Amnesty Program

Nathan sat in a booth across from Emily in the warm dimness of a local pub and smiled at her. She scowled back. "If you were expecting to fuck me tonight, you can forget it." She was wearing a black leather jacket over a red and white striped tank top and frayed denim shorts. The jacket had slipped off her right shoulder. She left it that way.

"What I expect," he said, his smile only fading a little, "is an intelligent conversation." He took a sip of his beer. "I was only

hoping

to fuck you."

Emily snorted and sipped her beer. "That," she said, "was a pretty good answer. What do you want to converse intelligently about- journalism or... whatever it is that you're into?"

"I'm into environmental design modeling, but I'm a total idiot about journalism. Let's talk about that." He narrowed his eyes, "Why to journalists go to such lengths to pretend to be impartial and objective when they obviously aren't?" He watched her green eyes kindle.

Over the next two hours they covered reporting ethics, fact checking, Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer, freedom of speech, yellow journalism, photo retouching, deep throats, paparazzi, tabloid sensationalism and the total train wreck that is the prime time news.

Emily was nearing the bottom of her third beer. Her face was flushed and she leaned over the table in mid-argument, unaware, for once, of the effect her cleavage was having on Nathan. "...so if you think you can invoke the libel laws again, forget it. The issues are much more foundational than dodging lawsuits." She finished her beer and slapped the glass down on the table.

"I'm surprised I can think at all with you leaning over the table like that." Nathan's eyes lingered on the place where the swells of her breasts disappeared into the fabric for another moment, then flicked up to her eyes, framed by her long curly red hair.

Emily's face changed and she leaned back, considering. "You never brought it up."

"What?"

"The party. That girl's room."

"Yeah. Well, I thought we'd just start fresh. That was an... interesting evening."

"You," she said slyly, "almost didn't get out of that girl's room with your virtue intact."

"Oh, I didn't," Nathan said, "I jacked off into her underwear drawer after you left."

Emily laughed. "And I thought I left you with the biggest case of blue balls ever."

"That's a myth, you know, blue balls."

"Seriously?" Emily reached for his beer, took a swig.

"Best kept secret of players everywhere." Nathan said, grinning to himself. "Girls fall for that line all the time. The pain was all in my head."

"I

knew

you didn't perv that girl's room. You're such a gentleman." Emily's smile turned mischievous. "So, how long was it before you got yourself off?"

"Who says I had to do it myself?"

"Yeah right. You turn down a no-questions-asked blowjob one minute and hunt down a one night stand the next? Not you. How long did you wait?"

"It was the next morning," Nathan said, his face reddening slightly, "in the shower. You?"

Emily hesitated, then grinned. "Six minutes."

"Six minutes! How did you pull that off?"

"My car has tinted windows."

Nathan looked at her with admiration. "Still. That takes some courage."

"Nope," she said, finishing his beer, "desperation." She looked at his face. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Nothing."

Emily rolled her eyes. "Out with it."

"I, uh, need to adjust... things."

Emily stared at him dumbly for a moment, then her face brightened with understanding. She whispered, too loud, "Are you getting a boner?" Then, without waiting for an answer, "Let me fix it!" She scooted around to the back of the booth and slid her hand into his pants.

"Gently!" Nathan laughed, then gasped. "Ow!"

Emily jerked her hand out. "Oh, I- I'm sorry. Did I scratch you?"

"Yeah," Nathan said, "scratched."

"You know," Emily said, widening her eyes sincerely, "I'm going to have to have a look at that."

----

Jason stood outside of his bedroom door, raised his hand to knock, put it down again. Rebecca was humming as she got dressed in his room, something tuneless and vague. He was still trying to decide whether to just walk in, knock, or walk away when she opened the door, looking exactly as she had when he had seen her this morning outside of Professor Suarez's office.

"You need to take me home so I can get dressed, but you need to get dressed first. I chose clothes for you." Rebecca breezed by him and went down the hall.

"Okay," he said, too quietly for her to hear. He went into his room.

She had laid out a pair of black jeans, a black dress shirt, a belt, and a pair of dusty black dress shoes.

He picked up the shirt, one he had only worn once to a wedding.

"Shine those shoes!" he heard from the kitchen before he started undressing.

----

Jason sat on Rebecca's couch, trying not to think about the last time he had been there, his pants around his ankles, Rebecca's roommate Emily staring at him open mouthed. He shifted awkwardly, waiting for Rebecca to finish getting ready. He got the newly printed fake IDs out of his wallet again, rubbed them and curled them absently to make them seem more worn.

