Part One of Five
(a commissioned work)
As the sound of Vanilla Ice's "Ice Ice Baby" barked out of a little portable speaker, Piper Brown found herself wondering if it came right down to it, who had more endurance, her or Sheridan. They were two entirely different types of athletes, but Sheridan's endurance was not to be underestimated.
Sheridan was currently leading most of the girls in a workout, but she had also definitely tailored it so that everyone could keep up and break a decent sweat without anyone being overly taxed, although it wasn't remotely close to the sort of high-intensity stuff the two of them did most days after the general class.
The November air was crisp by California standards, but it wasn't so cold that any of them were freezing their asses off, despite the tight workout clothes. Most of the girls were definitely aiming to get a solid workout in, but more than a few of them were also intent on looking cute while they did it, something Piper didn't really understand. Andy generally wasn't a morning person, and even if he did come and check them out, the man loved all of his partners unflinchingly. He wasn't going to judge them if their hair was a mess while they were out doing aerobics and cardio. Hell, she thought to herself, he'd probably find it adorable.
The sky was overcast and the app on her phone said there was a 40% chance of rain later in the afternoon, but that the morning should be fine.
This particular morning, Sheridan and Piper had gotten their power workout done first and then gathered the girls up for a general calisthenics and fitness class, something they tried to do at least three times a week for multiple reasons. It made sure none of the girls were neglecting their workouts, first and foremost, but it was also a chance for the girls to get together and gossip a bit afterwards. Lord were they a chatty bunch post workout, sitting around the dining room table, talking about the past few days, their schedules for the upcoming day, who'd had fun time with Andy (or each other) and making sure the Needs board had been updated accordingly. It was like a thrice weekly brunch party.
When Piper had first seen the Needs board, she'd thought it was ridiculous, a tablet-like LCD screen designed just to have a single application on it. All the women's names were there, and the last day they'd gotten their fix from Andy, as well as a "do by" date, as in "he'd better do me by this day or else I'm going to lose my goddamn mind."
The expression wasn't figurative, as she knew all too well from personal experience.
Piper had come around once she'd realized the sheer monstrosity of scheduling it took to keep track of this many people, let alone keep straight the last time they'd connected with the man of the house. Whitney was even in the process of coding an app for their phones so they could all update it remotely, and that Andy could check it from wherever whenever he wanted to.
She hadn't updated the Needs board last night after she and Sarah had taken Andy for a very solid thrill ride, so she made a mental note that she'd have to do so after brunch. It had been a fun night, and had eased off a little of the tension she'd felt around Sarah, although she still felt a little starstruck by Emily. The woman was a goddamn international movie star, even if her star was a little bit on the wane. Em needed to stop picking such dumb arthouse flicks, Piper thought to herself.
It was a little remarkable to her that, despite all the big and varied personalities in the house, there weren't many actual splits or disagreements, something Piper attributed to Ash and Niko's stern guidance. If the House of Rook had been a volleyball team, while Andy would have definitely been the coach, Niko and Ash would've shared the captain's job. (Beach volleyball teams were only two people, so there wasn't really a need for a captain there.)
The connection she'd built with some of the women here over the past few weeks had made up for the fact that she hadn't been able to see her actual squad, the rest of the volleyball team, in a few months, although she had talked to all of them either via Zoom, FaceTime or good old fashioned phone calls, since her arrival at Andy's house on November 3
rd
.
She was stirred from her memories and reflexive workout motions by the scent of Andy, and she knew he was out on the balcony behind them. Being able to track him by sense of smell had been fundamentally
unnerving
at first, but now she sort of drew comfort from it, as it meant she knew where her rock was, and how to find him.
When the girls bent down to touch their hands at the ground beneath their feet, Piper made sure to give her ass a little wiggle, since she knew Andy was looking on, and wanted to give him a cheeky little show. He didn't seem to favor boobs or butts, but just generally liked the female form, and good on him, she thought.
The song mercifully came to an end, and as it did, Sheridan pointed over their heads behind them, drawing all the girls' attention to Andy standing on the balcony. All the girls looked over their shoulders then, once they'd realized it was Andy, they all turned to look and wave at him.
"Good morning, angels," he shouted to them.
"Good morning Andy!" they cheered back in his direction.
"You know, you really ought to join us some mornings, Andrew," Emily teased politely, placing her hand on her bared pale hip.
"Mmmm," he replied to them noncommittally. "I'd be worried about making a fool of myself." He wasn't in
great
shape, but he wasn't in terrible shape either, although in the months since he'd gone from no partners to many partners, he'd apparently lost quite a bit of weight from all the constant sex he'd been having. In fact, just a few days ago Piper had seen a picture of Andy and Aisling when she'd first joined up with Andy in May, and he looked many pounds heavier. There were worse ways to shed excess weight.
