Samantha Banning did not have her best day. She had graduated high school early the month before, and it was her eighteenth birthday. Working full time as a barista at the coffee shop down the street from her house, Sam was having a hard time imagining how to pay for her tuition at The University of Illinois. She had managed to save about $10,000 over the previous few years, and her grades were good but not good enough for anything more than a partial scholarship. Sam would be able to get student loans, but it was going to tough. Her father had died before she was born, and her mother had made just enough money to keep food on the table for her and her older sister Sarah who had gotten married when she was twenty, to a much older man and had skipped college.
"Hi, Sam!" A friendly voice called to her from the front of the shop, "Happy Birthday! Are you excited to turn eighteen?"
The voice belonged to Nicole Watkins, one of Sam's favorite customers. She and her husband Connor had lived in the condo just above Sam and her mom until about two years ago when he sold his small tech company to Google, and they moved to a big house about two miles away. At twenty-eight and twenty-five, Nicole and Connor were the wealthiest people Sam knew, but neither one acted like it
"Yep, I am." Sam answered, "Still freaking out about school, though.".
"You'll figure it out," Nicole smiled, "We're looking forward to celebrating your birthday at dinner tomorrow. So nice of your mom to invite us!"
"Your usual, Nic?" Sam asked.
Nicole nodded and paid Sam while a boy she didn't know fixed her latte. She was genuinely fond of Sam and her mom, Robin. They had met when they had rented a condo in the same building, and later Robin helped them buy one right above them.
Both Robin and Sam were beautiful women. Robin was a brunette while Sam was blonde, but they shared the same slender frame and athletic body. Nicole was attracted to both of them. She loved her husband, of course, but she was attracted to girls as well.
"Thanks again, Sam!" Nicole said, waving as she walked towards the door, "See you tomorrow!"
Sam got off work at 4:00 and needed a distraction, so by 4:30, she was in bed with her friend Tom at his apartment. Tom, who was also her manager, was on top of her with her legs in the air, thrusting into her a little faster than she liked, but he wasn't a terrible lover, and it wasn't long until she was cumming on his dick.
After she took a quick shower, she was sitting on the side of Tom's bed, putting on her skirt. Tom was twenty-three and had asked her out her third day on the job. She thought a boy his age asking her out, knowing she was so much younger and had just finished high school, was rather creepy, and Sam had said no, and continued to say no the following three times. The day Sam had found out about not getting the full scholarship, her answer was finally yes. He took her to dinner, but she just wanted sex, and she was pretty sure she freaked him out when she told him so. Still, he was a boy, and they had fucked that night and several times since that night. She enjoyed having something to take her mind off her troubles.
"So, see you tomorrow?" Tom asked, grinning at her in a way that made her remember why she had thought he was creepy.
"Nope, I'm off for the next week, remember?" She responded.
"I guess." He said, clearly not remembering at all, "Maybe you'll stop by, though?"
"Nope, today is my eighteenth birthday." She said, "I'm celebrating tomorrow with my family and then spending time with my mom."
"Wait," he said, looking puzzled, "You're just eighteen today?"
Sam laughed to herself as she walked to her car. He didn't even know how old I was, she thought, that was the last time. She knew she needed to trust her instincts.
Robin was happy to throw this party for Sam. She could hardly believe her baby was eighteen. Robin had tried to give her a good life. Still, outside of a small savings account and the possibility of a second mortgage, it wasn't possible to help with college tuition and expenses to any significant degree despite knowing how much she could see Sam stressing about it. Robin had learned of an opportunity to ease that stress, but she hadn't wrapped her head around it yet.
It was about two hours before expecting her daughter Sarah and the other guests, so she was surprised when the doorbell ring.
"Hey, Mrs. Banning!" The smiling girl at the door greeted her, bounding through the door like the teenager she was.
"Hi, Chelsea," Robin replied as the girl headed towards her daughter's room. Chelsea had been Sam's best friend since second grade. She was a small girl with a cheerleader's body. Chelsea and Sam had started cheerleading together in sixth grade, but her daughter grew bored with it after her freshman year. Chelsea never had and had been made Captain each of the last two years. She liked it so much she was continuing cheer when she left that fall for a small college in Minnesota. Robin thought it suited her.
"Wear that one," Chelsea said as Sam was getting dressed. She motioned to a plaid skirt that was on the bed, "You're going with the black leggings, right?" She asked her friend of ten years, more than half their young lives.
"Yeah, but then what top?" She asked Chelsea, "the black turtleneck?" Her friend nodded and smiled.
"You'll look hot!"
Sam laughed, "I'm going for cute, not hot, remember? Connor and Randy are going to be the only guys here." Randy was her sister's husband.
"Well, you'll be that too, then," her friend assured her, "Plus, you forgot Ryan. He'll be here."
Ryan had been Chelsea's boyfriend since the two knew what boyfriends were, early in sixth grade. "Want me to get him all hot for you so you can fuck him in the car?" she asked her friend playfully.
"You're bad!" Chelsea exclaimed in mock disgust, "no fucking in the car tonight, it's cold, and it's a school night."
"Ok, then," she laughed. Of all of her friends, Chelsea was the first girl to lose her virginity. It was in the summer between the seventh and eighth grade in Ryan's basement. Sam had been there fending off a boy named Noah with who she had no urge to share something so life-changing. She did end up giving a hand-job for the first time while Chelsea had sex one open door away.
Sam changed bras and looked at herself in the mirror's skirt and leggings before putting on the top. She was proud of her body. Chelsea had bigger boobs, but Sam wasn't self-conscious at all. Her B cup boobs were perky, an old boyfriend's description, and cute, and her flat stomach made them look larger than they were. She put on the top and twirled in front of the mirror. Hot, cute, she was all that she thought.
Chelsea agreed, "Hot," she grinned
"Pretty hot yourself, girl." Her friend was wearing jeans, a tight light blue top, and a white cardigan. Sam wasn't positive Ryan wouldn't jump Chelsea in the car on the way home.
Robin was nervous. She wanted Sam to make an informed decision, but she knew she'd be shocked at the idea. Was Robin a bad mother for entertaining it? She honestly didn't know, but she would bring it to her daughter with a sincere desire for Sam to get what she wanted.
Sam was happy to share her birthday with the people she loved the most. Her mom had made a make-your-own taco bar, which was Sam's favorite. The cake was carrot with cream cheese frosting. Everything was delicious. As she did every year, her sister asked what she wished for when she blew out the candles.
"I'm not going to answer that, Sarah," she smiled, "the same thing I've said since I was three!" Then she thought for a second, "Ok, this time I'll answer. I hope I figure out how to pay for college."
Everyone made the usual noises telling her she would, and she did appreciate that. After the cake, it was time for presents. Her sister gave her a book on fashion, Chelsea gave her a cute hat like one she had that Sam had complimented, and Nicole and Connor gave her an Amazon gift card for way more money than she expected.
