experience like Lisa and I had. It would be at the Jeffersonian again, but in one of the smaller ballrooms. I don't know what came over me, but I squeaked out a "Yes." Then the terror came; I'd never taken portraits! I had no idea what I was going to be doing! Why didn't she call Cornelius? I had no idea what to do so I called Cornelius myself.

 

He knew why I was calling as soon as I said "Hello."

 

"You mother called me first my dear, but I've been engaged to do a photoshoot for Glamour; I'll be photographing Kathy Ireland, she's a sweet girl and she's one of those people who you can't take a bad photo of."

 

"That's fine and well you fatuous old queen but what the hell I am supposed to do?"

 

"Here is what you are going to do; you and your lovely girlfriend are going to come see me this weekend and I will teach you to be a portrait photographer. I will have some friends come over so that you can practice on a variety of people and we'll take the film to a 1-hour processor, so you can see your results."

 

I was feeling a lot calmer now, "Sorry I called you `fatuous', I'm still kind of freaking out here."

 

"Call Lisa and have her take you to dinner. You'll feel better."

 

I took a long pull on my bottle of French rum and went to the bathroom before I called Lisa. No surprise, Cornelius had already called her, and she was on her way out to come pick me up. I met her at the front doors, she got out of her car and took my face in her hands, kissing me with enthusiasm.

 

"You need food; you always get agitated when you're hungry. We're getting Chinese." She wasn't full-on Mean Girl, but it was clear that this matter was not open for discussion. Once I had some tea in me, along with an order of crab Rangoon and Kung Pao chicken I was, as Lisa predicted, calmer; I was also sure that her hand running up the inside of my thigh helped as well.

 

She took my back home, assuring me that Friday night, when we stayed with Cornelius, she would relax me further by torturing my pussy with her tongue; I now had something to really look forward to and so on Friday afternoon we headed north. I asked Rita to come be a model too; she had called Carolina, and Rita said Jan would be tagging along as well.

 

Cornelius was quite eager to see my St. Maarten photos, he pointed out that I had a good eye for getting photos of people, especially pretty girls (I wonder why that was?), and he really liked my photos of the reefs and the fish, even if the color was kind of washed out (he told me that was very typical of underwater photos). I told him that I planned on framing the shot of the turtle looking right at me with a distinct "Who the hell are you?" look on its face. He had set up some studio lights (which he was going to loan to me!) in a corner of the main room in his loft and showed me how to set up my camera to triggers the lights. That night I just had Lisa and a girl he had worked with before, her name was Johanna, as my subjects and Johanna was almost as beautiful as Lisa, so this was going to be fun.

 

Lisa put on her prom dress for last year; it was a dark purple (I remember in the store is was labeled "aubergine") Asian style dress (we both like that look and it really shows off Lisa's curves) with a Mandarin collar. Cornelius ran me through the standard poses, he even had some well-worn flash cards he referred to often, plus some wildly sexy ones too. He also showed me how to get a good head shot, which he said Lisa would need when she was auditioning for parts.

 

Johanna was a professional model, she was helping me out tonight as a favor to Cornelius. She exuded self-confidence and she was seriously hot; she had strawberry-blonde hair feathered back like Princess Diana (that made me want to fuck her right there on the floor), and a body that could be described as "toned," not unlike Lee's. She was a couple of inches shorter than Lisa and she had small boobs, but she showed them off well. She had pulled her old prom dress out of the closet, she told us it was close to ten years old; it was dark red and slit way up her thigh, she also wore ridiculously high heels since she was considered short for a model and she admitted she was self-conscious about that. Cornelius had obviously told her we were gay because she was all over Lisa from the beginning and she was patting my butt whenever she got the chance. Three rolls of film later we called it a night. We sat around for quite a while, enjoying Cornelius' bar before we finally called it a night. Me and Lisa went to one of the spare bedrooms and, happily, Johanna followed us right in, unzipping her dress as she did.

 

Johanna had a shaved pussy and her nipples were so pale they were almost invisible. "So what do you girls like to do?"

 

I was down to just my panties by now and I was wriggling out of them, "You ever wrestle?"

 

"Not in any real sort of way, but I would love to get a chance to spank both of you. You girls are both bigger than me, so it would hardly be a fair contest, but I'm willing to try." Johanna threw herself at me, wrapping her arms around my waist. I was surprised when she was able to lift up a little, Johanna was stronger than she looker.

