Hi, everyone, thanks for choosing to read my story! As you can see, this story is part two. You'll be able to follow this story just fine if you haven't read part one, but if you enjoy learning a bit more about characters and you're interested in more of the context of Will and Tomoko's relationship, you might enjoy reading the stories in order. I'd be very flattered if you did! As always, feedback is VERY appreciated! I'm still new at this, and looking to learn and improve! Help my next story be even sexier!
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Seattle's arboretum, managed by the University of Washington, was a true gem among Seattle's already impressive network of parks and green space. It featured two hundred and thirty acres of trees, shrubs, flowers, and ponds, artfully planted, with a spider's web of walking paths. It was a delightful place to pass an afternoon. Tomoko and I had agreed to spend time there as a default outing, whenever we wanted to get out of our apartments but couldn't come up with any novel ideas.
We sat on a bench under the exquisitely planted trees, beside a reflecting pond. We passed a joint back and forth between us - you might think this sounds like a risky maneuver, but I assure you, in this town, it's about as noteworthy as a cigarette. Possibly even less rude, in some people's minds. We chatted idly about this and that, life and it's stages, and what our friends had been up to, and how cute Tomoko's butt was. Well, ok, I admit that I pushed that conversation at every opportunity. Res Ipsa Loquitor, I had no choice. The conversation was as vanilla it gets until one sudden moment. The conversation found a natural pause, my dear Tomoko turned to me, and made an extremely unexpected comment.
"I think Ellyn is smoking hot."
We'd been discussing nothing of the sort. It was completely out of left field. The gears of my mind began to churn. How long had she been waiting to spring this on me? And for what purpose? Ellyn was a mainstay of our social group. However, while I was a little confused, and a little more surprised. Inwardly, however, I had to concede that Tomoko wasn't wrong. Ellyn presented a pretty tight little package. Short, skinny, blonde, thick black glasses, innocent face, only ever wore black skinny jeans and an old, black hoodie, involved in social justice work - a very Pacific Northwest flavor of hottie.
"Oh yeah?" I said, as noncommittally as possible.
"Yeah. Like... do you think she's the hottest one of our friends?" Uh oh. I'd had this conversation with girlfriends before. I hated it. But I'd learned how to respond.
"I think you're the hottest of our friends, dear." I wanted to leave it at that. Frustratingly, Tomoko persisted.
"No, I mean, the hottest friend that we have." A turtle, unbothered by our awkward conversation, surfaced in the pond briefly before disappearing again under the lily pads.
"If I had to rank them, which by the way, I don't like doing... then sure, I'll put her second, after you, babe. A distant second." It was a lie. Ellyn was prettier than Tomoko. Not by a wide margin, mind you. Ellyn may have had an edge, but Tomoko was a cutie-pie in her own right. She, too, mainly wore skinny jeans and old hoodies, with almond eyes, straight black hair, and - a gift from her Irish ancestry - a mess of freckles on a cute little nose. Ellyn had her by degrees, but looking at it this way missed the point. We were in love. That was it, that was the bottom line. Ellyn was a hot friend, but Tomoko was my love. I had no second thoughts, no regrets. I could never have fallen in love with Ellyn no matter how pretty she was. We just didn't connect on that kind of level. And I could never have avoided falling in love with Tomoko, whether she was pretty or plain or even ugly.
Tomoko seemed satisfied with my giving Ellyn the silver medal, as far as I could tell. She sat back on the bench and stared at the pond before us. The topic was not brought up again that day. I forgot she'd mentioned it, until the next weekend.
There was a very beatnik coffee shop near us that hosted open mic nights on Fridays, and Tomoko and I often found ourselves taking in the scene. I assumed I was in for a very typical Friday evening, then, when I got a text message from Tomoko letting me know that she was headed there and that I should join her after my shift at the restaurant ended. I stopped by my apartment, showered, and put on clean clothes - switching my black work-jeans and black work-t-shirt for my black "going out" jeans and my black "going out" t-shirt. Seattle style, if you know you know. I pedaled over, locked up my bike on an open bike rack. I had a blue road bike that I'd converted to a fixed gear hipster-mobile. Tomoko rode a red bike that I'd converted to a fixed gear bike for her, which I spotted locked up to a street sign a few yards away.
I wandered into the yellow light of the cafe, scanning for my girl. I spotted her sitting at a table in the corner, nursing a beer, and watching some girl with face tattoos reading poetry about God knows what. Freaky scene, as usual.
"Hey, babe," I greeted her as she stood up to hug me.
