Friendly Menage Tales

Chapter 2

"For making you cry like that?" said Andy, patting Kirsten on the back awkwardly. "Least we could do."

Kirsten pushed up on her tiptoes, kissing Andy"s cheek, when her stomach growled.

"You eat anything at all today, Kiki?" Sean asked, running his fingers through his sister"s hair.

Kirsten shot him an embarrassed smirk. "Naw. Been kind of upset." Her stomach gurgled again.

"Yeah," laughed Sean. "I guess. Want some eggs or something?"

When Kirsten nodded, Sean and Andy wandered over to the kitchen and began preparing a meal for her. Lea was admiring their shapes, admiring the way they worked so smoothly together, when her friend sighed, "Sorry, Lea-honey."

"Sorry?"

"Y"all were... playing, weren"t you."

playingLea blinked at her friend and then at the room — the two chairs, still back-to-back, each with a pair of handcuffs dangling... The strap-on hanging from a cupboard handle. Lube. Condoms. "Um. No big deal."

"Uh-huh, right." It was reassuring to see Kirsten"s habitual smirk back in place.

"We"ll survive. So Giannaa and what"s-his-name got married?"

The smirk melted. Kirsten nodded and pulled out her phone. On it was a text from that morning that read, "K, we"re in Reno. We eloped. Forgive me." There was a picture of Gianna and man who resembled her brother than anything — dark, small, slight. They were standing in front what looked like a motel, but bore a heart-shaped neon sign reading Temple of Venus Tatoo Parlor and Wedding Chapel. Both were smiling maniacally.

Temple of Venus Tatoo Parlor and Wedding Chapel."Well... Fuck." The end of Kirsten and Gianna"s relationship had been looming for months, but this seemed needlessly cruel. "Sure you don"t want Sean and Andy to go break their kneecaps?"

Kirsten"s smirk returned — a bit soggier, but back, at least. "Naw. Well. Not tonight, anyways." She rested her head on Lea"s shoulder. "Thing is, I knew she was leaving — was gone already, really. Still. Kind of kicked me in the t**s, you know?"

Lea gave her a hug.

"Don"t blame you, Kiki," said Sean, carrying to the table a steaming plate of scrambled eggs and some of the home fries they"d had left over from dinner.

Andy carried a bottle of Jack Daniels and four glasses. "I"d"ve wanted to get out of there too."

"Yeah," sighed Kirsten, sitting down and tucking in. "But I bet you wouldn"t"ve hung around so long. I feel so f*****g stupid."

"Hey," said Sean, "no one gets to call my sister stupid. Except me."

Kirsten flicked a bit of fried onion at him, and he snickered, picking up one of the tumblers that Andy had set out. He lifted it in a toast: "To the return of the Prodigal Sister — who is not stupid, no matter what anyone says."

They all laughed and raised their glasses.

After she"d eaten a bit — and drunk a bit — Kirsten shook her head. "I guess... I feel stupid "cause this managed to catch me by surprise. But also "cause I jumped on a plane and only thought about the fact that I couldn"t exactly go home and cry on Mama"s shoulder when I was half-way here."

"I wondered why we"d rated a cross-country visit," Lea said, swirling her whiskey in her glass. "I mean, it"s wonderful to see you and you"re always welcome, and we"re glad to help, but, yeah. I guess I"d have expected you to head home, if anywhere."

Sean reached out and took his sister"s hand. "And you could"ve talked to Mama."

"Uh-huh. And have you been discussing the details of y"alls sleeping arrangements with her?" With her glass, Kirsten indicated Lea, Andy, and the never-closed pull-out the three of them had been making such energetic use of since the spring. When Sean shook his head a bit sheepishly, Kirsten grumbled, "Didn"t think so."

you"Don"t blame you," Andy chuckled. "I mean, my folks finding out was pretty awful. But your ma? She"s scary."

That made Lea laugh. "Violet isn"t scary!" When that statement was met by three skeptical faces, Lea shrugged. "I mean, I can see that you wouldn"t want to... disappoint her."

"Yeah," smirked Kristen. "Lea-honey, I bet you haven"t exactly been looking forward to explaining to her just what you and your fiancé here have been getting up to with Mama"s Sir Galahad of a son."

fiancé"Galahad?" said Sean, a look of outrage on his face. "Wasn"t he, like, a virgin and s**t? Nuh-uh. No. Not even Mama thinks I"m that. Besides, Lea"s my fiancée too. So"s Andy." He grabbed both of their hands, and Lea found her middle warming for reasons other than the bourbon.

Galahad?virginthat."Exactly," said Kirsten, glowering. "House we grew up in was so f*****g straight, we never even heard of such a thing as being queer. Let alone AC/DC like me and you turned out, Sean. Mama"d blow a gasket."

heardBrows bowed, Sean murmured, "I think Papa"d be the one who"d really blow."

"Don"t remember. Just remember when he"d left." Kirsten frowned and Lea reached out and squeezed her friend"s hand with her free one, linking the four of them. "Anyway, Sean, Mama had no clue. Remember her favorite bands?"

Sean gave a surprised snort. "Queen. And Village People."

"Yeah, ain"t that something," chuckled Kirsten. "She thought the Village People were such nice men!" She said this last in such a demure, Violet-like drawl that all four of them burst out laughing. Well. The accent was part of it; the image of Violet O"Connell, Kindergarten Teacher and Southern Matron, watching those under-dressed men performing "YMCA" or "Macho Man" was more than even Lea"s fairly broad mind could encompass.

such nice men!After they"d laughed and drunk some more (and then talked some more, and drunk some more), and Kirsten had finished her "breakfast," Sean stood and kissed his sister on the top of her head. "You okay, Sis?"

"Okay, Big Bro." Kirsten squeezed his hand. "Why don"t you guys go, uh, finish what I interrupted. Or, you know, I can go for a — "