 

I wrapped my arms around her and used my height to lift her up off her toes, her small tits smashed into mine. She sank her teeth into my shoulder and I dug my fingers into her wonderfully tight butt. I threw her down onto the bed and fell on top of her, pinning her under me. I bit into her neck and started to grind my hairy mound against her smooth skin; she writhed under me, rubbing her pussy on mine. I moved over a little and grabbed at her very wet pussy and began spanking her right on her clit and that put over the edge; she climaxed with an almost guttural, drawn-out, "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!"

 

Lisa put Johanna over her knees and took her time spanking that firm, round bottom while Johanna moaned and dug her fingers into Lisa's thigh. Lisa stayed on the couch, opening her legs wide so Johanna could see her pink pussy peeking out of her white bush. Johanna loved licking pussy, that was obvious, and she took her time tonguing Lisa's clit and grabbing at her boobs. I knelt down behind Johanna on the floor and started licking her pussy and her butthole from behind. Johanna was rewarded with a mighty gush of juices from Lisa's pussy, Johanna squirted a little on me but nothing close to what my sweetie could do.

 

We laid in the bed on either side of Johanna, doing the almost ritualistic telling of our stories. Johanna was fascinated by ours; she said she just wasn't the sort to quickly bond to anyone so our relationship, and how it started out when we were so young, was pretty strange to her. She definitely liked sex with guys more than girls, in fact she had not fucked a woman until she was 23. She worked as a model as well as working at a mall Hot Topic store; she also let us know she had worked as an escort some too. Our days with Ro were also fascinating to her, she understood Ro's motivations totally. She was, she told us, no stranger to the luxury boxes at all of Chicago's sports facilities; she made sure to keep up on local sports so that when she was hired to be on some tech guy's arm for a Bulls or Blackhawks game she knew what she was talking about.

 

Johanna left the next morning, giving each of us another pussy licking before she did. I announced to Cornelius that, in exchange for his help that I would make dinner. It would be spaghetti and he was on board with that. He told me where to drop off the film and I did that as Lisa and I were on the way to the store. We picked up what we needed, and the prints were ready by the time we returned to the photo lab. Back at the loft Cornelius and I, with Lisa sitting in my lap, looked them over. He pointed out the importance of consistency for a job like this and he seemed pleased with my first attempt.

 

Rita, Jan, and Carolina arrived that afternoon. Cornelius of course greeted them like long-lost family and we both got some passionate kisses from Rita and Carolina. Jan, no surprise, gave awkward hugs and shook our hands. I made Lisa promise to not start fucking Carolina or Rita before I took the photos, she pouted in a most adorable way.

 

Rita insisted on doing Lisa's makeup while Carolina took care of her own. We didn't have time for a proper threesome but we both took our time sucking on Rita's hard nipples and rubbing her almost bald pussy to take her to a very satisfying orgasm. When she was finished Lisa looked even more beautiful than she had last night (I hardly believed that possible). Rita wore her dark red prom dress from last year; Carolina word a tight pink dress that showed off her wonderful curves. Lisa and I were a little shocked when we saw Jan after he had changed clothes; he was wearing a full Edwardian tuxedo with striped pants, a white tie, and even a top hat.

 

Rita took pride in showing him off, he seemed rather put off by all the attention. Lisa, nerd that she is had to sing the line from the song "Puttin' on the Ritz," "Trying hard to look like Gary Cooper" which meant I had to add an excited, "Super Dooper!" We are a such nerdy pair.

 

The afternoon was taken up going through the standard poses until I knew them by heart, I'd have the flash cards as a backup. Five rolls of film later I was feeling comfortable with my upcoming job and so me and Lisa headed out to drop off more film and kill an hour or so waiting for the lab to do their thing. Lisa was still wearing her dress, so we went down to the lakeshore to get some black and white photos of her with her hair blowing in the wind (she is so mind-meltingly sexy with her hair blowing back); there was a fair amount of kissing involved too. Back in the car, the wind was pretty chilly, her phone rang. She answered and got very excited as she ended the call.

 

"That was Steve, from the band. We need to be free on the 8^th and 9^th of June."

 

"Why?"

 

"I was keeping this as a surprise. Steve put in an order for Grateful Dead tickets for the whole band, plus all the crew, and we got them. We get to go see two Dead shows at Soldier Field!"

