My Straight Best Friend Ch 04

Hello again, readers. My original plan for this story was to write one chapter centred on each of the four main female leads and then see where it wound up. Having gotten to the end of writing the fourth, I have a better idea now of where it's going, and accordingly, I now expect this one will need six chapters in total before it's finished.

Thanks to my rapidly-growing collection of beta readers: Arcadia, AstroChris, Ravenna933, RawSilhouette, SomethingFar, and SpotintheSand. Arcadia and SpotintheSand are currently actively publishing their own stories, so please consider giving them a read when you're done here.

All characters are over 18. We open this chapter in the late autumn of the year 2000.

I awoke Saturday morning in my sleeping bag on the floor of my lifelong friend Allie Wang's basement rec room, laying awake for several minutes while the three girls beside me slept peacefully. Last night had been one of the most incredible nights of my life. The barriers between us had well and truly come fully down, and after the most sexually-charged conversation we'd ever had, we'd wound up in a five way circle-jerk in the privacy of our own sleeping bags in the dark.

Is it still called a circle-jerk when it's mostly girls involved?

I wondered to myself idly as I lay there.

Allie had gone upstairs afterwards, and I, worried about her, had followed. I hadn't expected anything to come of it, but checking on her had turned into getting myself off for the second time that night while watching her humping the corner of her bed into what looked like an epic orgasm. It had been insanely hot in the moment, but now I was trying hard not to feel weirded out.

I could close my eyes and easily picture the face of my oldest friend from childhood, and I could equally close my eyes and picture those big tits of hers hanging loosely below her body and bouncing as she ground her clit hard into the mattress. But I still couldn't put the two images together. My sexless platonic old friend Allie and sexual, grown-up Allie hadn't yet fused into one person in my mind.

I was knocked out of my own head by Mia Tyler, who chose that moment to get out of her sleeping bag and head for the bathroom. A few moments passed, and I heard the water turn on, indicating she was having a shower. I lay there longer still, and soon Mia returned, wrapped in a towel.

"Good morning," I called out. We'd seen each other naked before, but I wanted to make sure she knew I was awake.

"Oh, good morning, Justin." She dropped the towel anyway as she dug into her overnight bag for her clothes. I wasn't entirely used to nonchalant incidental female nudity yet, but I very much appreciated that Mia apparently trusted me enough not to care if I saw her naked.

"Quite the night," I commented, trying to project a coolness I wasn't exactly feeling as I saw her pull a pair of green panties over her bare ass.

"Insane," she replied wistfully.

"I had fun, too," Emma Desmarais piped up from the sleeping bag beside me. I hadn't realized she was awake.

"No regrets in the morning?" I asked.

"Nope," Mia said, smirking as she pulled her bra on. "For a bi-curious girl like yours truly, last night definitely scratched an itch a bit."

"None here, either," Emma added. "Shauna's probably going to have to pray for forgiveness when she wakes up, but I'm fortunately not much of one for religious guilt."

"No, me neither," I added. "Do you want the next shower?"

"Sure," Emma answered.

She got out of her sleeping bag, heading for the bathroom, and I once again admired the view of her shapely ass in the same pair of burgundy panties she'd gone to bed with.

Shauna finally woke up once Emma was in the shower, looking around bleary-eyed to see Mia hanging out on the couch and a bunch of empty sleeping bags around us.

"Did Allie go upstairs to sleep in her room again?" she asked, yawning.

"Yeah," I confirmed, adding nothing.

"She has a lot of trouble sleeping, that girl. About half the time we have a sleepover here, she doesn't last the night and winds up just going upstairs to her room."

About half the time,

I thought to myself.

It's not my secret to spill that she's going upstairs to get herself off, but that's interesting. The other girls clearly have no idea.

"Have fun last night?" I asked Shauna.

She winced, the same pained look I'd seen when we talked about the last time we'd had a sexual encounter together. "I guess," she said quietly. "It was fun at the time."

"Don't feel guilty!" Mia piped up. "We all had fun, it felt good, who cares about anything else?"

"It's a sin," Shauna replied simply.

"You okay, girl?" Mia looked concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just feel like I lost control of my hormones yet again. I can't believe it keeps happening."

