Chapter 71: Doubting his Luck

It was a picturesque scene; a fiery-haired beauty walking alongside the lovely blue water of the poolside, while framed behind by the flowering plants of the hotel’s cabana courtyard decor. The young woman had a long, confident stride and a presence about her that naturally commanded attention—despite the gorgeous girls at his side, Brian still felt a little starstruck at the sight of Kelly, because Kelly impressed.

None of this weekend seems even remotely possible, Brian thought to himself, not quite daring to shake his head in disbelief.

The pensive look Kelly had worn while on the phone cleared up upon making eye contact with him, and she shot him a brilliant smile. A very Kelly smile, almost a lopsided smirk, one that appeared simply because he was watching. A smile just for him, a pleased expression, something to show how much she appreciated being noticed. There was an intentional bounce to her step when she realized he was looking her way, and as always, she was a mesmerizing sight to see.

Or, ah, none of this seems probable? Brian fought to preserve his line of thought, which became exceptionally difficult with Kelly intent on distracting him. This whole weekend’s just been… unreal. Like something out of a dream.

Beside him—clinging to his arm, actually—Stephanie was absolutely radiant with happiness. He’d heard that a woman in love would have a certain glow about them, but this was the most definitive example he’d ever witnessed in person. Her adorable cheeks curved in a cherubic smile, and every glance from her seemed to pour out unadulterated joy, as though her feelings were just continuously spilling over and she simply couldn’t help but share them with everyone around her.

It quickly became clear that he wasn’t the only one to notice.

“Geez, Steph— you’re too much,” Emily teased, sharing a knowing look with Brian.

The familiar way Emily gazed at him had begun to change, too. After knowing each other for so long he was adept at reading her, but now some unfathomable distance between them had been bridged and the meaning in her eyes was so much more bright and vivid. Brian knew Emily, but at the same time he could see there were untold volumes more still to discover that had somehow gone unspoken all this time.

1. Love. You, Emily seemed to say, and that familiar taunting grin of hers seemed to be slowly struggling with something more intimate and honest. So much. I love you and love you and love you and love you.

Unable to stop himself, he reached his hand out towards her.

Her reaction was priceless—Emily’s face seemed to waver between the one she meant to show him and several other ones she’d have liked to keep to herself. Each one was more interesting than the last, but after a split second she regained her composure into a very Emily grin and instead slapped his extended palm in a high five.

Emily… seriously?

When she held out her hand for him to return the favor, Emily found herself grabbed. There was no escape for her—because as if reading his mind, while Brian took one of Emily’s wrists, Stephanie beside him captured the other. Together, they pulled the startled Latina with the bright blue pixie-cut in close to them.

“Oi, oi, oi!” Emily pretended to struggle for a moment before breaking into a fit of giggles.

“Emily…” Kelly sighed as she finished her approach, shaking her head in apparent dismay. “What the fuck was that.”

“What, nobody gives high-fives around here?!” Emily protested, blushing as Brian and Stephanie both squeezed her tight. “Errghh, c’mon guys, it’s—”

“Emily, here,” Kelly goaded, holding up her palm. “High five.”

“Yeah!” Emily lit up, squirming an arm free to throw out towards Kelly. “That’s what I’m— hey wait you traitor!”

Brian turned to discover Kelly had caught Emily’s hand and gently cupped it against her own cheek, allowing the girl’s thumb to fall between her lips for a soft, surprisingly sensual kiss. Stephanie giggled at the sight and that seemed to spur Kelly on even further, the taller girl closing her eyes and drawing Emily’s digit into her mouth in an increasingly erotic display.

“Whew lawdy,” Megan interjected, fanning herself with one hand. “You all are crazy. Like, it goes from zero to yaoi sparkles and blooming flowers in three seconds flat, here.”

“Yaoi sparkles?” Brian questioned, arching an eyebrow at the girl.

“Uhh—yeah slip of the tongue,” Megan chortled. “Yuri sparkles? Is that a thing? It’s probably a thing. Y’all know what I mean, like in shojou manga where the backgrounds are all oooh—”

Turning his attention from the jazz hands Megan was throwing to Emily’s flustered but half-hearted attempt to escape, he couldn’t help but feel that inkling of doubt again. The situation was goddamned arousing. Impossible. Emily’s small chest was pressed up against him, and she was hemmed into place there by Stephanie and Kelly who were by themselves the kind of perfect flavors of sex appeal that would easily turn heads anywhere. He’d always wanted to believe in good karma, believe that someday his luck would turn around, but actually watching it do so over the course of a weekend was—well, still a little unbelievable.

Stupid to question a good thing, though, Brian chided himself. Right?

