This is the first part in a three part series.
This is the young woman/younger man version of a set of four separate, three-part stories. All are basically the same with slightly different character relationships. "It Doesn't Count" involves a brother and sister, "A Mother's Lust" involves a mother and son, "It Doesn't Matter" involves an older woman and her daughter's young ex-boyfriend, while "It Shouldn't Matter" involves a young woman and her younger sister's ex-boyfriend. You can read any or all of them, according to your tastes, but the vast majority of all parts of all stories are the same.
-- The Author
*
Dan glanced down at Lori's slim, manicured hand. It rested just millimeters from his, with her long, delicate fingers beside his own, on the table between plates littered with the remnants of a moderately expensive lunch. She was so close he could feel the warmth of her, but her hand wasn't touching his. He looked up into her eyes, seeing a mischievous twinkle there. She'd placed her hand there, just that way, on purpose, as a subtle reminder.
Dan had to look away. He felt a blush rising in his cheeks. A quick glance told him she was grinning, enjoying his discomfort. He didn't know why this was all so much easier for her. He'd always thought that he himself was the boldest person he knew, the most shameless person ever.
In her family, Lori was the careful, considering, planning one. She was the one that didn't take unnecessary risks. She was the one that played by the rules. She never cut in line. She never spoke out of turn. She never pocketed a bill that someone else had carelessly dropped. And Lori was the one that tried to make sure she had a royal flush before she made even a small bet.
When Dan had been dating Lori's younger sister Stephanie, an affair that had lasted through most of his adolescence, he could always count on Lori to be somewhere around, plain, reserved and carefully thoughtful, making sure that he never crossed over the white line with her own sweet little sister, although he frequently had.
She was two years older than him, yes, but he was still more daring. He considered himself to be more mature, too, especially in affairs of the heart. Or, rather, especially when it came to sex. She thought he was a hound, now that he and Stephanie had split. He thought he was well traveled.
She took her hand away to reach into her purse to pay the bill. Dan felt a sudden sadness as she did so.
"Let me pay, today, Lori," Dan offered, knowing he couldn't really afford to pay for even his own meal, let alone hers, too. "Just this once."
She looked up at him with her wide, sea green eyes, her hand at rest in the maw of the purse. She hesitated a moment before continuing to look in it for cash.
"No, lover, I've got it."
She had never called him lover before. It sounded strange, and a little unsettling. She'd been saying things like that throughout lunch.
"No, let me, come on," Dan argued.
"It's the twenty first century, sweetie," she said, looking up at him with a smile. "Men don't have to pay for their dates anymore. Anyway, I have a job, you don't."
Dan glared at her, letting his face harden into ice.
"It's not a date, Lori."
"Whatever you say, lover," she said, smiling, as she dropped some crumpled bills onto the check on the table. "I've gotta get back to work. I'm running late."
She rose from her seat, then walked around the table to pass him on the way to the exit. As she reached him she suddenly bent down to put her broad, full mouth to his, or almost to his. She stopped with her lips just a hair's breadth away. He felt one long, warm breath caress his lips.
She made a slow, soft kissing sound, then was up and off, never having touched him. Dan watched her walk away with a motion that made him sit up straight. He felt something stirring in him. He tried his best to ignore it.
* * *
It had happened, or rather started, rather innocently. He'd stopped by to visit her at her apartment on Friday after work. He did that often, for both himself and for Lori. Stephanie herself had stayed close to home to go to college, while Dan had gone out of state, coincidentally to the same city Stephanie's older sister lived in.
When he had first arrived, visiting Lori was good for his sanity. It gave him a connection to at least one familiar person from home. Over time, the connection had grown to work both ways. Lori liked having a friendly face around from her own childhood, as well as someone to help her out with things. Sometimes it was to fix odd things around the place for her, to help her out, like by unclogging her finicky sink. Over the years, she'd even given him his own set of keys.
But mostly it was just to keep each other company.
When Dan had gone away to college, Steph and Danny had tried to stay together themselves, but it just didn't work. At first they pined, and then they drifted, and finally they each felt trapped and annoyed. Near the end of their freshman year she broke it off, and he was both sad and grateful that she had. She was a great, sweet, beautiful girl. They had literally shared half of their short lives together, first as kids and best friends, and then as lovers. But it just couldn't work long distance.
Especially as horny as Dan always felt.
Lori was getting ready to go out for the evening with friends. He just wanted to borrow some of her CDs before he left. As a poor, struggling senior in college, it was a lot cheaper than buying his own.
As long as he was there, she'd said she wanted his opinion.
"Be honest. Brutally honest, if you can."
"About what?" Dan asked, not really listening, as he sorted through her collection. She had far too many slow, romantic pop albums. That stuff made his skin crawl. He'd thought she had better taste than that. At least, she did with everything other than music.
"As a guy, not as my sister's ex boyfriend that I would pummel if he answered incorrectly, just as a guy."
The way she'd phrased that made him pause. He swiveled his head to look her in the eye.