 

I kissed Lisa properly. "When we get back to Cornelius' place I am going to enjoy our celebratory fuck so much!" As much as I wanted to reach up under her dress, because I knew there were no panties, and play with her (I was confident) beautifully wet pussy I did not. Chicago traffic requires a high level of situational awareness (another word I learned from Katherine). I did stop and grab us some fresh Italian bread, I was confident Cornelius had a nice wine selection.

 

Back at the loft we went through the prints; Cornelius voiced his approval, saying that I was a good student and a quick learner; he also agreed with me that I had some seriously lovely models to work with. I was touched when Jan, quite sheepishly, asked me if he could keep some of the photos of him and Rita.

 

"My family has never seen her. I won't bother sending any photos to Johanna, but Sara is very excited to meet her as is my grandmother. GrandMaMa has always liked seeing me in formal wear, she says I look a lot like Grandfather when he was young. I do think I take after him, he was a sailor as well and he fought against the Japanese in the second world war

.

"Take whichever ones you want Jan, there are plenty to go around."

 

"He does looks really good in that suit Sis, you should give a photo of the two of you to Mom and Dad. Mom is always trying to get Dad to dress less like a gangster."

 

Jan smiled, "Lisa suggested that I bring along a photo of me in my navy uniform to show Katherine."

 

Carolina patted him on the shoulder, "You're a smart young man, that's not a bad idea at all dearie; if you can show Katherine you're a fellow samurai I think that will go a long way to improving her opinion of you."

 

Cornelius Llewellyn Is the only person I have ever known who could eat spaghetti wearing a white suit and not get a drop of sauce or wine on himself in the process. I am not a neat eater, I looked like that poster of a little kid with a bowl of Spaghetti-O's on their head. Jan was either starved from lots of sex or building up his strength for lots of sex because he ate two plates full, complementing me lavishly on my sauce. Lisa kissed me on the cheek, "See, other people know you have skills too."

 

Carolina left for a party, one no doubt to be filled with fabulous people. She squeezed my butt when I told her I hoped she met a very dirty-minded girl at the party. Cornelius had told me there was an event tonight at a theater near his loft that he thought I would like, and he would introduce Lisa and I to more of his art and theater friends. Rita and Jan were coming along but they would not spend the night, Jan had to meet with a study group from one of his classes the next day. I had never seen Cornelius' car, it was a classic Renault (very French) and with five of us packed inside it was a tight fight.

 

The theater marquee proclaimed "Tonight - The Dark Side of Oz." None of us knew what it meant, and Cornelius was having way too much fun keeping us in the dark about it. We went in and found ourselves some seats. It was a beautiful old theater, much like The Galaxy at home; certainly the seats were nicer than what you would find in your average mall cinema. I was munching some popcorn, can't go to the movie without popcorn, and Lisa was enjoying licking the butter (they used real butter!) from my fingers. On the screen came the very familiar MGM lion but oddly there didn't seem to be any sound. The lion roared, silently, then I heard it; the unmistakable intro to Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. For the next hour and a half I pretty much forgot to eat my popcorn. It was like the Pink Floyd album, which came out 34 years after the movie, was a second soundtrack for the film. It was really a mind-blowing event; I would have to tell Lee and her dad about it, they would always be my fellow movie lovers.

 

Back at the loft we said goodnight to Rita and Jan; Rita got two sloppy, tongue-filled kisses; Jan's were much more dignified, and he once again blushed red as a baboon's ass. Once in the bedroom I began taking Lisa's clothes off very slowly, doing lots of licking and kissing in the process. Bending her over an old overstuffed chair I spread her firm butt cheeks and began slowly licking her pink pussy and tight butthole; enjoying every minute of torturing her by backing off when her "Ooooo" indicted she was about to come. When I finally let her orgasm and I was rewarded with a firehose worthy gush of pussy juice, in addition to getting to watch her thighs and butt shake from pleasure.

 

Lisa was just as deliberate in getting my (now wet) clothes off, taking time to lick some of her juices off as well as rubbing her hard, pink nipples on my skin. She pushed me down onto the bed, spreading my legs wide so she could push her tongue inside my pussy. Getting me nice and wet, she slid between my legs and pressed her warm, wet pussy to mine, rubbing hers on mine and pinching my nipples as she did. She took her time, pulling her pussy away from mine each time my legs start to quiver, reveling in her own sexual sadism. Finally she let me explode, rolling off to safety as I thrashed around in the bed like a flounder on the deck of a boat.

