This story is, in a sense, a continuation of my "The Performance" series. I have retained the same characters. However, I felt that the onstage theme needed a rest. I think that this story can stand on its own, but you are welcome to read "The Performance" stories for background.
This story draws on some real experiences but is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any real person or entity is coincidental and unintended. Thank you very much for reading my stories. Please leave comments.
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Soon after we got back from Vermont, Mike got a call offering him a job doing sound and lights for a national touring company. This was a huge break for him, coming so soon after getting out of school. The downside was that he would be on the road from September through the following March. Prior to that, he had to spend about a week in New York learning the technical aspects of the show. In the main, technicians would be hired locally in the cities where the company performed. Mike and one other technician would travel with the show.
The touring gig was exactly the kind of thing Mike hoped to be doing. Paula had very mixed emotions. On one hand, she was happy for Mike. On the other hand, she was unhappy that she'd not see him for almost eight months. Paula seemed depressed once Mike left for New York. While Megan and I were preparing for another school year, we spent as much time with Paula as we could.
Through her arts connections, Megan had met Angelique Coubertin. Angelique was about 50 and French. Her husband had initially come to D.C. as a trade specialist assigned to the French embassy. He had later moved to work with a "consulting" firm helping French firms doing business in the U.S. deal with our Federal government. Angelique was a painter. She had exhibited her work in shows in the US and Europe, and most of her pieces sold. Angelique did erotic art.
I'm not sure exactly how the idea originated, but Megan, Paula, and I started modeling for Angelique. Unlike Evan, Angelique did her actual painting while the models were posed in front of her. I spent hours on my back with Megan on top of me while Angelique did a painting of us from a perspective behind Megan. Paula usually came with us and watched as Megan and I posed.
When Angelique completed her painting of Megan riding me, she wanted to use Paula in a painting. After some discussion among the four of us, Angelique settled on a pose in which Paula and I were sitting nude on the floor, facing each other. Paula had my dick in her hand, and I had a finger in her pussy. It was a pose I enjoyed holding for the hours it took Angelique to paint us. The finished work showed both our hands and genitals and our faces, looking at each other with desire. It was a nice picture which sold for quite a bit of money.
I enjoyed the modeling. Who wouldn't enjoy being nude in erotic poses with one of two very beautiful nude women? What surprised me about the experience was that I felt that I got to know both Megan, whom I knew very well, and Paula on a much deeper level by posing with them. We couldn't talk during the poses, only on breaks, but there was some type of non-verbal communication between us as we posed. While it sounds like the selfishness of a middle-aged man, I finished those sessions deeply in love with both Megan and Paula.
Mike's prolonged absence led Paula to re-think whether she wanted to work in theater. She admitted that, while the odd hours had been fun while she was in school, they now seemed much less appealing. Still, Starbuck's wasn't a career path. Eventually, Evan's connections helped her get a job designing for a company which did displays for conventions, trade shows, and the like. There was a bit of travel, but most of Paula's work was design work in the D.C office. One of their largest clients was the U.S. Defense Department.
While Paula had her own apartment, she stayed more nights with Megan and me at Megan's townhouse. Paula and Mike had talked by phone a lot when Mike first went to New York and then on the road to Charlotte. By November, they weren't talking much at all. Megan and I both loved Paula a great deal. However, if her relationship with Mike was on the rocks, we hoped that she'd find someone else who would make her happy. In the meantime, our nights were often spent with my dick in either Megan's or Paula's pussy while my tongue worked on the other woman's clit. For variety. Megan and Paula sometimes ate each other. As time went on, it became settled that the three of us lived together.
Mike's gig with the road show was scheduled to end in March. At the end of February, he e-mailed Paula to say that he had been hired to join another company doing the same show on a three-month tour of the West Coast and Rocky Mountain region. That was another professional advancement for Mike but was also the end of his relationship with Paula. Despite our polite suggestions, Paula made no effort to meet men her own age.
The academic year ended just before Memorial Day. In years past, Megan and I had taken a short four-or-five-day break. This year, however, Megan had been invited to speak at a conference in Paris. The conference organizers were paying for Megan's travel, but wouldn't cover mine. Since we both wanted to go to Germany in August, finances dictated that I stay home. Until, that is, Paula suggested that I go with her to Southern Ohio to visit her niece.
We took Megan to Dulles late on Wednesday afternoon before Memorial Day. Megan's words to me as she kissed me before going through security were, "You and Paula have fun together." Megan winked at Paula.
We started the drive to south central Ohio late the next morning. I really didn't know much about Paula's family apart from knowing that her parents lived in Pittsburgh. The seven-hour drive allowed me ample time to be educated.
"Mom and Dad had my sister Terry just after they got married," Paula explained in the car. "She was about 16 years older than me. That's a huge age difference when you are young, and Terry was off to college before I was in kindergarten. We never had the opportunity to get close."
Paula paused several times while telling me this story, as if she was sharing something that she had repressed. I kept quiet, letting her tell me what she wanted to tell at her own pace. The whole story took us from Maryland, through Pennsylvania, and into Ohio.
"After college, Terry got a job selling billing services to doctors and dentists," Paula continued. "That's how she met Kevin. He was a dentist in this small town in Ohio. Terry married him. They got a place outside of town. I've never been there before, but I'm told that they raise some sheep. Terry made clothes out of the wool."
Several more miles passed in silence before Paula resumed. "Terry and Kevin had April 19 years ago. It's a bit odd, but my niece is only four years younger than I am. Because I wasn't close at all to Terry, I didn't have much to do with them. They'd come to Mom and Dad's for Christmas and that was it. Terry was diagnosed with cancer about three years ago. She died about two years ago, just as April was starting her senior year of high school. I went out there for the funeral but, understandably, Kevin and April were both pretty distressed, so we didn't talk much. About the same time Mike told me he was doing that West Coast tour, April called me out of the blue. We've had a bunch of long phone conversations over the last few months. Anyway, she ended up inviting me out there for Memorial Day weekend."
"She knows that I'm coming with you?" I asked.
Paula laughed. "Yeah. I've told her a lot about you, and about Megan."
We got off the Interstate not long after we entered Ohio and angled southwest on secondary roads. I was originally from the Columbus area, so I had some familiarity with southern Ohio, but it had been years since I'd been in the state. I'd forgotten how easy, and frustrating, it was to get stuck behind a tractor going 25 miles an hour. The winding roads offered few opportunities to pass.