"I need your help."

Rebecca's voice startled him back into the present. She stood at the hall entrance in black panties and a matching bra. "I don't have anything slutty enough."

He raised his eyebrows at her. "Really."

She rolled her eyes. "This isn't slutty. My mom bought me these. I'm raiding Emily's closet. You coming?"

Jason could move fast when he wanted. He found Rebecca holding Emily's leopard print miniskirt up to her hips. She grinned. "Does this say 'bang me'?"

"Yes. It also says '...and leave me in a shallow grave at the edge of the trailer park.'"

"Good point," she said, sliding hangers out of the way, "How about this one?"

"I usually like blue and I usually like the plunging neckline, but that's like an office cocktail party." Jason pointed, "

What's that?

"

It was black. Rebecca pulled it off a hanger and held it up. "It's a little black dress."

"That's the one," Jason said, "It's not even on you yet and my heart is pounding."

"That's good, right?" she said, sounding unsure, "It's good that your heart is pounding?"

"Put your hand here," he said, putting her hand in the center of his chest. She stepped in close and closed her eyes. She licked her lips and concentrated on his heart beating under her hand. She laid her head against his chest.

"You're right. This is the one. Go wait in the living room."

"But I want to watch you wiggle into it."

"No," she said, batting her eyes at him, "that's for me. Wiggling out of it later... that's for you."

Jason grinned all the way back to the living room. He wasn't sure how that was going to happen with his mom at his house and Emily in Rebecca's apartment. "We'll have to improvise," he muttered, and sat crookedly on one side of the couch.

After what seemed like an eternity, she slipped quietly into the room. "What do you think?"

The dress was simple- a black tank top jersey dress that hugged every one of Rebecca's curves and stopped at mid-thigh. She had on a simple pair of black heels from Emily's closet.

Jason stood and stared. "That's fantastic! Come closer so I can... Oh. You, um, you... took off your bra. Wow. "

Rebecca blushed. "I had to. Look." She turned around.

The back of the dress scooped deeply, leaving most of her back bare. Jason reached out and touched the skin at the small of her back.

"That's not all," she said, turning around and putting her hand on his chest like she had before, "I took my panties off too. They made lines." She smiled a little, feeling his heart trying to break his ribs. "Do I look like a wanton strumpet?"

"No. But I like it." Jason ran his fingers all the way up her back. "I would do anything for you."

"You're already doing everything I want." She tipped her head up and kissed him where his jaw met his neck. "We have homework to do."

Jason sighed. "Fine. We have to get into the pub before we can get kicked out."

Rebecca pulled her hair into a neat ponytail. "I'm ready. Let's go."

----

"Well, that was easier than I thought it would be," Jason said into Rebecca's ear as they followed a loud crowd of frat boys into the pub.

"I know," Rebecca said over her shoulder, "I was kind of wondering if I'd be forced to degrade myself with transactional dalliances to get in."

"What sort of 'dalliances' were you concerned about?"

"Oh,

you

know," she said, smiling vaguely, "transactional ones."

"Well, I'm glad whatever it was wasn't necessary," he said, his hand in the small of her back, "Let's get a booth towards the back. I owe you a drink."

Jason looked over the table at her as she read the menu, her mouth smiling faintly.

"I'll have a Coke," she said, finally.

"Really?" Jason grinned at her. "I thought you were going to try to embarrass me."

"Well," she folded the menu primly in front of her, "It was either that or a half dozen Clitlick Shooters. After your wonderful performance of that very thing this afternoon, I was pretty sure I'd be disappointed."

Jason smiled at her. "I'll give you anything you want."

"Yes, you will." She smiled back at him wickedly. "But I'm kind of itching to get kicked out of here. Why don't you order something adult and try out those fake IDs?"

A barmaid swept up to the table, her attention across the bar at the thirsty crowd of frat brothers. "What can I getcha?"

"A Heineken and a Coke."

She wrote it down and headed off.

Jason watched her go. "She didn't even check. No wonder underage drinking is such a problem in this county."

"Write a strongly worded letter to the manager..." she stopped and the blood drained from her face. "Don't look now, but Emily's here. She's with someone."

"Who is it?"

"Well, he's cute, blonde, brown eyes."

"Damn," Jason breathed, peeking over his shoulder, "she did it. That's got to be Nathan. We have to go meet him." He stood up.

Rebecca squealed, "No! I can't. Not in her dress."

"Come on. You probably look better in it than she does."