"Maybe you're not meant to always be in control of them," I spoke up.

Shauna stared at me, with a look on her face I couldn't quite read. Just then, Emma reappeared, fully dressed. Shauna lay back in her sleeping bag, staring blankly at the ceiling, and since she had made no move, I assumed that meant that I was next in the shower. I left the room, glancing back at Shauna as I did, still staring into space.

The rest of the morning passed quickly as we all got up, had coffee together, and split up to go home. Allie seemed distant this morning, but I knew she'd promised to chat this week at lunch about what had happened between us, so I tried to just give her space. I also didn't know if we were supposed to keep what had happened between us a secret, so I decided not to say anything.

I arrived back home, dumping my dirty clothes into the laundry and heading up to my room. When I got there, my sister Carly quickly knocked on my door.

"Hey, Justin. Got a minute?"

"Sure, what's up?"

"Do you remember you said you'd be good to run interference on Mom and Dad if I needed it?"

"Yeah, of course. What do you need?"

Carly sat down on the edge of my bed. "I've got a date tonight with a guy. It's nothing serious, yet, but... I might need your help."

"Do tell."

"Well..." Carly took a breath. She seemed hesitant, but she started talking anyway. "Since I started college, when I go out on dates, if it's the kind of date that involves going back to someone's place afterwards, I try to always go to the guy's place. Most people my age are in the dorms or their own accommodations, and I'm still living at home. But the guy I'm seeing tonight is also still living with his parents, so I'm back to high school for the evening."

"That sucks," I interrupted. "You'd think they'd understand that 19-year-olds have sex every now and then."

"I mean, it's the second date. I'm not

that

easy. But if it goes well tonight, I can imagine letting him get past first base."

"I wasn't saying you were easy. I'm sorry if it came out that way."

"No problem, I know what you meant. Anyway, Mom and Dad usually go to bed by 11, so we're going to plan to come back to the house around 11:30. I'll come in the front door, so they can see that I'm alone if they happen to still be up. Meanwhile, you can be in the basement and let Andrew in the back door. I'll go downstairs and meet up with him if everything goes well, and you're off the hook."

"No problem," I answered. "You were great to me that night I had Mia over. It's my pleasure to help out and return the favour."

"Thanks, little brother. It's nice that you've grown up. I never would have been comfortable having this conversation with you even six months ago."

"Yeah, I've come a long way in a short time. I'm glad you can see the progress I've made."

"Speaking of, how was the sleepover at Allie's?"

"Pretty good. It changed how I looked at Allie, and you saying you thought she liked me might have been the catalyst for that."

"Oh, cool. Does she like you?"

"Short answer, no. Long answer, it's complicated. Our friendship is changing a little, growing up, but it's not like that." I didn't really want to get into it much more with my sister, mainly because I hadn't figured out for myself how I felt, and I wasn't ready to talk about it.

"Well, I'm glad I could help, at least a little." Carly leaned over and hugged me, then headed for the door. "Eleven-thirty tonight. Don't forget!"

"I won't."

Carly left the house after dinner, looking all dolled up with nice clothes and makeup. After a quiet night to myself, I went down to the basement around 11:30 and threw on

Saturday Night Live

, mostly for background. A few minutes later, I heard footsteps above. Knowing my cue, I headed over to the back door, which was a direct exit to the yard as our house was built partially on a hillside. I saw a young dark-haired, clean-cut guy about my age hanging out by the door. I wasn't a great judge of such things, but he seemed reasonably good-looking.

I opened it up for him. "Are you Andrew?"

"Yeah." He shook my hand. "You're Justin, right?"

I nodded. "Come on in."

I could hear Carly's voice overhead, talking to Mom, who was apparently still awake, and then eventually footsteps on the stairs.

"Mom's still up," Carly reported when she got down.

"Yeah, but I think she's going to bed soon," I responded. "She was waiting up for you."

Carly rolled her eyes in disgust. "So typical. The 18-year-old son can come and go as he pleases, but the 19-year-old daughter must be fussed and worried over."

"Double standards suck, I agree. Do you want me to leave you two alone?"

"Not yet. Let Mom go to bed, first."

