"I need to make a call!" I pushed Tae back and grabbed my phone. I rushed out the door and shut it quickly behind me, clutching my chest and phone tightly. I could feel my heart racing, and not in a good way.
"Breath! Breath Maria!" I took a couple deep breaths before opening up my phone. I found her in my contacts and held it up to my ear.
"I gotta take this call. It's important!" I could hear Vanessa talking to other girls at her work. "Hey Maria. What's up?" I couldn't find my voice. All I could do was shakily breath into the phone, too nervous and anxious to really say anything. "Maria? Is everything alright? What's wrong?"
"I..." I could barely find the words to speak, but I mustered up myself just enough to get it all out. "I almost made a big mistake." My hands were shaking and everything felt weak.
"Mistake? Sweetie, what happened?"
My goddess, she was so kind and caring. My heart ached even more thinking about her and what I almost did. "I nearly cheated on you."
"What? Maria, is everything alright? What happened?"
Slowly, I pulled myself together enough. "So, there's this girl in my one film class, Tae. We were, um, doing some script writing and she was starting to come onto me." I obviously couldn't tell her about ALL the details. "And, then she was really coming onto me, but I just couldn't cheat on you girls and then everything started to get really panicky and I ran out of the room and then I called you and then-"
"Deep breaths Maria!" Vanessa's voice was soothing and caring as I took a few big swallows of air. "So, you nearly had sex with someone else? Another woman?"
"Yeah," I said, the shame permeating my voice as I answered her. I wanted to run to her arms and apologize forever for even considering cheating on her. On them.
"When were you thinking of bringing her over?"
"...What?" Vanessa's question caught me completely off guard.
"Yeah, when we were gonna meet her? Is she cute? Ooo, or is she hot?"
"Wait, Vanessa, what?" That was all I could manage to ask amidst my confusion.
"Maria, ÎłÎ»Ï ÎșÎčÎŹ ÎŒÎżÏ , relax." I took a deep breath and tried to steady my nerves. "I know you. I know how wonderful and caring you can be. If you're that concerned, then just bring her into polycule."
"Wait, you're... fine with this?" A part of me was relieved and the other part of me was so confused.
"As I told you before with Danna and Summer, I'm fine if you bring other girls into the polycule. You know, spread the love and all that." I heard her chuckle a little at her little pun. "Just make sure you share."
"I... what?" I was still a bit too stunned at her response.
"Oh, hey, I gotta go. See you later, ÎłÎ»Ï ÎșÎčÎŹ ÎŒÎżÏ ." With that, I heard her blow me a kiss and hang up.
Still reeling in surprise from her response, I put in another phone number and held it up to my ear.
"Mhmmmmm," I heard her mumble something before clearing her throat. "S-Summer Fitzpatrick speaking. How may I aid you?"
"Summer? Oh, I guess I must have called you." Apparently, I subconsciously ended up dialing Summer and holding the phone up to my ear, despite not knowing her phone number. I guess that was some of the ring's magic or something.
"Oh, it's you Mariaaaaaammmmmppphh." I could hear her moaning on the other end. "I'm surprised you gooooot this number."
"Oh, uh, yeah," I said, chuckling a little, trying to deflect away from that question. "You sound busy."
"Aahhhiiiaaaaa, d-don't worry about iiiiiittttmmmmmm," Summer said, moaning louder. "Dannaaaaaa's just ahhhhh e-eating me out." Goddess, how quickly I forgot how sex casual we became. "What did you neeeeeed?"
"Oh, um, so I was talking with Vanessa just a bit ago, and I wanted, I guess, you and Danna's thoughts on a dilemma I'm in." I heard Summer give a affirmative grunt to go ahead. I filled her in on the details like I did with Vanessa.
"So, thaaaaat's the situatioooouuhhhhnnn," Summer said through her moans. "Then bring her into the polycule."
I was stunned that even Summer said the same thing! "Um, what does Danna think?"
I heard Summer a bit away from the phone talking to Danna before returning her attention to me. "Danna says when you bring her around, she wants first slice of her pie." I was even more stunned, but hearing Summer's moans through the phone put me a bit more at ease. It was oddly soothing in a way. "Oh, hang on. Regina says she wants to talk with you. Here you gooooooommmmmpppppphhhhh."
"Ah, thanks," I heard Regina said. I could hear her walk a bit, presumably to my room because I heard her flop onto a bed. "So, what's going on, Ringmaster?" Once again, I filled Regina in to the details of the situation. "Well, that shouldn't be a big deal, right?"
"Of course it's a big deal! I can't just cheat on them. I mean, I shouldn't," I said to Regina, once again being reminded about the nymphomaniac I was talking to.
"Maria, look, the ring wants to be used and spread around. You, and it, gain power based on sexual energy you do and create. Naturally, it'll make it so that you can." I bit my lip a little at the thought. I mean, sex is supposed to be a special thing between lovers, not something that should just be done around. I heard Regina sigh. "Look, I know you're all romantic and stuff. Maria, you're helping spread more love and care in this world. I mean, look at what you did already? You got Danna and Summer admitting their feelings for each other. You're doing a good thing and spreading love and romance around, not just mindless sex slaves."
Something about hearing her say that resonated deep within me. Yeah, I'm not just some jerk who makes any woman just a mindless sex slut. I am Maria, the latest Ringmaster, who will use its power to bring joy and romance to this world!