 

I pulled Lisa down onto the bed, laying on her stomach, and started pounding against her warm butt with my hips, my wet bush rubbing on her now quite pink bottom, my hands wrapped around her neck, squeezing softly. As she reached her climax I sat up on her quivering butt and pulled up on her neck, bending her body upward as she writhed under me. I rolled off her and laid on my back, my legs spread wide, so she could see my pussy there in my wet, brown bush. Lisa brought me to another thrashing orgasm rubbing her hard nipple on my clit and pushing two fingers deep in my butt. Lisa fell asleep sucking on my nipple with me playing with her hair.

 

We pretty much drained all of Cornelius' hot water the next morning with a nice, long shower. I was able to make Lisa climax just by rubbing my boobs on hers, she pulled me down on the floor of the shower and pressed her pussy to mine so that she could pee in me, something that always sends me over the top. Both of us were really hungry so we were glad when Cornelius suggest we go to a diner near his loft. Lisa plowed through a stack of French toast and I made short work of biscuits and gravy, wonderful energetic sex works up a girl's appetite.

 

We loaded the borrowed equipment into the Red October, thanked Cornelius profusely and headed off. On the way out he gave me a pat on the back and told me, "You will do fine my young friend if you believe in yourself half as much as Lisa and I believe in you;" Cornelius is another one of my friends who can really channel Obi-Wan.

 

Back at my dorm we hauled all the gear up to my room, I didn't want to leave it in the Jeep for the two weeks before the semester was over. Opening the door we found a despondent Sam sitting on the couch, eyes red and looking a total mess. I sat down on one side of her, Lisa on the other, my arm across her shoulders and Lisa's around her waist.

 

"What's wrong sweetie?" I handed her a paper towel to blow her nose on. "Let me guess, it's your asshole brother again."

 

She laughed grimly, "Nailed it in one Cindy. His sentencing hearing was Friday, but Mom was so upset she couldn't even talk about it until today. She called me this morning and told me; the judge gave him five years. Because he used a gun he'll be in maximum security, probably the prison up in Pontiac. If he gets his shit together, and I think that's unlikely, he might get transferred to a prison somewhere closer to home. Mom's devastated, Dad's a wreck, and poor Amy is still blaming herself."

 

Neither of us knew what to say so we just held on to her. Her body would jerk a little from time to time and if she hadn't been cried out already she would have started crying again.

 

"I didn't want to just take some without asking, but could I have some of your rum Cindy?"

 

I kissed her on the cheek, "Of course sweetie." I grabbed the bottle and Sam to a long pull on it, Lisa and I took swigs too, just for good measure. Lisa gave Sam a squeeze which provoked a sharp intake of breath and a quiet "Ah!"

 

Lisa back off, "What is it sweetie?"

 

Sam pulled off her t-shirt to show her right side, which was one massive old bruise with multiple scrapes as well. I was so focused on her side I did not even notice (at least not right away) how nice her boobs were.

 

"Holy shit Sam! What happened?" I was so hoping that this would not be some terrible story involving her idiot brother, Lisa sat in silence, her hands over her mouth.

 

"I took Elanor out for a ride when I was home for Spring Break, just to get away from my family craziness for a little while. I was riding on a trail not far from home when something spooked her; I have no idea what it was, horses are weird that way. Anyhow, she bolted and took off at a gallop and I fell out of the saddle with one foot still caught in the stirrup, so she dragged me about fifteen feet or so. My foot came loose I had to run after her for probably a few hundred feet, and that hurt like hell, but I finally caught her, put my saddle back in place and rode home. I didn't even tell Mom and Dad because they had enough to worry about with dealing with Donnie's shit. This is why I've been wearing my hoodie to class since we got back from break, it hurts too much to wear a bra. The bruises are healing but my muscles are still really sore; I'm lucky I didn't break anything.

 

I looked over at Lisa, "Babe, look on the shelf in my room and grab my Tiger Balm."

 

Sam looked puzzled, "What's Tiger Balm?"

 

"It helps with sore muscles, it's used all over Asia, and it's helped me when I strain something. It's also pretty smelly."

 

Sam laid across us, her head in Lisa's lap. Lisa absent-mindedly played with Sam's hair, but it wasn't long before she was stroking Sam's very nice boobs. They weren't really big, they weren't even as big as Lisa's, but they were very nice, and it was impossible for us to ignore that her dark pink nipples were rock hard.