Carly and Andrew sat down together on the couch and snuggled in under a blanket. I reclaimed my spot on the opposite end of the couch and resumed watching TV. I wasn't specifically trying to pay any attention to my sister and her date, knowing full well that I was an unwelcome third wheel in the room, but I couldn't help noticing the gestures, the little kisses, the touches, the hands moving under the blanket. I knew what the signs were now, and I couldn't help but see it in her eyes - Carly was really turned on. I was mildly uncomfortable knowing that, but I made myself be outwardly grown-up about it.

I tried my very best to ignore the couple's rapidly-escalating flirting and handsiness up until I finally heard Mom's footsteps heading upstairs to bed. I then made my exit as quickly as possible. If Carly was going to have any sort of sexual activity with this guy, I didn't want anything to do with it, seeing it, overhearing it, nothing.

I lay in bed after putting my pyjamas on, wide awake. My brain couldn't help but wonder what my sister was up to down in the basement, but it also felt very, very off-limits to me, in a way that made me feel uncomfortable. And then I realized with a start that there was a stark difference between tonight and last night, when I'd gotten myself off watching a girl I'd always said I thought of like a sister humping herself into oblivion on the corner of her mattress.

There's a difference,

I thought.

Allie isn't Carly. 'Like a sister' isn't the same thing as a sister.

I kept turning this over in my head as I lay there.

What do I think of Allie? I always assumed she was off-limits, but she clearly isn't, or last night wouldn't have happened. But I value our friendship. I can't imagine losing her if we dated and then broke up. Is a girlfriend supposed to be just a good friend, only more? Or is attraction more important than that? Am I even attracted to Allie, or was it just the hormones of a crazy night coupled with the novelty of seeing her naked for the first time? I still don't know what makes a girlfriend, but Allie's my best female friend, and I can't pretend not to have noticed that she's got a hot body.

Allie being the opposite sex had never mattered in our friendship before the last few months. Things were different now, but I still didn't think I wanted to date her. I liked Emma, and I was excited about potentially asking her out. I also liked Mia, despite knowing she wasn't an option. It all just felt way too complicated.

I was still awake forty-odd minutes later when I heard Carly's footsteps on the stairs, coming to bed. I listened to her brush her teeth and then settle into her bed in the room next to mine. And then, a few minutes later, I heard a barely-there buzzing sound and a slight rhythmic creaking of bed springs through the wall. I knew full well that it could only be one thing.

Yep. Brain can't do it.

I put headphones in and cranked up the Tragically Hip's

Phantom Power

album on my Discman, willing myself not to think about Carly masturbating on the other side of the wall. Any other girl and I'd have been craning my ears trying to listen, but when it was my sister, I just couldn't go there, and trust me, the irony wasn't lost on me after what had happened the night before.

Fifteen minutes later I experimentally pulled my headphones off, discovering to my great relief that the house was silent. I lay back and tried to sleep again, and this time I managed it, drifting off still mulling over how all my relationships with the opposite sex were changing.

Sunday passed quickly and quietly. Carly thanked me for helping her out the night before, and I promised that I'd happily do it again whenever she needed. She told me the date had gone well and she'd be seeing Andrew again, so I might well need to run interference for her in the future. As uncomfortable as it had made me feel being face-to-face with my sister's sexuality for the first time, I really liked that we were starting to develop a real adult relationship with each other after a lifetime of feeling like her kid brother. I trusted her, and it felt good knowing that she trusted me.

On the walk to school Monday morning, I was determined that somehow I was going to meet up with Emma this week, despite the obstacles. We had opposite lunch periods and none of the same classes. Our lockers were nowhere near each other's, and we lived in opposite directions from school. I had jazz band practice after school Tuesdays and Thursdays, and she had Yearbook Committee Mondays and Wednesdays. But I'd find a way. I had to.

I'd decided that the best plan was to hang out outside Emma's biology class fourth period, while I was on lunch. She had law fifth period, I remembered, so I should be able to at least walk with her that far and still make it to English. Allie and I seemed on normal terms with each other in our shared history class, which was good to see, but I stayed at school for lunch today, avoiding dealing with things with her at least for a day. She seemed not at all inclined to talk, regardless, but things didn't feel weird, which was good. Instead I hung out outside Mrs. McGuigan's biology class at 1:30, and after the bell rang, soon enough Emma emerged.