Was there a limit to how lucky he could be all at once? Was he somehow tempting fate, had he exceeded some mortal threshold for how many good things were allowed to happen to him all at once? Winding up with even one relationship that felt like this it felt like life was being unexpectedly—almost suspiciously—generous. Let alone hitting some sort of triple multiplier like this.

Is the game... broken? Brian tried not to wonder. This weekend—this AnimeCon, it feels like my personal RNG is just way, way off. Like, I shouldn’t complain, I KNOW I shouldn’t, but it’s like… it’s like any moment I’m just waiting for it all to come crashing down. Expecting the luck to abruptly run out, thinking that some other shoe has to drop. It’s so...

“Brian—I feel the same way,” Stephanie confided, giving him a look of adoration that was liberally spiked with her sweetened special blend of unbridled attraction. “About everything. About this whole weekend.”

“I—hey now, Brian said, showing her an uncertain smile. It was impossible to look away. “I didn’t even say anything,”

“You don’t have to,” Stephanie whispered softly. Behind her glasses, those beautiful blue eyes seemed to tempt him in deeper and deeper. “I can tell!”

“You can?”

“I can!” Stephanie assured him with a serious nod that made her pink bangs bob. Everything about her when she was trying to be candid somehow came off as incredibly cute. “I can tell, because it’s the same for me. Good things just—they just don’t happen to me. Not like this. Not until this weekend. Then, everything all happened at once!”

“Hey it wasn’t all rainbows and Butterbees!” Emily protested. She’d given up on escaping them and decided to latch herself onto Brian, looping her arms around his neck. “All that crazy bad shit happened, too—”

“Butterbees?” Kelly asked with a skeptical look.

“It’s a—” Brian began.

“It’s from Monster Battlers,” Megan chimed in. “Butterbee; evolves from a Honeygon at level twelve. Honeygon as in like, hexagon, ‘cause in real-life beehives they—”

“I get it, I get it,” Kelly winced, holding her hands up. “So, a geeky video game reference. I get it.”

“And then, Butterbee later evolves into Sweetqueen!” Stephanie teased, grinning at Kelly. “At level thirty, I think?”

“Do you want kisses?” Kelly growled again, shooting Stephanie a playful look of anger. “‘Cause I told you; that’s how you get kisses.”

“I said it because I want kisses,” Stephanie beamed, not letting go of Brian’s arm but leaning over in Kelly’s direction.

To Brian’s surprise, Kelly’s playful facade seemed to melt away beneath the blazing heat of Stephanie’s smile, revealing a very genuine look of love. With an exasperated sigh and some clearly feigned reluctance, Kelly crowded in over Emily’s shoulder and puckered her lips to shower Stephanie with repeated—and rather noisy—kisses.

“Muah,” Kelly smacked her lips against Stephanie’s with a wet sound, then greedily lunged in for more and more. “Muah, muah, muah, muah.”

“Okay—uh, whoa,” Megan commented in a small voice from the sidelines.

“You guys are gonna be a real bitch to reform,” Kelly complained, but the look in her eyes as she examined Stephanie again from up close seemed to express a very different sentiment. “What a bunch of weebs...”

Okay, so... there’s definitely a ton going on here. Though a little surprised, Brian didn’t find himself as taken aback as he thought he would be.

Against all expectations, Kelly had really opened up, and his first rather negative impression of her had been overturned again and again over the course of the weekend. Since meeting her on Friday, it was as if all of her prickliness had been sheared away bit by bit, the stinging barbs he kept thinking she was about to hit them with were completely blunted. Her personality was certainly still sharp, but the leading edge of that was no longer directed at them. The air of superiority she’d been projecting that first night was smothered beneath what appeared to be budding feelings of affection, like she actually, truly cared for each of them.

It’s all just so… WEIRD? Brian thought to himself, forced to once again reevaluate his estimation of Kelly. Like, it doesn’t even feel fair to question her after everything she’s done for us, and she’s done A LOT, but...

“Nah, we’re totes gonna get you playing too,” Emily insisted, sticking her tongue out at Kelly. “We’ll get it loaded up on your phone so we can all play together. Hey, we can form our own Monster Battlers cadre!”

“What, now you need shut up with kisses, too?” Kelly narrowed her eyes at the girl. “Am I a joke to you?”

“Well, we need six for a cadre, right?” Emily continued on undaunted. “Brian and I play, Steph obviously plays, Rebecca plays a little bit—or at least, she used to, I got her started—Megan you play, right? With all of us together, we can—mmph!?!!”

Brian blinked, watching on in amazement as Kelly pressed in to give Emily a rather passionate kiss. The sight shouldn’t have fazed him after everything their little group had been through together last night, but it did still add to how unreal everything felt. Someone was making out with his Emily, right there in front of him. A gorgeous girl was making out with Emily.