 

I slowly rubbed the Tiger Balm into Sam's skin, trying not to press too much on the bruises, she winced noticeably when I got to close, and concentrating on the muscles in her back and in her abdomen. Sam reached up and slid her hand up under my shirt, rubbing my boobs and making my nipples very hard. I let my hand slide down insider her sweatpants, smiling when I felt how wet her bush was. It didn't take long before we were all three moaning softly, Sam's orgasm came almost as soon as I touched her clit, Lisa and I took a little longer. Lisa had pulled off her top and her bra as well so that Sam could suck on her nipples and we hit our climax almost at the same time.

 

Sam sat up, pulling on her shirt, "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to make it weird!"

 

Lisa stroked Sam's hair, "Do you see us running out the door? We would happy to take this as far as you want to go, you just have to ask."

 

I rubbed Sam's back, "We'll be living together next year too, anytime you have an itch to scratch I'll be here and Lisa's just a phone call away."

 

"I've never had anyone touch me like that, boy or girl. I think I liked it. Does this make me a lesbian sex fiend?" She giggled a bit when she said that, it was nice to see her smile.

 

"Only if that's how you see me and Cindy," Lisa said with a laugh. "We both have ridiculously high sex drives, so I don't think we are representative of all lesbians."

 

Sam hugged Lisa, "You two are a lot of fun. You should come visit me at home sometime, I want to introduce you to Elanor."

 

I gave Sam a hug too, carefully so that I didn't smell of Tiger Balm, "If you come up our way you can see Lisa on stage, she's been cast as Hodel in Fiddler on the Roof at the dinner theater." Lisa was really proud of being in her first show where she would get paid. I had checked with the theater's management and at least as of now they didn't need any lighting or sound people, but they said they would call me if an opening came up.

 

Sam and I had decided to stay roommates for the next year, but Lauren had decided to move to a floor in a different residence hall that was set aside for computer science students (but she promised to come visit us). The university had added a new section to the housing form where you could indicate if you were gay and I had taken the leap and checked the box; my hope was whoever moved in with us would be OK with one gay suitemate and another one who was, at the very least, bi-curious (that was a new term I had learned).

 

Mom and Dad came up in the van, Janet in tow, to help move me back home. I had done pretty well in my first year of college and it had been quite the sexual adventure, but I was ready to go home and see my friends. I was nervous, despite ample reassurance from Cornelius, Lisa, Lee, Janet, Lauren, Sam, and Rita, that in just a week I'd be the photographer for the Queer Prom. I'd have Lisa to help me, but I had never taken on this much responsibility. I guess I was growing up whether I wanted to or not.

 

Janet was very talkative on the ride home; at first it was all about the lesser doings of people at school, many of whom I didn't know, but she finally got to heart of the matter; there was something going on between Charlotte and Ellie and it wasn't a good thing. Even Janet, absolute mistress of learning secrets, wasn't exactly sure what the issue was but whatever it was it had the two girls sniping at each other constantly and being really bitchy behind each other's back. It did bother me that whatever was going on it was clearly upsetting Carrie (Charlotte's little sister and also her part-time lover) so much that even Janet was worried about her. Janet was torn, she like both girls, after all she had fucked both of them several times, but she told me that if she had to choose between them she would side with Ellie. I had to admit that I would too, Ellie and I had been friends for several years and I barely knew Charlotte, but I also wanted to take care of Carrie. Carrie had lived her life in Charlotte's shadow (or with Charlotte sitting on her face) and I was afraid she hardly knew how to be her own woman.

 

Once I was home I was back to my routine of hanging out in the coffee shop; Ben and Ron wanted to hear all of our stories, I told mine but edited out all the sex. They both wanted to meet Jan since they both needed to determine if he was good enough for Rita. The guys had become fiercely protective of us girls and even they had noticed that something was wrong with Ellie. They knew her story and they were both afraid (having seen drama like this many times in their lives) that she could fall onto her mom's old path of numbing herself with alcohol and drugs. I had talked with Lee on the phone and her advice (for now) was to just listen; she did try to prepare me for the possibility that Ellie was not totally innocent in whatever had happened. I knew that she might be right, but I didn't like to consider that possibility.

