Much appreciation to my trio of friends: Vanessa Nelson, GTDaytona and Mr. Fox for their guidance and edits. Remaining mistakes are all mine.
*****
At five Karla texted Philip the address of the chain restaurant that was to be the setting for the execution of her plan. She was going to confess to her boyfriend that she had had 'unintentional' sex with Mei Chun, have her join them and manipulate him into agreeing to let her continue to see her.
She could have kept their affair a secret, hour-long appointments in the massage room at the gym being a perfect cover for their clandestine sex, but Karla wanted more. She wanted nights like last night, minus the kink, or maybe with the kink... it didn't matter. In hindsight her ride on Otto revealed him to be quite the reliable lover and Mei looked so incredibly hot tied up and drooling. The flog and nipple suckers hadn't hurt that badly and had definitely added a spice that intensified the flavor of the whole experience.
Karla wanted a relationship that would extend outside of the gym to include nights at Mei's house, nights that would, necessarily include Philip. Therefore, she required Tim's understanding, if not necessarily his approval. In the end she could dump him if she were forced to. She had thought seriously about the possibility, but the problem was she loved him and wanted to give him the chance to marry her.
And while the prospect of moving in with Philip and being just one of his women revolted her sensibilities, it excited her on a deeper, perhaps more primitive, level. To be a millionaire's live-in sex toy didn't sound good at first hearing but it had a kind of barbaric charm. And Philip was going to finance her dream, something Tim would never be able to do. And, she thought, 'I so want to fuck Philip.'
Conflicted but confident that whatever happened tonight would turn out for the best, she showered and dressed while Tim watched college basketball in their little apartment.
##########
They got there a bit early and took a booth in the center row that divided the restaurant. A few minutes later Philip was pleased to see Karla and an unremarkable young man seated three tables away. He wouldn't be able to ease drop on their conversation but she had been careful to take the bench seat facing Philip and at least he could monitor her facial expressions. They had arranged that she would signal him when it was time for Mei to enter and sit next to her.
He looked Tim over and was not impressed with his appearance. He was tall and a bit out of shape. He looked every inch the entry level accountant but with a cocky demeanor that Philip didn't think he deserved. His hair was unkempt, he wore jeans and a t-shirt with a loud surfboard company logo taking up the chest.
"He looks ok," Ai said, more with hope than conviction. "Not an ax murderer kind of thing."
"He'd be more likely to bore you to death."
##########
Mei was waiting out in the car, her phone in her lap, her beautifully manicured fingernails drumming on its smooth glass face. She could feel her anxiety add a few millibars to her blood pressure. Yet she was grateful for the flush she could feel on her face and the caterpillars in her stomach, as they were yet another indication that she was no longer the self-absorbed bitch Jenny had been. She really wanted this to work; wanted a do-over with Karla. She didn't like the feeling she had neglected romance with her and needed so much more than just great sex.
She had told Karla the truth last night. She wanted to be feminine for her, wanted to put her hand in the back pocket of her jeans at the mall. She wanted a weekend at a spa and to waste time together at the DMV. But what she hadn't counted on was how smitten she had become with Philip's new girl.
Ai was like freeze-dried, instant girlfriend. "Just add sex," Mei mumbled to herself while she checked her reflection in the phone's dark glass. They had connected just that fast. It was breathtaking and Mei had hardly a moment to recover and none to contemplate what her immediately congealed feelings for the skinny Vietnamese prostitute meant.
As she waited she thought about what Ai's eyes were saying as they burrowed into her soul from above her mons, and as that pretty little mouth coupled with her vulva. 'Was she telling me she loved me?' It had sure felt like it and not just her ridiculously talented tongue.
'But was it possible? Love at first cunnilingus?'
Just because it had never happened before - Ai was, after all, only her second lick and kiss partner - didn't mean it was impossible. Then the way they finished! It was beautiful, Mei couldn't suppress a smile at the memory. Unlike Karla, Ai seemed to love HER... love who she was inside and not her exterior personality; the facade she knew she wore. She didn't want to be unfair to Karla, it was new to her too. But it was as though Ai could see through her bones and knew what a bitch she had been and forgiven her. She had said so, 'I forgive you,' again and again until Mei had wept with the knowledge that she could be forgiven.
She was someone special, Mei knew that. She had already gotten under her skin. It was a comfort knowing her, even knowing her kind existed and she felt great pride in the fact that Philip had chosen such a girl to become her little sister.
In the dark of the car's backseat she drummed on her phone and said, "What a mess. What a great goddamn mess... I love it!"
##########
In the restaurant, ensconced in their low-backed booth, Karla was slow to start her confession. She fumbled a bit, but it looked to Philip that she was bearing down and getting started. He reflected that nothing was as easy in practice as it was in the mind. One's imagination had a way of simplifying its view of outside events and objects. It turned people into two-dimensional stick figures that behaved according to its predictions so that it could work out strategies. But people didn't work that way. He could tell by the look on her face that Tim wasn't reacting the way she had anticipated.