I should probably be feeling… I don’t know, jealous, right? Brian felt himself heating up, but it wasn’t with jealousy. Or, or CONFLICTED, or something. Kell just kissed Stephanie. Then, she kissed Emily. But then instead it’s like… all of us have been kissing each other, it’s… like, fuck how did we get neck deep into polygamy so damned fast? More than neck deep, even. I’ve made love to ALL THREE of these girls in like, the past ten hours or so. That’s… that’s impossible, right? This is some kind of fever dream? This is—

“Brian,” Stephanie addressed him in a comforting voice. “It’s okay.”

How do you DO that? Brian regarded Stephanie with a smile. Does my face really gave away that much?

On the one hand it seemed implausible, but then on the other—it was hard to refute the girl’s powers of observation with the hungry way her eyes seemed to drink him in, the burning thirst for him that had been ignited in Stephanie. Something about the way she seemed to totally fixate on him every time she turned his way suggested that her appetite for more of him was utterly insatiable. As if she was ravenous for every little minute detail he might display—how could she possibly miss any of the subtle tells his expression gave away?

“Any more weebery from you, Kitten?” Kelly’s eyes flashed and she wet her lips as if searching for every last lingering trace of Emily’s lips to savor. “Or have you learned your lesson?”

“Uhhh,” Emily seemed at a loss for words for once. “Uhhh—Brian, she’s bullying me!”

“Yeah, but you love being bullied,” Kelly said, releasing Emily from their three-way hug with a dismissive smirk. “There, happy? And hey—did anyone save us any breakfast?”

“Yeah,” Megan spoke up, picking up one of the cartons in a daze. “Uhh. Rebecca wouldn’t let us touch this one, said it’s for you guys. Girls. Guy and girls. Y’all.”

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“Cool, cool,” Kelly nodded, accepting the breakfast platter with a grateful nod. “Where is Reb—whoa, this is heavy—where is Rebecca?”

“Combined most of my leftovers into that one,” Emily said. “I’m smol, my tummy doesn’t fit much. And, I think Rebecca ran off to find a restroom?”

“Well, here, then,” Kelly sat down on the nearest poolside lounger and settled the carton in her lap. “Brian, Steph—help me finish all this. Forks—where’s the forks?”

“Here,” Megan offered.

“Thanks.”

“Was that your workplace on the phone back there, Kelly?” Stephanie asked as she settled in to sit next to Kelly on the lounger. “Brian—sit and eat!”

Hesitating for only a moment, Brian grabbed the adjacent lounger and dragged it closer so that he could huddle in with them. It was strange but not unpleasant seeing an increasingly assertive Stephanie. Unlike when Chloe had commanded him to do something, Stephanie didn’t seem to be bossing him around. There was an insistent love in her tone, and she eyed him with a nervous smile as if to ask if it was okay. By contrast, each time Chloe had tried to dictate his actions, it had added into this ever-growing weight of dissatisfaction until their relationship was straining with tension.

Stephanie telling him what to do somehow made her even more endearing, and he was happy to comply.

“No, it was… a friend,” Kelly paused. “Chelsea, she was going to pick me up. That was the original plan, from, you know, from before. I asked her to just bring my stuff. If... uh, yeah if it’s still cool that I’m staying with you, Brian. If... this is all happening for real?”

“Yeah, of course,” Brian nodded, putting his hand on her knee to give her some reassurance.

It was unsettling seeing Kelly reveal her uneasiness in the way she spoke like this, but that she did so instead of putting on a front for them was also touching. In truth, he felt a little overwhelmed at the reminder—from now on they were going to be cohabitating, and everything felt like it was happening too fast. He didn’t think he was having second thoughts, exactly, just the reality of their situation seemed to creep up on him and pounce when he least expected it.

“Probably shoulda asked, huh?” Kelly gave him a weak smile. “Like, I know you said it’d be cool if I stayed with you for a while, but I shouldn’t have assumed you meant like, right away or anything, I just…”

“No, it’s totally cool,” Brian gave her leg a squeeze. “No sense in delaying, right? I live a few hours away depending on traffic, but there should be time tonight to start getting you settled, and then you can unpack and make yourself at home or whatever tomorrow while I’m at work.”

“Okay, cool,” Kelly looked relieved.

After a moment of thought, she oriented her forkful of scrambled eggs towards him so that she could feed him a bite. He obliged, leaning in and accepting it. It was hard not to once again compare the massive difference in treatment with the way things had been with Chloe—Chloe would have never been caught dead even sharing a utensil with him.

“Cool,” Emily echoed in agreement.

