Chapter 14
It felt good to be home again. I was greeted, by both mom and Betsy, warmly. Both of them included kisses, though Betsy's were quite passionate. She made it clear that she missed me very much, though that didn't translate into having her in my bed that night. Part of me was disappointed she didn't find her way to my room after we went to bed, but then I didn't exactly make a clear invitation. I was torn between trying to be true to Patty and also act on the feelings that welled up inside me for Betsy. I spent the first few hours of the night trying to sort out why my heart felt so much lighter after seeing and hugging her. The sleep I finally fell into, was troubled to say the least.
Chris and Katie showed up the next day and we spent the entire day out in the back yard, hanging out. A good portion of it with Betsy, laying out in a tiny little bikini, working on her tan, since it was Saturday. I tried not to look like I was watching, but I felt myself staring at her a lot more often than I should have.
"David, when are you going to realize the two of you are in love with each other?" Katie asked quietly, as we stood in the kitchen making some Kool Aid.
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"You and Betsy. When you're gone, all she does is talk about you and wonder how you're doing, and when you're home; all you do is stare at her as if you want to walk over there and kiss her, or more."
"But I have a girlfriend." I protested.
"David. You don't love her. I don't know what you do really feel for her, but it isn't love. You might feel beholden to her, or attached to her, for what she did to help you get over Mandy. But something happened, and unless you wanna talk about it, all I can do is look at how you react with Betsy around."
"Okay. Maybe you're right. Patty helped keep me sane when the shit with Mandy hit the fan. I was ready to curl up and just quit everything. She got some of her friends together, all girls I'd helped with little things, you know how I am."
"Yeah, you'd stop and help a turtle across the road. That's one of the reasons Mandy fell for you, long before the incident in the lunch room."
"She did? She never told me that."
"Well, she did. I think it started that time you accidently ran into her in the hallway and you both spilled your books all over everywhere. You helped her pick it all up and then made sure she got to class even though it made you late and you ended up in detention for it. That kinda started her thinking about you differently."
"I had no idea." I whispered.
"Not surprised. You spend too much time trying to lay low to see what was happening in front of you." She chuckled softly. "So, go on. She organized her friends."
"I told you she did an intervention. What I've never told anyone, but Chris, was that she and her friends hauled me bodily out of my bed to the showers and gave me a shower. More accurately, they held me down and washed me."
"Just how many girls?"
"Eight in all."
"That must have been fun."
"It was eye opening when they all got naked and started soaping me all up. Anyway, they held me down and Patty rode me until I came. She wanted to prove to me that just because Mandy had left, life wasn't over."
"Why would she do that?"
"Because she lost a whole year of school after her boyfriend dumped her for her best friend." I answered. "She didn't want to see me throw everything away over Mandy. She said she worked too hard at tutoring me, and to be honest, we had developed a pretty close relationship, emotionally, because we worked so closely, for so long."
"Well, I can see that happening. So that's what's behind it all?"
"Yeah. She arranged to keep her friends with me almost twenty-four hours a day. They took turns making sure I got to my classes and any time I started to sink into feeling depressed, they'd distract me."
"Distract you? You mean, like with sex?"
"Some of them. Some would just touch and hold me and try to make me think of other things. But Patty, she arranged it so that I never slept alone."
"Bet your roommate loved that."
"He got used to it, besides Patty arranged for him to get a little entertainment, from some of her friends, once in a while too."
"Smart girl. So now, you're attached and going to get married?"
"I think she wants it go that way. She even took me home to meet her family."
"That sounds pretty serious. What did her parents think of you?"
"Her dad's a Baptist minister. He's as straight-laced and conservative as they come. Mom, not so much."
"Not so much?"
"Katie, she wanted to have sex with me to make me prove I was able to satisfy her daughter." I whispered.
"She did what?"
"Yeah. She told me that Patty knew about it and that if I wanted a long-term relationship with her daughter that I needed to show her that I could please her daughter, and if I couldn't she'd have to teach me."
"Holy shit. I've heard of mothers-in-law trying to get into the son-in-law's pants but that takes it to a whole new level. Did she do it?"
"Did I have a choice?"
"Oh damn. That family is really screwed up." Katie whispered. "Well, I wouldn't tell Betsy about it. She already doesn't have a very good opinion of Patty."
"She doesn't?" I asked curiously.
"No. She thinks that Patty is taking advantage of you. That you were vulnerable and she saw it as an opportunity to hook you. David, I think she's right. After meeting her and all the stuff about being naked and learning your life style? I think she was doing everything she could to make sure that you stayed attached to her, and playing the 'I'm going to do your life style' thing is just another sign of that."
"Say what you think much?" I asked in surprise.
