It took a while, still more romance than sex, but getting there... Your comments encourage me. Thank you!
*****
In the Warm and Cozy, Part II
Chapter 2
Most mornings they wake up and make exotic coffees. No ovens, so the cookies and pastries Janie and Snooky are eager to make will have to wait. An induction burner Ernie found is their genie from which an enviable diet of omelets, eggs, home fries, and sautéed treats emerge depending on who's cooking.
After breakfast, they take turns directing each other on runs around the neighborhood, down this street and that, their passage met by the smiling faces of cafe patrons and their baristas, the regulars who time their attention to glimpse them: Like beauty in motion these three are a sight to behold, long legs stepping high, hair bouncing, as fine curves move to the cadence of graceful strides.
Rounding a corner this fateful morning, they literally run into Sally, the stunning girl whose agility limits their collision to a bumped shoulder and a stumble.
The panting, hapless runners rush to help her up, all the while apologizing, their faces now redder than the exhaustion of their run.
Sally's angry frown vanishes as giggles, "You all look so...ah red! I thought I was being attacked by Indians...clumsy Indians, glad you left your horses behind." Now everyone is laughing as Janie introduces them.
When she gets to Snooky, Sally gets a friendly hug around her good shoulder and an exaggerated, "Hiawatha at your service."
"Nice bumping into you," Sally adds, her smile softening another snark. "You all seem harmless enough when you're not on your feet..."
More giggles as she realizes these people don't rile easily and decides it couldn't hurt to ask, "Have you seen any places for rent around here? I'm going to the Masterson Culinary School nearby." Her back straightens when she mentions the school. They all know the reputation of the school and how hard it is to get admitted.
"You mean the Cheeseburger Academy?" Janie asks innocently.
"No...ah...why cheeseburger?" Sally asks, the frown forming like a cloud across her perfect brow.
Ernie adds, "I am proud to say I have earned a first degree flipper certificate...60 hours on the grill to strengthen my wrists."
Snooky, her arm still around the girl, thinks even her frown is beautiful as she whispers in her ear, "They're bullshitting you, Sally. We're all new students at Masterson."
Surprised, Sally turns sharply toward Snooki and bumps her head.
"Ow!" Both girls say, and grab their noses. They look so shocked! Laurel and Hardy couldn't have timed it better. Ernie and Janie laugh so hard they have to lean against each other to keep upright.
Now, Sally and Snooky are laughing, too—at them—yet another slapstick pair.
Sally shakes her head at an embarrassing hiccup, and smiles, "No horses, OK?"
Wiping tears from her eyes, Janie pats Sally's back. She looks at her friends who are grinning. "We might have a place where you can stay. Want to come back with us? There's plenty of room-sort of. We live on the top floor of the school where they store all the junk. We'll ask Mr. Masterson if it's OK to have another roommate."
Sally nods, but looks worried. "Won't we be putting him on the spot. I'm lucky just to get in...on scholarship."
"So are we," Snooki says. "You could wait upstairs."
"No, I'll come along. I want him to know there's no pressure. He's already done enough to help me."
"Great!" Ernie says, "It'll be neat having another Indian to run with, although those stubby legs of yours will slow us down."
Sally's see's Ernie's wink and smiles as Janie and Snooky tickle him, "Look at those long lean-and we'd better add, beautiful legs-they'll put you to shame, Ernest!"
Sally looks at them, still clowning around, laughing at each together, easy smiles as they tease. She see's how she might fit in with these playful touchy-feely girls and this boy they dote over.
Standing at the imposing archway of the entrance to the Masterson Culinary school, Sally wonders why she agreed to come. It's frightening, your first day, looking for a favor from a stranger. Well, that's four strangers now, she thinks, and realizes her "Indians" are already more than strangers, they could even be friends...the feel of Snooki's inviting hug, their bumped noses...Janie's surprisingly maternal hand on her back, fingers rubbing comfortably between her shoulder blades...and even Ernie with his silly jokes.
(Little do they know that here they be, fated, their Nubian princess Sally luminous before them, ready for the heady winds of swelling lust-now just an inkling, a light breeze—yet soon enough to billow, to blow hard and strong, to consume them in comely desire.)
"We usually go in the back way, but today in your honor" he bows, "we'll use the stairs." And extends his arm, elbow crooked, to escort Sally.
Snooky takes her other arm and adds, "Now all we need is music to skip to..." Just as Mr. Masterson comes out of the building, smiling at his new students.
They stop and giggle, looking a little sheepish. "We were just going to visit you, sir." Janie says.
"Sir?" Mr. Masterson says, smiling.
"Yes!" Janie says. "That's what polite girls say to their generous benefactor when they would like a favor."
"How can I resist!" Mr. Masterson says going along with their comedy of manners. "Would this favor involve a room for one of our excellent new students," And watches as Sally's eyes widen,
"I see you've met Sally. I was hoping you could find a room for her in all of the...hmm...equipment upstairs."
"That's exactly what we were thinking!" Snooky says, big smile blooming.
Mr. Masterson smiles, too, as his students laugh companionably. Ernie explains, "We were running around the corner and accidentally bumped into Sally.—We're here in one piece thanks to her good reflexes."
"Well, I'm glad you've already met and seem to be getting along. You're lucky to have friends you can cook for and practice with. I hope you put all that excess inventory, what some might call junk in the attic to good use."
Waving goodbye to their benefactor, they lead Sally to the back of the cooking school to a gigantic freight elevator they've nicknamed Bertha.
"It's not like we've got a lot of stuff to move, as you'll see. But it would be a bear to climb up five flights of stairs without our friend Bertha here." Janie says. "She's supposed to only be used for special occasions so we don't disrupt deliveries to the School's restaurant on the second floor,"
"Restaurant?" Sally asks.
"Yep," Ernie says, "not sure when we get to fly our wings there, probably in our second year."