“Cool,” Stephanie said, trying her hardest not to sound wistful. She took a bite from the breakfast platter with her fork and chewed for a moment, but in the end couldn’t stop herself from saying more. “Oh my gosh, I’m so jealous, though!”

“Cut class for a few days and come stay with us?” Kelly’s lip quirked into a mischievous smirk.

“Hey—!” Megan pouted. “Don’t tell her that! Stephie has like, perfect attendance!”

“I really want to, though,” Stephanie admitted, turning a pleading look towards Brian. “I mean, maybe… maybe I should...?”

“Fuuuck, just remembered I totally bailed on my Saturday shift yesterday,” Emily squeaked, dropping her head into her hands. “After trading shifts with Karen and everything. I’m totally fired.”

“Same,” Kelly chuckled. “Gonna no-show mine tomorrow morning. Fuck gainful employment, am I right?”

“Fuck, yeah but I’m broke and I hate job-hunting,” Emily groaned. “It’s literally the worst. Applications, ugh. Interviews. Orientation. Filling out all that bullshit paperwork and starting all over again from the bottom again. Why can’t I ever be smart?”

“Will can probably get you a job at Marino’s Pizza,” Brian suggested with a wry smile.

“Fuck Will,” Emily spat. “Goddamn creep. Asshole. Piece of shit. No.”

“Hey—Will’s not so bad,” Brian laughed, leaning in to allow Kelly to feed him another bite of breakfast.

“Oh, don’t even get me started,” Emily warned.

“Kelly… why don’t you call into your work and explain?” Stephanie pressed. “Wouldn’t it be better starting off there, if you could just transfer?”

“Ugghh,” Kelly made a face. “Really don’t wanna.”

“Where do you work?” Emily asked.

“A Dollarydoos, here in the city,” Kelly sighed. “You?”

“Lucca Italiano,” Emily grumbled. “Hoighty-toighty fancy-shmancy rich twat fine dining joint. I’m a waitress—serving staff—whatever, or well, I guess I was.”

“Do you know for sure you’re fired?” Brian asked, pausing to accept another fork full of eggs, this time from Stephanie. “I mean, maybe they’ll just write you up? Or, if you have a good enough excuse—”

“Nah,” Emily shook her head. “Just… nah. This’d be like, my fifth write-up there anyways. I hate that place, and everyone there hates me.”

“That sucks,” Megan huffed. “Sounds stressful. And I’ve never even had a job!”

“Wait, like, never?” Emily asked.

“Nope!” Megan answered.

“How old are you…?” Emily asked. “I mean, no offense or anything, but…”

“From what I gather, you guys live in… like, a real wealthy area?” Kelly asked, looking from Brian to Emily.

“Yeah,” Emily made a face. “Sorta? I live with my mom and my sister, in like, an upper middle-class neighborhood? Brian used to be in with the real rich pricks with the mansions and shit—his god awful parents, don’t ask—but then he was at Aunt Mattie’s, and now he’s got an apartment kinda just on the outer edge of town.”

“Don’t ask?” Kelly probed, turning to regard Brian.

“I—err, yeah, don’t ask,” Brian grimaced. “Long story.”

“Not good people,” Emily scowled. “They were the worst. Fucking goddamn pieces of—”

“I won’t ask, then,” Kelly cut her off, holding her hands up. “Not my business until Brian ever wants to talk about it.”

“Okay, yeah,” Emily nodded, trying to forcibly relax. “Good.”

“I’ve got all sorts of shit in my past,” Kelly said with some difficulty, swiping up the last bit of food from the carton with her fork and tucking it into her mouth. “Is it… I dunno, you think we should like, get it all out of the way before I try living with you? To make sure this is gonna work?”

“You tell me whatever at your own pace,” Brian shrugged. “And we’ll work through it together.”

“That’s… great,” Kelly managed. “Okay. Thank you. Really—thank you.”

The group lapsed into silence for a minute, with Megan awkwardly fidgeting while Stephanie took Kelly’s hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

“Well, uh. Fuck,” Emily finally grunted out, ambling up to her feet. “The hell’s taking Rebecca so long? Convention time’s a-wastin’. Should I go check on her?”

“Sure,” Brian said, collecting the scattered breakfast cartons and cramming them back into the plastic bag. “We can take some of this stuff out to my car. Steph, you want to leave your bag in my car for now while we head over to the con?”

“Um… we can do that,” Stephanie nodded. “I think. Megan, are you still parked…?”

“Yeah, way over at the Sherriott,” Megan said. “Sorry.”

“No, no, it’s fine,” Stephanie stood and swept the lap of her overall shorts with her fingertips.

“This has all been… this whole morning’s been really, really great. But, I’m super excited to get back to the convention, too!”

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