Chapter 3
1020 Words
"No, I"ll stay out here with you, K," Lea said. "These guys are tired, aren"t you, boys?"
Sean and Andy glanced quickly at each other, then back to Lea and Kirsten. Together they both nodded, and Sean gave a not-very-convincing yawn. "Uh-huh."
"Yeah," said Andy, "we"ve got work tomorrow. Tomorrow evening."
"G"night, Sis," said Sean, ruffling her hair with another kiss. The two men shuffled back to Andy"s bedroom.
Lea watched them wistfully. The boys hadn"t had a night alone in the apartment since the theater season had closed the previous spring. She wished...
Kirsten sniffled, and Lea put her arms around her friend. With a sigh, Kirsten said, "They"re gonna boff, aren"t they."
"Probably."
"That"s... gonna take some getting used to." Kirsten made a face that caused the silvery tracks of salt down her cheeks to catch the light. "I mean, Lea-honey, you could go back there. Or I could, you know, go for a walk."
"No, K, honest —"
Now Kirsten"s face was in a more typical mode: skeptical. "Sweetie, I interrupted y’alls... fun."
Lea was about to deny it, but Kirsten pointed to the chairs, still back-to-back, handcuffs still dangling. Then she pointed over to the counter, where the strap-on and lube were waiting. Lea shot her friend a sad smile. "Well, yeah. But we"d been going for quite a while, and honestly, I can do without for a night. I"m... very satisfied in that department."
Kirsten gave a sour snort. "Bitch."
There was a grunt from Andy"s room at the back, and then another, followed by the rhythmic sound of the bed hitting the wall.
"Oh, damn," sighed Kirsten, and then held up her hands. "I"m trying not to visualize any of this too much, but... I mean, how do those two not, like, crush you?"
crush"Well," Lea answered, trying to think how to say anything that wasn"t going to make her friend want to puke, "they kind of... do. But in a very nice way."
"Damn." Pouting, Kirsten looked down the hallway, where the thump of the headboard was growing stronger. "Gotta be Andy on top, right?"
thump"Well, actually, it"s probably Sean. Andy likes... Yeah. Though we all sometimes take —"
Kirsten held her hands up. "Sweet Jesus. Here I always figured you and Sean for straight vanilla. Thought I was the kinky one. Damn."
One of the men — Lea was pretty sure it was her friend"s brother — screamed. Kirsten blanched.
"Come on, K," said Lea, taking her friend by the hand and leading her back to the table. "I think we should grab another drink. And you need to tell me all about Gianna."
They sat and drank, both pretending not to listen to the increasing sounds of passion coming from the back room. Kirsten told Lea the whole story — most of which Lea already knew — of how Kirsten and Gianna"s relationship had disintegrated once Gianna"s ex, Frankie, had reappeared in her life. "I mean," Kirsten sniffled, "it"s not like I didn"t see it comin". I feel like such a..." Kirsten blinked and shook her head. "Am I really drunk, or is the wallbangin" happenin" in stereo?"
Lea, who was a bit woozy herself, had to listening for a moment before she heard the echo from downstairs. "Oh. Um. That"s Lorelle and Freddy. I guess the boys kind of... inspired them."
Kirsten gawked at Lea, and then, though her eyes were still red-rimmed, she began to laugh, snorting until tears were flowing again — tears of laughter.
At that point — as Lea had begun to giggle along — their laughter was interrupted by a series of bellows (Lea was able to identify them as Lorelle, then Freddy, then Sean, and finally Andy). And then Lea and Kirsten truly couldn"t do anything but laugh.
anythingWhat else was there to do?
Waking up the next morning, Lea was discombobulated. She was in her bed, sure. There was an O"Connell wrapped around her, murmuring amorously though (blessedly) unintelligibly into Lea"s ear. These things were not unusual.
What was unusual was that the O"Connell in question was Kirsten, who was (again, blessedly) still asleep.
wasLea gingerly detached herself from Kirsten"s full-body embrace and tip-toed off to the shower.
By the time that she"d rendered herself more or less human again and returned to the main room, Andy, Sean, and Kirsten were all seated at the table nibbling on toast. None of them seemed to be able to meet any of the others" eyes.
"Good morning," chirped Lea as cheerfully as she could.
The three Georgians muttered "Morning" back, but still none of the three of them looked up.
Well.
Well.Shit.
Shit.Shitty-s**t-s**t.
Shitty-s**t-shit.Lea had learned as a stage manager and director to face awkwardness: to name it and move on. Nothing was going to get done after an opening had bombed until someone said, "Well, we sure sucked last night. How are we going to do better?" And so Lea faced the elephants in the room and addressed them. "Kirsten, Andy and Sean are in love. They are also, apparently, in love with me. We all f**k, but they like to f**k all on their lonesome when I"m not available. Being large guys, sometimes they f**k pretty loudly."
Now all three sets of eyes were wide, and focussed on her.
"Sean, Andy: Kirsten and I could absolutely hear you last night. That"s fine. We could also hear Freddy and Lorelle from downstairs, which was hilarious. Kirsten, does it bother you that Sean and Andy have s*x?"
Kirsten shook her head.
"Sean, Andy: like you, Kirsten is bisexual. Does it bother you that she likes women as well as men?"
Both men shook their heads. Sean reached out and took his sister"s bright pink hand.
"Good," Lea said. "Does it bother you that she was in bed with me last night?"
Both men now blinked. Andy"s eyebrows shot up.
Kirsten turned bright red, which told Lea she was on the right track. "Not in-bed in bed. We just snoozed on the same matress. Any problem?"
in-bed
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