"Hey baby. You have a good shift today?"
"Normal Friday. Lots to do, but no surprises... which is pretty good all things considered. Oh, by the way, Paige will be able to hook it up this week if we need anything. What should I order?" Paige was our nineteen-year old, impossibly innocent-looking sweetheart of a cashier at the restaurant - and also an highly reliable source of acid, mushrooms, and molly.
"Uhhh... how's our mushroom supply looking?"
"Still have about half an ounce left."
"That's plenty for now. Tenstrip and a gram, then? Well, wait, no... we've got Kelly's birthday party coming up. Two grams."
"I'll let her know. Can I also just say, you're bloody sexy when you're talking about drugs." I wasn't lying. Tomoko beamed innocently. Who, me?
The girl with the face tattoos finished her poetry to scattered applause. Tomoko leaned and spoke in a softer voice.
"I, uh... I had lunch with Ellyn today."
"Oh, yeah? How's she?"
"Oh, fine... fine..." Tomoko trailed off. I stared at Tomoko, waiting to see if she'd finish the thought. She didn't seem about to.
"...cool?" I said with a smirk and a shrug.
"Well, uh... we did talk about something interesting."
"Uh huh."
"I mean... I may have pushed her a little, so that she would talk about it. Actually, I, uh... I could go for a smoke. Do you want to go outside for a smoke break? I think it'll be easier to talk outside. Let's go outside."
"Uh... sure." What the hell? I thought. I was desperately curious for her to finish, or get to the point, or... you know, something. We stepped outside and I produced a lighter and my glass one-hitter, fully loaded, from the watch pocket of my jeans. We each took a good, solid hit. Tomoko produced a pair of cigarettes for us from the pouch of her hoodie. Our heads were very swimming very pleasantly. The night air was cool and refreshing.
"So, babe... you were saying? You and Ellyn were having lunch..?" I re-started the line of conversation, settling into my buzz. Tomoko shifted nervously on her feet. Then, all of a sudden -
"Ellyn thinks you're hot," she blurted, awkwardly. I didn't process what she said at first. Tomoko maintained eye contact. Suddenly, it hit me. I knew where Tomoko was going with this - or at least, where I dreamed she was going. Tomoko thought Ellyn was hot. Ellyn thought I was hot. And I assume Ellyn thought Tomoko was hot. So... just two girls and a guy, and each thought the other two were smoking hot... but to hedge my bets, I decided to play dumb for a moment.
"I'm sorry?"
"Ellyn thinks you're hot," She repeated. "So... we got to talking at lunch today, you know, and I mentioned that we're trying to squeeze in all these new experiences, and make all these great memories, and... all that shit... She kind of... asked me just how wild I was willing to get, and I just sort of... told her I was open to almost anything. And, well... Ellyn thinks you're hot. And then I sort of, I sort of knew what she was digging at."
"Ok. And?" Tomoko laughed at me. I may have been trying to play dumb, but she wasn't buying it. The girl knew me all too well.
"...And she's meeting up with us tonight." I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I felt something else start to stand up, too. No way. Tonight? It couldn't be.
Tomoko went on. "And I think we should - all three of us - have a really great night tonight. In the spirit of... creating unforgettable memories." Oh my. My blue heaven. Sweet mercy. Catch me, Lord. I'm falling.
* * *
The three of us returned to Tomoko's apartment - the nearest of our three homes - after a very lovely evening of beer and amateurish performances from the local freaks. We sat down in the living room, Tomoko and I on the couch and Ellyn on the chaise-long beside it. Ellyn had been quite open with us - there was no secret about why she had come. Still, I wanted to make this interesting. An idea came to me.
"Hey, I have an idea. Let's play a game. Something to warm us up a little bit. What do you guys think?"
Ellyn answered first. "I mean, I'm down to play a game, if it's a good game."
Tomoko put in her two cents, too. "Let's hear the idea, Will. You've got something in mind, don't you?" Again, she knew me all too well. I decided to be just the tiniest bit mysterious about it.
"Let's all have a drink first. What do you say?" Both girls agreed this sounded good. I got a bottle of whiskey from Tomoko's cabinet and found three shot glasses. Unbeknownst to my companions, I snagged a deck of cards from the desk drawer in Tomoko's bedroom and put it in my pocket. I found my way back to the living room and poured a light shot for each of us. Not too much - I expected a long night. I began to explain the game I had in mind.
"Well, I had an idea for a card game. A kind of drinking-and-stripping game."
I put the deck of cards out on the living room table beside the bottle of whiskey and three shot glasses.
