Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This, Ch.10

Chapter: October

“The Light of the Sun”

***

For all of the human heart’s shortcomings, there is a great deal to be said for the sphere of emotion. Reason, insight, and intellect are admirable, even outstanding in their ability to teach us to overcome our obstacles, but on their own, they lack depth and complexity… a soul to give them context. Physics and engineering give us a glimpse into the inner workings of the universe, but curiosity and inspiration take us to the stars and beyond. A composition might be technically precise, so finely crafted as to be a masterwork recognized the world over, but only with an emotional investment, a piece of its creator and its audience, does it move us to tears. Logic tells us that oppression is wrong, but courage lends us the strength to do something about it.

Emotion can bring out the worst in us, but also the best.

Jennifer Reed, soon to be Jennifer Halvers, was the embodiment of heart and soul to Jahn. Here was a woman who had grown up ruled by a passionate desire to right any perceived wrongs against herself or her sister. Practically a tomboy, but for all her small stature, she’d scrapped like a demon, and had probably been in more fights as a child than he had over the course of his entire life. Adulthood hadn’t changed her much – she could flare up like a sunburst, but when the fire at last died down, she was sweetness and light, the soul of apology, giving back love far more easily than angry words. Despite the slight difference in age, she was Fiona’s polar twin, tails to the heads, heart to mind, sun to moon.

These were the thoughts going through his head, as Jahn watched her pack her bag for the upcoming camping trip. They’d argued a bit; he’d not seen a need for her to drag so much clothing along for a weekend, she’d insisted that it was no more or less than she’d packed in previous years for the same outing. Eventually, he’d realized it for a pointless argument. If she wanted to haul a bunch of stuff around, it could just be left in the back of the car. He didn’t want to fight with her, say things that make him feel like a world-class asshole. Unlike Fiona, who could trade barbs in an argument as well as he could, skewering him with her sharp wit, Jen got hurt feelings. She could be incredibly confident, cool and intelligent, but when her passions got riled up, those things were usually the first to go. Fighting over inconsequential crap wasn’t worth the heartache or the risk.

“So, who all’s coming?” Jahn asked, trying not to laugh at her intense focus on just which bikini to bring. The weather was mild, but it was October, and he didn’t see himself taking a polar bear plunge.

“Mostly Vee en Pees, but Greg’s invited one of his friends from that law firm he works at. The rest are either my friends or Fiona’s: Ashley, Kim and her guy, Marita and Deanna, Julie…” Trailing off, she put a finger to her lips. “That’s everyone, I think. Chris and … Andrea might show up for the barbecue on Friday, but they’re not staying for the weekend.” Her voice showed relief at that reprieve. Whatever peace he’d found with his ex certainly did not extend to Andrea and Jen. Brightening, she turned her attention back to her task, discarding the bikini, and digging through her underwear instead.

“Say…” she asked, glancing at him briefly.

“Yeah?” he asked idly.

“Ever thought about a threesome?” Fuck, a grenade! Fire in the hole! He thought, desperately trying to work out an answer. Unbidden, the old perverse fantasy comes to mind…

//We share _everything_ his girlfriends tittered at him at him from the bed. Want to join us?//

“Absolutely not,” lying emphatically, not even able to call it half-truth easily.

Suspicion flickered in her blue eyes, and obviously he hadn’t covered his momentary fantasy well enough, or she was remembering the first time she’d called him out for the same thing. “Let me rephrase that,” the blonde said. “Ever thought about a threesome with me and someone _other_ than Fiona?”

“Answer’s still no.” Honest truth that time, he wouldn’t consider for a second hooking up with one of Jen’s friends. They were fun to hang out with, certainly, as full of vibrant energy as Jen herself, and attractive for the most part, but… Ashley had looked at him like a tasty cut of meat ever since she’d found out about the impending wedding, Kim was kind of a freak, to put it nicely, and Julie seemed to channel that Do the Creep video any time she went looking for a guy at the dance club. That wasn’t baggage that he wanted, and more importantly…

“Why not?” Jen asked with curiosity on her face as she turned her full attention to him. “I mean, I’ve seen your magazines and you know that I’m not opposed to the idea.”

“Because, Fiona.” He responded, more shortly than he intended. There were a few good reasons he didn’t see the need to put voice to but the one that mattered was commitment. Explaining, he said, “Fantasy’s fine and all, but I don’t think Fiona’s anywhere near as liberated on the idea as you or I.”

“Well, your birthday’s coming up, and I kinda wanted to do something really special and different for your present.”

Grinning, he leaned back and said. “You don’t have to go to extremes. You know what they say: the way to a man’s heart is a steak and a blowjob…”

“You know I can’t cook, you dick.” She sniffed peevishly at him, folding her arms beneath her breasts, but still in good temper.