 

Lisa and I were on the Crying Couch with our usual drinks, some unspeakably sweet coffee drink with caramel and chocolate for Lisa and Black Darjeeling tea for me, when the little bell over the door rang. We turned to see Janet leading Ellie into the shop; Ellie's eyes were swollen and red and Janet looked like she had been crying too. "Shit," I thought to myself, "This is going to be a mess."

 

Ben had by now almost a psychic link to us girls and he seemed to know that towels were going to be needed so he handed us each a nice, clean one. Lisa patted his hand with a silent "Thank You." We had to wait for a few minutes because as soon as she saw us Ellie started crying again; me and Lisa sat in silence, Janet held on tight to Ellie (amazingly) not saying anything either. It was pretty jarring seeing Ellie this upset, she was normally so poised and self-assured (or at least she was very good at projecting that image). Finally, she got control of herself, so I took a deep breath and dove in.

 

"OK sweetie, what's wrong?"

 

Ellie swallowed hard before she started. "Charlotte and I have been involved with the same guy, usually all three of us at once for several weeks. It seemed to be going well, the sex was great, until last week. All of a sudden they both started ignoring me at school and not calling me. I finally went over to Charlotte's house to see what was up; Carrie let me in and I went up to Charlotte's bedroom and there were the two of them fucking on her bed. Charlotte looked at me like I was a piece of dogshit on her shoe, `We're done with your fat Mexican ass, not get the fuck out of my house.' And just to make it worse as Evan looked at me he never stopped fucking Charlotte from behind the entire time, and he said, `She's done with dykes, she's with me now so go back to your lesbian slut club bitch.' I ran out of the room and ran right into poor little Carrie and I knocked her down, but I didn't even stop; I just ran out to my car and went home and hid."

 

All three of us (and Ben) were stunned. We knew that Charlotte had her bitchy side, Janet better than me and Lisa, but this was a whole new level. This was beyond bitchy, this was just downright cruel. Janet was holding Ellie tight because the tears were back in force. Ben brought her a new towel, mumbling "I'm so sorry little one" as he did. Lisa was practically breaking my fingers as she held my hand, she hates the thought of people being needlessly cruel to each other and for this to happen to someone we know was just totally over the line for her. She sat her drink down carefully and went over to Ellie, pulling her in so that she could rest her head on her boobs.

 

"I'm so sorry baby. I wish I knew what to say but I'm at a loss."

 

I took a deep breath, "Listen Ellie, I know this fucking sucks. I've never been hurt by someone else like this and I don't begin to know how you feel but you know all three of us are here for you no matter what."

 

Ellie's tears had slowed down, "Now I don't have a prom date and none of the guys will talk to me. I just wanted to go to my senior prom! Janet's been nice to me but even the other gay girls seem to be avoiding me, I don't think they want to take sides."

 

Lisa wiped off Ellie's pretty face (she was pretty even with her face puffy and red from crying), "Then you come to the Queer Prom and I will dance with you."

 

"Anthony and I will be there too, I trust my big sister to take better photos anyway."

 

"I don't want people fucking feeling sorry for me! I don't want to be that poor girl who could only get a pity date from her lesbian friends!"

 

I was getting a little exasperated with Ellie's wallowing in misery. I was no stranger to this, I'd done my fair share, but I had never dragged other people into it (Yeah, I was feeling pretty self-righteous). I got up off the couch, grabbed Ellie's hand, and pulled her up to her feet. I had her face in both hands making her look at me. "Elizabeth, you listen to me! We all love you and we are here for you because of who you are. Nothing that someone else says if going to change that, you hear me?" My voice was getting a little squeaky and I might have been yelling a bit because Lisa grabbed my belt as a warning. I kissed Ellie firmly, my hands siding down to her wonderful firm butt as her tongue slid into my mouth. After a few moments Lisa took her turn, kissing our friend just as passionately, before Janet did the same.

 

Janet sat back down in the big, rather ratty over-stuffed chair, pulling Ellie down onto her lap. "See, I told you Snow White and the Fuzzball would be here for you."

 

We all looked up when the little bell rang again; it was Carrie and she looked really scared. She had always looked pale, but tonight she was as white as Lisa's hair and that made her red hair stand out even more. She had gone through a growth spurt since I had last seen her, she was several inches taller and her boobs had filled out nicely. Lisa got up and walked over toward her; Carrie looked terrified, I really think she thought Lisa was going to hit her. I looked over at Ellie, Janet had her arms around Ellie's waist and was holding tight.