"I can make sure we don't overwhelm you on your first work out, dude," Sheridan said to him with a wink and a grin. Piper knew that she meant it, too. Sheridan had the perfect demeanor of a fitness instructor, just the right amount of encouragement while still pressuring to push onward. "Let's give it a go tomorrow, 'kay?"
Andy groaned a little bit, but raised his hands in surrender. "God help me. Okay, I'll give it a try, but no making fun of me!" She was glad to see him caving in. Within a few year's time, the house was likely to be flooded with children, and that meant he needed to be ready to handle it, even if he was going to have plenty of hands around to help him when he staggered.
All the girls made various catty comments and gestures as he rolled his eyes and headed back into the house, knowing they were only teasing. He'd gotten good at recognizing when the girls were giving him shit, which was essential, since the girls
loved
to give him shit whenever they could.
'Stay humble,' Emily always said, and Andy certainly did that in spades.
"Hey Piper," Fiona said, walking over to her. "I was wondering if maybe you and I could break off from the group brunch this morning. I've got something I want to talk to you about."
Piper had liked Fiona and Moira right from the start, especially since Fi had a certain level of cheekiness to her that made Piper feel like she was back with her volleyball squad. It also helped that Fi and Andy had been in a relationship for a long while back in college, so even if he'd changed a bit over the years, she still probably knew him better than most of the people in the house, and she'd always been willing to have a conversation about how he might take something, or what he might be thinking.
Fiona had even been one of the two people Piper had gone to when she'd been worried that Andy hadn't taken her request to bring Brooke in seriously, the other being Aisling, naturally. But Fi had stressed to Piper that Andy rarely did anything without thinking, rethinking and overthinking, so if he had passed on Brooke, there were likely very good reasons for it, even if they weren't immediately evident. After Piper had explained all about who Brooke was and what she was like, before Piper could continue, Fiona had asked if he'd suggested she get paired up with Xander. Piper had been shocked, but said, yes, that was what had happened, and then Fi had suggested Piper just wait until she saw Brooke and saw if she was happy with Xander, and to her astonishment, Brooke had been exuberant with Xander. They'd turned out to be a far better match than Brooke and Andy would've been.
"Hey, you were great council for me, Fi," Piper said as she rolled up her yoga mat. "What's shaking?"
"C'mon, let's get breakfast and we can go sit on one of the balconies," Fiona said, tucking her own yoga mat under her arm, heading back towards the house. "So Brooke was happy with Xander?"
"Happy is the understatement of the century," Piper laughed. "That girl is
lovestruck
, and just from meeting him. They're gonna be rebuilding cars together in no time. I guess you're right -- she and Andy probably would've been too different to make it work, and she's in New Eden now, so I've got a friend I can go over and see on the reg. I love Andy to death, but we need to start getting out of this house more."
"I'm still in the honeymoon phase," Fiona said, "but I get you." Despite the fact that Fiona was twelve years her senior, the woman wore her age remarkably, barely looking a day over thirty, and yet, there was a confident grace about her that Piper hoped she might one day gain herself. She was almost as tall as Piper was, which was also nice, considering so many of the girls were half a foot to a foot shorter than she was.
The gaggle of women filed into the house, and each of them put their yoga mat into an individually marked little cubbyhole in a massive cabinet just inside the patio door, inside the room they'd converted into a gym. They were having exercise equipment brought in a bit at a time, but they'd also put in some very non-typical things to start with, such as a couple of stripper poles, a high hanging scarf and a pair of aerial rings, mostly things that Sheridan used as an acrobat (although she'd also insisted that she was going to teach each and every girl in the house to pole dance eventually).
Sheridan headed over towards Piper and Fiona, a smile on her lips. "You going to be free this afternoon to spot me, Pipes, or should I make other plans?"
"Why don't you take today to help Tala with getting her workspace set up?" Piper said. "I know she and Jade have made a bunch of progress, but it'll give you a chance to spend some time with her and maybe you can break the ice with Jade a little bit. We both remember what it's like to have new girl syndrome."
Sheridan rolled her eyes and flipped her frizzy blonde hair back over her shoulder. "Yeah, okay. Maybe I can get her to loosen up a bit, while I'm at it. She seems so damn uptight."
Piper grinned, as she realized clearly Sheridan hadn't heard. "Oh, you should ask her about her experience getting imprinted to Andy, then. And if she won't tell you, ask Ems. Better yet, ask her over brunch and Em will probably just volunteer it."
The blonde acrobat giggled a little bit. "No ways it's totes all that."