"You think he'll go for it, right?" Ai asked.
"Yeah. He's male after all."
"Hmm. How was your first threeway?"
"Never had one."
"Oh my... you're going to love it. I can't wait. You are so going to pass out."
He smiled at her and realized that he would be in a threeway every night. And that he needed a bigger bathtub.
"She's getting nervous. I wish she would call for Mei."
Their waitress came and Ai ordered a shrimp platter and he ordered a beer. As the waitress left, Karla's eyes flashed at him and he called Mei.
"You're on. They're in the middle and Karla is facing the door. Good luck."
He put down his phone and said, "Come sit here so you can watch." Ai moved over when she saw Mei enter. A moment later they saw Karla wave and stand and Philip's phone rang. It was a call from Mei. He looked at her move past the welcome station but she didn't have her phone to her ear. Then he realized what she was doing, answered the phone, and heard some rustling sounds in the ear piece.
She didn't look at Philip or Ai as she moved to stand next to Karla's table.
"This is Mei Chun," Karla said standing.
"Hi," Tim said, not standing to greet her, which Philip noted with disapproval.
Mei and Karla hugged briefly then sat on the bench seat opposite Tim. Mei put her phone on the table, screen side down, and smiled. "Karla just can't stop talking about you, Tim."
Philip was impressed at her foresight and could hear perfectly. He held the phone so Ai could listen in.
"Nice to meet you," he replied without enthusiasm. "How was the sleepover?"
"We had a great time, made some guys buy us a drink or two and laughed at them behind their backs. Just the thing girls like doing. Thanks for letting her stay at my place. She really couldn't have driven home."
"She was just about to tell me the rest of the story when you showed up. Said she had something serious to say. Weren't you, Karla?"
Mei saw the ill concealed anger on his face.
"Well... it just sort of happened, Tim. There was this moment we shared, like... when she asked for a massage on her neck and... then..."
She halted, breathed, then sighed, "It was my fault. She leaned back and put her head on my shoulder and... they were so pretty on her chest, all high and pointy. And... it was like my hands just slipped and next thing I know... I mean, and her nipples got so hard and she made this really... like, I dunno, really sexy moan and the next thing I know her tongue is in my mouth... and..."
"We're not lesbians, Tim," Mei said, speaking over Karla.
"... then we kind of fell together."
Tim's eyes were tight, his palms flat on the table. Mei didn't think he liked the sound of it.
"Then we just... I dunno... sort of started... making out." She waited for a reaction but there wasn't one. After an uncomfortable pause, she added, "It was a one time thing."
Mei looked at Karla. "Well," Karla began again, "that time and in the morning."
"Don't forget lunch," Mei prompted and Karla shot her a look.
"I'm sorry, Tim? Can you forgive me? I mean... I could have kept it a secret, but I wanted you to know."
"I've never cheated on you, Karla." He looked genuinely hurt, and perhaps he was, but by instinct he knew he should bolster his current advantage for whatever came next.
She did feel guilty and did what many people do, rather than be contrite she rationalized. "It's not like that. It just happened, ok, and it's not like it was a guy."
"So if I..." He stopped when he realized the corollary argument of him having sex with a guy wouldn't be valid.
"It's been eating me up, honey."
"So did you enjoy it at least?"
"Oh my god, yes!" Mei said without thinking, and Karla gave her a 'shut the fuck up look,' but didn't answer Tim.
Mei recognized something moving behind his eyes. Mei knew men.
"I just can't believe it. I didn't know you had a thing for girls." He drew fingers through his hair. "Is this going to go on? I mean... She's a member at the gym, right?"
"Yes."
"Yes it's going to continue or yes she's a member?"
"Let me ask you, Tim," Mei interrupted. "What's your reaction? Are you disgusted by the idea of two women together?"
Karla made to object but Mei squeezed her hand under the table and, since the question was out already, waited for his answer.
Mei was clever. She knew guys loved lesbians, the pretty kind anyway, knew that in today's society being homophobic was worse than being racist and getting him to visualize two naked female bodies would change his thinking at a deeper level than he was now using.
"I don't have a problem in general, just the idea of Karla with anyone else disturbs me."
"What do you think about me?"
"Good girl," Philip whispered.
"I don't know you."
"Yeah, but I hope you will. Anyway, I'm nice, I'm no threat. So tell me what disturbs you. The idea of our bodies touching? Kissing? Her nipple in my mouth? What?"
"It's just..." He certainly didn't have a problem with that in general. Lesbo clips were some of his favorites.
"You just don't think Karla deserves the experience?"
"It's not a question of deserve."
Philip whispered again to Ai, "She has him on the defensive."