"That's the problem!" Rebecca watched Emily scoot around the booth next to Nathan and whisper something in his ear.

"It's just a dress. If she gets upset, I'll take the blame. I found it and I told you to wear it."

Rebecca stood up, still unsure. "This isn't going to go well."

----

"Fancy," Jason said, standing at Emily and Nathan's table, "meeting you here."

Rebecca was trying to hide behind him.

Emily's eyes widened, flicked over to Nathan, and back. "Oh, hi, Jason..." She saw Rebecca hiding behind him. "Hi Rebecca, this is Nathan."

Nathan half-stood and shook Jason's hand. "Have a seat." Jason slid into the booth after Rebecca.

Emily fidgeted. "Rebecca is my roommate and... she's wearing my dress."

Jason leaned forward, "That's my fault- I kind of didn't give her a choice..."

"Bullshit," Emily said, but she was smiling. "She needed something naughtier than she had in her closet."

Nathan raised his eyebrows, but didn't say anything.

"I didn't have time to go shopping," Rebecca said, blushing slightly, "and yes, your clothes run more to the... provocative than mine."

"Thank you," Emily said, "I'll take that as a compliment. I have to say, though, that I think I look just a shade hotter in that dress than you do."

Jason opened his mouth, and shut it again. These two women would tear him to pieces if he got in the middle of this one. He glanced at Nathan, and Nathan shrugged, keeping his mouth shut too.

Rebecca straightened a little and sat primly. "It's too bad we can't settle this scientifically. Your feelings hardly constitute anything like an empirical judgment."

"You would go straight to the cold science. And who says we can't prove it?"

"To make a valid comparison, an impartial panel of judges would have to see both of us in the dress and that's not possible, since I'm the only one wearing it."

Nathan cleared his throat, "Um..."

"Shut up." The girls said it simultaneously.

The server approached the table with Jason's beer and Rebecca's coke. "There you are. Been looking all over." She set the drinks down, backwards, and left. Jason traded Rebecca's coke for his beer. He sipped, made a face, set it down.

"Well?" Emily said, raising her eyebrows at Rebecca, "Stand up, turn around. Show us what you've got."

Rebecca stared at Emily, and decided. She nudged Jason, "Let me out."

Jason stood and helped Rebecca up. She put her hand over his heart again, briefly, and whispered, "I'm thinking about your tongue," felt his heart jerk a little, and smiled. "You should sit down. You're going to embarrass yourself." Jason did.

Rebecca turned slowly and walked away from the table. Jason swallowed. She filled the dress perfectly. She went all thirty feet to the bar and leaned over it, the dress riding up dangerously in the back, and grabbed a stack of napkins. She came back, swinging her hips subtly more than usual. She made eye contact as she walked, with Emily, with Nathan, and finally with Jason. She stopped at the edge of the table and leaned toward him and placed the stack of napkins neatly in front of him.

"You're going to need these," she said, and stayed bent over.

He tried to keep his eyes on her eyes, but failed. He found himself staring at the tiny freckles at the tops of her breasts, admiring the swells that disappeared tantalizingly into the smooth black fabric.

Jason swallowed again and looked into her eyes. "Thank you," he managed.

Rebecca smiled. "You're welcome."

Emily clapped, startling both Nathan and Jason from their thoughts. She applauded slowly, mockingly. "Let's have a word in the ladies' room." She stood, grabbed Rebecca's wrist and dragged her away.

Nathan watched them go and took a deep breath, let it out. "Are they always this competitive?"

Jason nodded. "You have no idea." He sat, lost in thought.

Nathan cleared his throat. "So how is this going to go?"

Jason shrugged. "They're going to want to get us to pick a winner, which means we'll have one happy girl and one angry girl."

Nathan frowned. "Shit. I don't think I want to see Emily angry. I had just gotten her to thaw a little."

"What do you think of her?" Jason asked, suddenly.

"She's a force of nature, she's dangerous, fascinating, brilliant. I want to find out all about her."

Jason sighed. "Yes. You're right. Okay. Here's what we'll do." And he laid out a plan.

----

Emily pushed Rebecca into the big handicapped stall at the end of the bathroom.

"Hey, easy," Rebecca said, grinning, "You started it."

"Yes I did, and I'm going to finish it. So. Out of the dress and hand it over."

Rebecca's face reddened a little. "I, um..."

Emily crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow at her. "Are you seriously going to try to claim modesty now? After your little stunt back there with the napkins?" She took off the leather jacket and hung it carefully on the hook on the back of the door. "Well?"