“I’m not saying the idea isn’t appealing. I’m just saying that you don’t have to do things like that to make me happy. There’s fun, and then there’s us. I’m not going to go around shoving my cock into any girl that comes along, because it’s not right.”

Mulling that over, she asked with an enigmatic smile, “What if it were just me and another girl, and you get to watch?”

“Uhhhh.” Just can’t resist lobbing those grenades, can you sweetheart? He Mentally trying to clear the drool that now seemed to be coating the inside of his skull, he stumbled out, “I don’t-“

Confident of her checkmate, Jen said, “We can talk about it again later… there’s still a week yet.”

Talking, communicating… communicate – that was the key! Jahn responded casually, “It’s still me alone in the room with you and another naked woman…You really should ask Fiona, not me.”

“You don’t think I’ll do it, do you?” A cat-like grin creased her face, blue eyes glittering at him like sapphires in light. No, he was quite sure that would be the first question she asked Fiona when her sister got home, and he resigned himself to it.

*** Jen was as good as her threat, and he came down to dinner to find both women sitting at the table, staring at him as he tried to stride into the room nonchalantly, nothing new, nothing amiss. Nothing doing. A pair of blue eyes full of triumph and glee, brown eyes considering and weighing, a strange smirk touching the corner of her mouth. .

“So, Jahhhhn.” The blonde said, practically purring at him. “Fiona says it’s fine by her as long as you follow a no-contact rule. Voy and Ex, you know.”

“Uh, really?” he said to Fiona. “You don’t have a problem with me being alone in a room with Jen and some naked woman? That’s kind of stretching the trust limits, yeah…?”

Fiona’s uncharacteristic smirk deepened. “Oh, I certainly do trust you, but it’s not really necessary. “Greg will no doubt ensure that you keep your hands off his girlfriend.”

Oh. Shit. Shit. Oh shitty fucking shit shit. He couldn’t seem to think of anything but profanity, and a limited selection at that. The idea of Jen getting down with some girl was a hot fantasy, and Amy wasn’t unattractive, and he didn’t have issues with Greg anymore, but…

Attention back to Jen, he said accusingly, “Was it your idea, or Amy’s?”

Eyes dancing, she said, “Neither, actually. It was Ashley’s, but there’s no way in hell I’m letting that free throw anywhere near you.” Good to know that he wasn’t the only one that had noticed the redhead’s undue attention to him. “It was just girl-talk, came up when I was discussing your birthday present. Both Kim and Ashley had said they’d done them before, and thought it was a lot of fun… not even sure how Amy and I got on the subject when the others were gone, but she wanted to do something for Greg too, so it kinda went from there.”

“Well, I guess…”

“Just say ‘Thanks for the amazing birthday present, Jen’ and get over it already.” The blonde advised him, as Fiona chimed in with, “Oh puhlease, Jahn. Jen already told me about those magazines you got rid of.”

“And there’s absolutely _no_ chance you’ll con me into something like this, adventurous spirit or not,” the brunette warned him, as if he’d been behind the whole thing.

*** Jahn had only seen Amy a few times since they’d first met, the woman preferring to keep to a more relaxed girls-only, no-boyfriends allowed environment when out and about, but what he saw when she and Greg joined the group that weekend was someone who seemed to have gone through an amazing personal transformation. Positively dripping with good vibes and cheer, it was like she’d become something Greg had remembered her as – the life of the party. Those light green eyes of hers sparkled with brilliance and energy, and when she wasn’t hanging all over her boyfriend with adoration in her eyes, she and Jen practically fed off each other, amping each other up to new heights of spastic hyperactivity and joyful abandon, a weird feedback loop on a pair of super-charged batteries.

That was remarkable to Jahn, the understanding that while Greg was providing a much needed emotional bond for the woman, Jen had given her something equally important – a solid friendship that had helped restore laughter and other elements of happiness to her life that a relationship couldn’t always provide.

While an occasional comment might briefly subdue her, provoking a haunted expression, she’d simply cast it off. She was in love and loving life. She deserves it, Jahn thought. Hope Greg is capable of living up to what she needs him to be. That was uncomfortably close to home, echoing his own concerns about the future yet to come, and he derailed the train of thought to welcome them to the party.

The man was a lot friendlier than Jahn had ever recalled him being, and it was hard to dislike the guy the way he once had. No point in making the effort to maintain old hostilities. Conversation over beer and brats went on for a long time, drifting from one thing to another, even passing over Andrea without incident. Greg had made his own peace with her long ago when she’d heard about his incident with Edwards at V&P and had given him a call to chat. Guess it’s impossible to dislike someone with the guts to stand up for others when your eyes aren’t blinkered by old grudges. Wish I hadn’t taken so long to see it, Jahn thought.

