Paul brought a girl home. Her name was Kira. She attended the college in town. She was from Portland.
Pretty, smiling, blonde. He always picked sort of generic pretty ones.
His elbow was angled around her neck, and I felt a little sorry for her. Paul was nice enough, but rather immature and insensitive when it came to women. I knew he'd grow up eventually, but it seemed like it would take a while.
Jonah, on the other hand, had a kind of maturity beyond his years. I'm not quite sure how he and Paul had ended up being friends, but I suspected that part of it was simply the fact that there weren't that many kids to choose from around here.
She joined the boys in their nightly ritual of TV watching and beer drinking. I could hear her feminine voice and laugh coming from the living-room now and then.
Paul took her to his bedroom earlier than he usually turned in, and Jonah joined me in my room, where I was reading in bed. For some reason, the beer on his breath smelled stronger than usual, and it bothered me a little bit.
A loud bump came from Paul's room across the hall, then a crash, muffled voices, and laughter. I didn't know what had happened, but if they were laughing, I figured it was probably okay.
Then there were some yelping and whooping noises, and more bumping. They were conducting quite a circus in there.
I didn't know for sure, but I suspected that Paul was sending a little payback for all the nights Jonah and I had been cloistered away together in my room. Well, he was certainly due. I didn't begrudge him some entertainment. Kira was quite a live wire, and Jonah and I looked at each-other and laughed.
He leaned over me and kissed my mouth. The playful, amorous vibes floating in the airwaves were turning us on, so we took advantage of it and joined in. A house of love, tonight - or lust. Maybe both. Maybe just lust. Good enough.
He moved in closer, his tongue getting more emphatic, his hand moving to my breast. Just the thought that Paul and Kira were kissing, making love, ignited a warm flame in my bowels and pushed me further into the inviting sensations.
My mind kept picturing Paul touching Kira, and it made the movements Jonah was doing doubly arousing. My body was undulating in a snake-like motion, rubbing up against Jonah, pulling off his clothes, exposing my skin to his hands as I tugged impatiently at mine. The beer on his breath was intoxicating me now, and I sucked his tongue, breathing the vapors in deeply.
"Fuck me, Jonah," I pleaded. And in my ear, I could hear Kira saying, "Fuck me, Paul."
So he entered me and began pumping, and I could see the double machinery, like two oil wells side by side, Paul and Jonah, dipping deeper, deeper, deeper into the earth.
I heard low masculine sounds which I knew were Paul, and Kira yelled then, her uninhibited banshee cry urging me on to my own release, which came quickly and suddenly. Then Jonah cried out, and we were complete.
We were satisfied and satiated, and we rolled over to snooze until morning.
****
Kira and I met early over the coffee pot.
"Do you have class this morning?"
"Yeah, I've gotta rouse Paul, or I'm gonna be late."
"That's not so easy to do. He has an afternoon job for just that reason."
I looked at her, knowing I needed to take her into my confidence. She was young and liberal. I figured she'd understand.
So I said casually, woman to woman, "Kira, nobody really knows about Jonah and me. I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't mention it to anyone."
I didn't figure she ran in any of the same circles I did, but in this town, it didn't take much for connections to be made, even inadvertently - especially inadvertently.
"Sure, Mrs. Welsh," she said agreeably.
"Oh God, please don't call me that. I'm Jean."
I put my hand out and she took it.
"Kira."
"Yes, I know. A very pretty name."
"Thanks."
She turned toward Paul's bedroom. "I better go blast him out of bed."