 

"Ellie, this shit is not Carrie's fault. We're going to listen to what she wants to tell us."

 

I swear I thought I heard Ellie growl, "I don't want to hear anything from that little bitch!"

 

Now I was channeling The Chief, "ELIZABETH! You will sit the fuck down right now! This is not Carrie's fault, I know you are hurting but you will not take it out on her!"

 

Ben was looking at me, "Cindy, is there going to be trouble? We don't want trouble in our shop."

 

"We're just talking my friend, it's going to be OK."

 

Lisa led Carrie over, the poor girl was shaking like a leaf, and sat her down on the crying couch between the two of us so we could each hold a hand. Lisa kissed her on the forehead, "Tell everyone what you told me sweetie."

 

Carrie was starting to cry, "I'm so sorry Ellie. I had no idea what Charlotte was doing, and I didn't know she was going to be so mean to you. Please don't be mad at me!"

 

Carrie sobs were pitiful; she was terrified, and I think I knew why. All her friends were through Charlotte and Charlotte had pretty much trained her to be a submissive sex doll and I don't think she knew how to function without Charlotte calling the shots. Through her sobs Carrie told us that Charlotte and their mom also had a huge fight; Charlotte had been accepted at the University of Southern California and she had announced that after graduation she was going to go live with their dad and his new wife in Venice Beach. Their mom, who was some sort of business consultant, was going on a trip and would be gone until Charlotte's graduation. I had known Charlotte and Carrie's home life was fucked up, but I had no idea it was this bad. Charlotte was going to be alone for what would really be the first time in her life and she was scared to death.

 

We all looked at Ellie, wondering what she would do. I really didn't want to cause trouble in Ben and Ron's place, but I was not going to let Carrie take the hit for what her bitch of a sister had done. Ellie wiped her face off, brushed her black hair back with her fingers, and stood up, and smoothed out her top. Carrie stood up too; I gave the girl credit, she was brave. I could understand that, I could also understand that she seemed to have the common sense of a turnip, just like me. We all finally exhaled when Ellie hugged Carrie and that started us all crying again. Ben brought us some more bar towels, he was wiping his eyes as well; now it was time to figure out what to do.

 

"OK girls, here is my cunning plan: Ellie, you are coming to the Queer Prom; I'll be there taking photos and Lisa will be helping me though I have no doubt she will drag me onto the dance floor from time to time." The lust obvious in Lisa's bright blue eyes told me I nailed that one. "Carrie, you are coming too. I know Rita will be there and I'm sure if she can make it Lee will be there too. We will have a wonderful time and then anyone who wants to go the After Prom at the youth center can go." I looked around at our little group, "How am I doing?"

 

Janet spoke up, "I will be there and if Anthony wants any more of this hot body he'll be there too." Dear God, my sister could be ruthless! I got the feeling that Janet and Ellie might well have double-teamed Anthony at some point, it wasn't my thing but if they all enjoyed it who was I to judge. My love of threesomes was well known.

 

Ellie was holding on tight to Janet, "I've got a dress already, it's another one of Mom's old party girl dresses but this one's red."

 

I remembered Ellie in the black number she wore last year and how sexy she had looked in it, "Do you have a matching hat and boots?"

 

Ellie smiled for the first time that evening and her smile was still dazzling, "Us Texas girls always coordinate our boots and hats."

 

Lisa was still playing with Carrie's red hair, "What about you sweetie?"

 

Carrie smiled a little too, "I had a dress I liked picked out, but I hadn't bought it yet because Charlotte wanted me to find a different color. I've got the dress I wore to Homecoming; it's an old one of Mom's that she let me get altered. Mom and I are the same height now, Charlotte's jealous that I'm taller than she is, but Mom has lots bigger tits than I do so I had to have it taken in some."

 

"Well I'll be working so I will be our resident butch for the night," I looked over at Lisa, "How about you babe?"

 

"I'm going to wear the white and blue dress I wore to our first Homecoming, I'll ask Mom to let it out a bit so that my boobs don't pop out, and of course I'll have my blue high-tops on too." I kissed my sweetie just because I wanted to.

 

 

I was lucky to never get sucked into any weird lesbian drama but my friends certainly made up for it. I've been playing with the Dall-E AI photo site and I have managed to create images of many of my friends that came out pretty good. I love hearing from my readers (cattingcindy@yahoo.com) and please, as always, consider a donation to the Nifty Archive (https://donate.nifty.org)