Chris and Andrea stopped by briefly, just long enough to enjoy the meal and chat with Fiona. Jen’s exuberance had abruptly shifted into low-gear when she realized Jahn’s ex had shown up and was talking to Fiona, and him as well. Lips pursed in disapproval, she watched until Andrea noticed her unrelenting gaze. With a glance at Fiona and a sigh, the taller woman squared her shoulders and approached his fiancée, who noticeably bristled as she did so.

“Hey, Jennifer.” Her greeting was met with stony silence that was broken when Andrea extended a hand to her diplomatically. “I know we probably won’t ever be friends, but I’m willing to call a truce if you are. Bygones?”

Startled, Jen examined the proffered hand as if it were a live snake. Jahn had told her about his reconciliation with his ex, but the two women had a little history of their own, dating back to college days. The blonde didn’t do big speeches, and after some consideration, she simply said, “Okay then,” and took the extended hand, squeezing it with some warmth. It was as good as they were going to get, Jahn knew.

Fiona stood quietly next to him, smiling with approval and he asked, “Hey, just what does *chkt* mean anyway?”

“Chkt?” Surprised, she looked askance at him for a moment before realizing what he was talking about. “Ohhhh, that. You recall that Jen and I got into a lot of scraps as kids. You know how upset she gets. It’s kind of a code we worked out to help her step back and think about what she’s doing, my way of reminding her that she’s getting worked up and what she’s doing has consequences. I don’t use it lightly, and she pays attention.”

“That’s… unique,” he offered aloud, as tactfully as he could. It sounded like conditioning, was his actual thought, vaguely recalling lessons from an old Psych class.

Shaking her head, she responded, “It’s not a dog signal, just light communication. You can’t always talk someone down, and sometimes actions count for more than words.”

Wisdom that, he thought.

***

Jen had arranged for Greg and Amy to come to their tent on Saturday night, and while he expected the man to be about as comfortable with the situation as Jahn was, he did come, following his bright-eyed girlfriend’s lead in silence. The pavilion tent, meant to house Jahn and his two fiancées was more than spacious enough, and the blonde had already set up shop, piling sleeping blankets in the center of the space, with a folding chair on either side, and a single lantern to light the room. A cozy atmosphere, for whatever that was worth. With the zip-windows closed, the room was dark enough that he and Greg didn’t have to look at each other, and that was an incredible relief.

Can’t imagine having to look the guy in the eye as my fiancée lezzes it up with his girlfriend, he thought, pent up nervousness making him fidget. Bromance, this is not.

While Amy turned a radio she’d carried in to a nice and loud rock ‘n roll station, Jen shed her clothes, never the shy one about getting naked in public. “Brrr,” she shivered, as the cool October air made her nipples harden. “Let’s get it heated up in here, shall we?” she said, grinning wickedly at Amy. The curly-haired brunette showed a bit more trepidation about taking her clothes off, but nodded her head when Jen asked her if she still wanted to do this.

Jahn’s breath caught as Amy revealed her body to the others watching her. Long since healed, but still visible, scars of various sizes marked her shoulders and upper arms, and the sides of her breasts as well. Cigarette burns? Places where the skin had been split by a beating? Edwards is a filthy, fucking animal, he thought with a simmering anger that he quenched with effort when he saw Amy looking at the others in the room with some anxiety, maybe seeking their approval. She smiled when Greg’s shadowy figure gave her a thumbs up and turned her attention back to Jen.

It was Jen who took the initiative, of course. Amy had several inches on his own girlfriend, and the blonde had to pull her in for a kiss that while not as tongue-wrenchingly passionate as their own, certainly had no sisterly qualities to it. As they kissed, Jen slid her hands into the brunette’s hair, curling her fingers in the wavy locks and stroking the sides of her companion’s skull. The kiss seemed to last forever, but both women visibly relaxed as they did so, and when Amy finally pulled back, it was to examine Jen’s breasts with a delicate touch. Greg’s girlfriend was well-endowed, but Jen had tits to spare, and Amy spent some time fondling them admiringly as the blonde smiled complacently under her ministrations.

When she’d had enough of being fondled, Jen responded with some touching of her own, immediately going for the prize, slipping a slender hand through the light bush between the brunette’s legs, and massaging her pussy. Amy gave a startled cry as the smaller woman made contact with her clit, and Jen started to pull away, but the brunette placed a hand on her shoulder and drew her back. Grinning confidently as Amy spread her legs more widely, Jen began to play her hand over the woman’s labia, teasing her clit, only slightly penetrating with a finger between those lower lips. Jahn noticed with some surprise that Jen was mimicking his technique. Tease, he thought, his cock growing hard with the voyeuristic thrill of the ongoing display.