Rebecca closed her eyes. "Fine, but you never tease me about being a prude again."

Emily had her tank top off and was pulling her shorts off of her long legs. "Never again. Also," she said, slipping her sandals off, "if the boys say I look hotter than you, I get to keep it on."

"I guess that's fair." Rebecca pulled the dress off and held it out to Emily, daring her to make a comment about her nakedness.

Emily took her bra off, dropped it in her purse and smiled. "That's how I wear it too." She handed Rebecca her shorts and pulled off her panties.

----

Jason nudged Nathan when Rebecca came out of the ladies' room wearing Emily's shorts and leather jacket. She swam a little in it and the sleeves came down almost to her fingertips.

When Emily came out a minute later, you could hear conversations fizzling out to watch her. She was taller than Rebecca by at least four inches, and the effect was that the skirt was that much shorter on her. She walked to the table, turned around once, slowly, and sat down next to Nathan

"So," she said, grinning, do I win, or do I have to cross my legs to make my point?"

Jason flicked his eyes over at Rebecca and cleared his throat. "Well, I have to say that Rebecca fills the top of the dress quite a bit... very nicely."

Nathan shrugged. "I guess," he said, conversationally, "but I'm going with Emily's very long thighs. They trump everything."

Emily rolled her eyes. "A breast man against a leg man. This is going to be impossible."

"You have no choice then," Jason said, smiling. "Make your point."

Emily stuck her tongue out at him, but she stood up and sat on the table in front of Nathan. She crossed her legs and the dress rode up another inch. The toe of her black shoe touched him just under his chin and lifted his face so he was looking in her eyes.

"Jason," she said, her eyes never leaving Nathan's face, "what do you say? Do I get to wear my dress home or not?"

Nathan swallowed nervously. The plan was shot. "Say yes, man.

Please.

"

"Okay, Emily. You win this time," Jason said, winking at Nathan, "but only because you were threatening a judge with bodily harm."

"Oh," she said, picking up Nathan's beer and sipping it, "this isn't a threat. This is a bribe." She put one black-heeled shoe on either side of Nathan, leaned forward, and kissed his forehead, then his lips.

Rebecca elbowed Jason. "Transactional dalliances," she whispered, outraged.

"I agree," Jason whispered back. "We'll need a rematch."

Rebecca cleared her throat. "Okay, well. Don't stain that dress. I might want to borrow it again."

Nathan smiled. "Oh, these polyurethane-polyurea copolymers are very resistant to stains..."

Rebecca frowned at him. "Whatever. Don't rip it either."

Emily turned her head and smiled sweetly. "He'll do his best."

Jason steered Rebecca toward the door to keep the girls from starting another argument. "We're going to need to find somewhere we can actually get kicked out of."

"You don't think we can still get kicked out of this pub?"

"Here? No. Not without breaking expensive stuff."

"You're probably right. Let's walk around a little. That's something people do on dates, right?"

Jason grinned at her and took her hand. "Let's go."

----

"Did you say you were into modeling?" Emily said as Nathan helped her into his car. "Because you would look cute in... anything."

Nathan shook his head. "Not fashion modeling. Environmental design modeling."

"That sounds kind of boring. What is it?"

"I try to simulate one environment in another environment. It's a bit of a niche. Disney does it all over the place, but some other corporates are curious about it for new construction."

Emily rolled down her window and let the night air blow her hair. "I think I'd have to see it to appreciate it."

"I've been experimenting with a simulator I built in my house. I'll show you sometime."

"Show me now. I don't want to go home yet."

"Okay, but it's pretty geeky."

"Mmm. Geeky sounds good right now."

Nathan pulled into his driveway, a suburban tract house from the fifties.

"Is this your house?" Emily said, ready to be impressed.

"No, I wish. It's an Eichler house- he was a mass market architect that had some revolutionary ideas. I'm just renting. I'd buy it if I could though."

"It looks big for just one guy."

"It is kind of big for one person, but I've got a lot of gear in there. It wouldn't be pleasant for a roommate."

The inside of the house was open, with the kitchen, dining room, and living room all in the same space. The walls were white, the furniture was white, and the living room floor was covered in a deep pile white rug. What was unusual, though, was that there was large ducting installed on the inside walls, out of proportion with the house. It looked like there were very large air conditioning vents around the living room. There were also several speakers mounted to the walls of the great room and a tall black rack of electronics mounted against the black wall. The ceiling had what looked like a series of lighting racks for a rock concert.