"Hey!" I called out.

"Oh, Justin, hi!" She gave me a quick hug. "What are you doing here?"

"Well," I began. My heart suddenly started racing again. It didn't matter that we'd gotten off together two days ago while I felt her up, asking a girl out for the first time was still nerve-wracking. "I was wondering... do you want to hang out sometime?"

"You know I do, silly," she answered happily. "Let's do it!"

"I mean, like... as a date," I stammered.

"I know." She smiled patiently at me. "I said yes."

"Oh!" I was dumbfounded. "Great!"

"Friday night?" she asked. "Come over to my place around 7. We'll figure something out."

She headed into law class, and I stared at the bank of lockers across the hall, in shock.

It actually was that easy. Maybe I am a moron. How did I not try that back in the ninth grade?

I snapped myself out of it quickly and hurried over to English class. Mr. Jones wasn't a fan of latecomers.

That night, I thought about calling Eric to tell him the good news, but something about the situation gave me pause. At the end of the day, I could still scarcely believe it, and I decided that it was probably best to see how the night went before I told anyone.

A couple of days passed, and soon enough it was Thursday. Allie had been cordial but distant all week, and I hadn't seen Emma again, but I didn't want to have to deal with both of them on the same day. I knew I'd be nervous come Friday, so when history class ended on Thursday, I cornered Allie.

"Hey," I began. "Can we sort this out?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Mom's home today, though. Can we go to your place?"

"Sure. No one should be there as far as I know."

We walked together back to my house in relative silence, chatting a little bit about unimportant things, but otherwise not saying much to each other. The awkward tension was back between us, and I could feel it lingering. We'd already had one major conversation a month ago about our friendship growing up, and I knew we were in for another one.

We got back to the house, which was thankfully empty, and quickly ate our lunches, still mostly in silence. I wasn't quite sure how to start the conversation, so it didn't happen. After we'd finished, I headed into the living room and sat on the couch, and Allie, once again, lay down with her head in my lap. I started absent-mindedly stroking my fingers through her hair as I stared down at her.

She's pretty. I can't see her as sexless ever again.

"Are you okay?" I finally asked.

"Yeah." She half-smiled up at me. "It was fun, this past weekend. I enjoyed it."

"Me too."

We stared at each other for a minute. I could sense hesitation in her, and I finally prompted her with a "But..."

"Are you as confused now as I am?" she asked.

"Pretty much."

She nodded. "I still have no regrets, though. You?"

"I don't think so."

"You don't

think

so?"

"It just means things are different now, and I don't think they'll ever be the same again," I said quietly.

"How do you mean?"

"I look down on you in that baggy sweater and you're still Allie, the girl I've known since birth, the one I never thought about as 'a girl' in the same way that the girls I had crushes on were girls. Like, of course you're a girl. But I never thought about you like that.

"But I've seen you naked now, turned on, climaxing, and I can't un-see that. I look at you now and I can't help but notice your chest, even though it's fully covered up. I never even really noticed it before, at least, not in that way."

"I feel the same," she said softly. "I also don't know how to handle the fact that it happened at all. Like my friends have always told each other when they've hit sexual milestones, but I feel like I don't want to tell anyone what happened yet. It's not a secret, and if you tell anyone, that's fine, as long as it's not bragged about or spread all over school. But it just feels... I don't know. Weird, private, not something I want to gloat about. It was a little more intensely personal than I expected."

"It felt like I got to see something no one's ever seen you do before, and I know that's literally true, but I more mean in the sense of getting to watch a really personal, private moment. Thanks again for sharing it with me. It means a lot to be trusted with that."

"You're welcome, and thanks to you, too, for the same reasons."

"As for me," I added, "I'm not a kiss and tell type, so I wouldn't necessarily tell anyone about what happened with us anyway, but I'll definitely keep it secret from your friends as long as I know you're not interested in talking about it with them."

"Sure, that's fine with me." She took another long pause, appearing like she was thinking something through. "You said you've never thought about me in that way before, and that's fine, I get it. But once, I actually did kind of have a crush on you. It was years ago, teenage puppy love."

"You did?" I was shocked.