Music deliberately drowned out the sounds of Amy’s response to Jen’s masturbatory play, but what he could hear stifled any question of whether she was getting anything out of what Jen was doing to her. Wanting to share the sensation with her playmate, Amy drew the blonde down to the blankets, positioning Jen on her back and straddling her face as she pulled the smaller woman’s legs apart. Their positioning gave him a solid view of his fiancée’s face and hands between Amy’s spread legs while Greg got a similar view from the opposite side. Craning her neck back, Jen gave him a lewd wink before diving back in. By lamplight, he could see Amy’s pussy glistening damply even before Jen began to run her tongue over it, eliciting an almost inaudible squeal of pleasure. A sharp explosion of breath from Jen told him that her playmate had just done the same, and he felt a small spike of jealousy when his fiancée came almost immediately under the other woman’s touch. They continued on in that vein, a flurry of licking and touching, breathless squealing, gasping and moaning straight out of some of his favorite fantasies.

A surreal experience, watching the two women couple in the lamp lit shadows of the tent, in some ways much like a soft core sex film, though what Jen was doing between Amy’s legs was very visible to him here.

In the darkness, time seemed to stretch like an eternity, though in reality it had to have been less than an hour when the pair finally grew tired of the play and clothed themselves again, sharing a smile and hugging before Amy and Greg left, hand in hand.

“So, what did you think of that?” she said, tracing a finger over his chest.

“Great birthday present,” he admitted. “Really hot, but strange, like watching an old porno.”

“Yeah,” she said, nodding. “It felt nice, but in some ways it’s like… playing with myself. All physical response, but without any … emotion behind it. Fun, but I think we can chalk this up on the list of ‘been there, done that, got the t-shirt’ things we’ve tried already, okay?

“You want a t-shirt with that on it?” he teased.

Her eyes widened with mock outrage, “Only if you want it stuffed down your throat.”

“Kinky,” he said, reaching for her.

“You ain’t seen nothing yet, Mr. Halvers,” she laughed, pulling him down to the blankets with her. Their lovemaking was short, a mercifully brief release from the extended show he’d enjoyed, but it was… intense, driving deep into her as if he were trying to stake a claim. Jealous of a one-night stand, he thought. Damn.

***

The campout weekend passed into pleasant memory, and Jahn’s birthday was celebrated the next. Fiona’s gift caught him by surprise; he knew she would go for something she felt more meaningful than Jen’s sexy gifts, but what she gave him…

Simply, wow.

When she handed him the small jewelry box, he at first thought it was a locket, and it wasn’t so different for all that, but… it was a pocket watch of all things. Modeled after one of those old numbers, it had a sterling silver casing that unsnapped to display the clock within. Not windup, she assured him, because she’d know that would be a pain in the backside. Just a specially crafted gift, but what made it truly special was the portrait within the other side of the casing

It was a near photo-perfect picture of himself, with Fiona on one shoulder, Jen on the other, like an old photo of lovers in a locket. It was not a photo, however, because he’d never taken that particular shot with them. Not a photo, but a painting, so incredibly well-rendered that he had to look closely to tell it for what it was.

“Beautiful,” he whispered, leaning his face towards hers.

“Me, or the watch?” she asked, brown eyes shining with good humor, raising her face to his.

A kiss was the only response she needed.

***

The month of October became a blur, closing in on Halloween. So many memories this year, he thought, as he added pictures from the Tallagua Lake campout to his nearly full scrapbook. Memories are made of this, he thought fondly, those old lyrics haunting him at the oddest of times. You could build a lifetime on a foundation like this. They’re like those leaves fallen from the trees, but so much more solid.

His reflections were interrupted by the front door quietly opening, and then closing, signaling the return of the two women from their shopping trip for costumes. Jahn wasn’t quite sure what he was going to wear yet, but he thought-

“Jahn.” Closing his scrapbook, he looked up to see Jen and Fiona standing across the end table from him. No shopping bags, and Jen’s head was raised just high enough to reveal an expression of abject misery on her face, the beginning of tears forming. Old fears swam to the surface of his gut, and he looked from her to Fiona, who had an arm around her sister’s shoulder, the arm with a comforting brown hand upon Jen’s own slim fingers.

Expression revealing nothing, she spoke only two words, words that by themselves were enough to turn a world on its axis.

“Jenny’s pregnant…”

… to be continued…