Author's notes: This is a work of fiction. In this fantasy, nobody has to worry about STDs. In real life, all non-monogamous sex should be practiced using accepted safe-sex precautions.
This story revisits the characters of an earlier story, No Room At the Inn. This story stands alone, you don't have to read that one to understand this one. However, if you want to read them in order, No Room At the Inn comes first.
This story, like the earlier one, is written in multiple first person - all four characters narrate the story. It may take a bit more effort to read, but the benefit is, as events unfold we get to see things from multiple points of view, in real time. To me as the writer, that is a net gain, and worth the effort. I hope you the reader agree.
Special thanks to Jashet Hon and Candace. Their observations and suggestions made this a better story.
All persons involved in sexual activity are at least 18 years old.
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M A R K : : : The hotel front desk was crazy busy. Dozens of guests were in line waiting for their rooms. There was a clerk at every station, working frantically, but the line was growing faster than they could check people in.
My friends Holly, Shannon, Jason and I waited patiently. When we finally reached the front of the line, a clerk said, "I can help the next guest." Shannon checked us in -- we were sharing a single room with two queen beds. Everything seemed to go fine. She passed out our key cards in the elevator. We had no idea there was a problem...
S H A N N O N : : : We all work for ZNN, the cable news network. We work in different departments, but in the same building, on the same schedule. We met a few years ago at the food court, all newly hired, fresh-faced college grads.
We ate lunch together nearly every day. ZNN is a wonderful place to begin a broadcast career, you can learn a lot in a short time. The stress can be immense, though, and the hours unpredictably long. Although we all dated (not each other), the unreliability of our schedules prevented any of us from building any sort of long-term relationship. We discovered that we all love traveling, but none of us like traveling alone, so the four of us began taking trips together.
At first, it was strictly platonic -- one hotel, four people, four single rooms. Then, on a trip to New York City, the hotel royally screwed up. They were over-sold, and even though we had four reservations, they only had one room available. That room, however, had two queen beds. We couldn't find any other affordable rooms nearby, so we shared that one. Four people and two beds -- that would be two people per bed.
J A S O N : : : We went to bed the first night believing we were only paired for sleeping. It turned out, though, there was a considerable sexual undercurrent to our friendships. I mean, I knew Mark and I had erotic thoughts about the girls. They're hot and, duh, we're guys, but it never occurred to me that they might think about us that way in return. To my delight, though, after lights out, Shannon and I ended up screwing our brains out. In the other bed, Holly and Mark did the same.
We decided as a group that although we were comfortable including "benefits" in our friendships, no one wanted to be formally paired, so each night we switched partners. For a single guy, it was heaven, alternating between two hot ladies. There's an old saying, "variety is the spice of life." True that!
We never reserved four rooms again. Sometimes we get two rooms, sometimes a single room with two beds. I actually prefer having a single room. It's less private, which took a little getting used to, but each night when we swap partners, no one has to move their stuff. And it sure raises the energy level in the room to have another couple fucking in the next bed!
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H O L L Y : : : This trip -- San Francisco! -- we had a single room. I was exhausted from a tough week at work, and a long flight. All I wanted to do was put my feet up and chill for a few minutes, unpack, maybe catch a quick shower, then go get some dinner. We'd begin sightseeing tomorrow.
Of course, nothing is ever that simple. We got off the elevator, trudged down the hall, and I slotted the key card. Mark was right behind me as we entered the room, and didn't notice I skidded to a stop. He ran into me, nearly knocking me over.
I couldn't believe it. We had traveled several times since that big hotel screw-up, with no problems, but now we had another... There weren't two queen beds, there weren't two double beds, and there weren't two twin beds.
There was one bed. One bed. One. Freaking. Bed. It was huge, a king-size, no doubt. But, as big as it was, it was one bed.
I muttered one of the multi-syllable curse words, and since no one else seemed to have noticed the problem, they looked at me oddly. Then, my voice rising in volume and pitch, I said one of the other ones. They looked at me like they didn't even know I knew those words!
One by one, they noticed the bed. After a couple of moments of stunned silence, Mark said, "It's probably a simple mistake. Shannon, the room is in your name, why don't you call down to the desk, tell them our room doesn't match the reservation, and we'll be right down to turn in these keys and pick up the correct ones."
She did. It turned out, though, just like the other time, they had no "correct" room available. They didn't have a second room for us, either.
Everyone stood there, looking dazed. Jason finally said, "Fuck it, I'm hungry. I can't solve anything on an empty stomach."
Shannon said, "Me either." She glanced at me and continued, "We worked things out the other time, I'm sure we can now. Let's leave our luggage here and go eat. We'll solve it when we get back." Nobody had a better idea, so that's what we did.
On our trips, we do a lot of touristy things, but not when it comes to eating -- no chain restaurants. Even though we were only a few minutes from Fisherman's Wharf, we weren't going to eat there -- there's better seafood, and other cuisines, a lot less expensive, within walking distance.
