No Room at the Inn

(Author's notes: This is a work of fiction. In this fantasy, nobody is worried about STDs. In real life, all non-monogamous sex should be practiced using accepted safe-sex precautions.

All persons involved in sexual activity are at least 18 years old.

Very special thanks to LunaRosa for her perceptive editing. This is a better story because of her insight.

This story is written in multiple first person -- all four characters narrate the story. The benefit is getting to see things as they occur from multiple points of view. To me as the writer, that is worth the extra effort to keep up with who's talking. I hope you as the reader agree.

Note to readers: If you prefer your stories to be non-stop "action," this probably isn't the story for you -- it is slow to become Literotic. But if you like the characters and stay with it, I think you'll find it worth the effort.)

: : : : :

H O L L Y : : : The hotel front desk was crazy busy. Dozens of guests were waiting to get 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 Shannon, Mark, Jason and I waited patiently. When we got to the front of the line, Shannon went first, she didn't get the bad news. I was next in line, I did.

: : : : :

Three years earlier:

S H A N N O N : : : I had just graduated from college, and jobs were scarce. In my senior year I interned with ZNN, the cable news channel, working evenings and weekends, and I guess I impressed someone, because they offered me a job. It was entry-level, and a bit of a sham: thirty-five hours a week, which they called part-time, so they didn't have to pay benefits. But it was a foot in the door, network experience that would at least look good on my resume.

M A R K : : : When I graduated, I returned to my little home town, and spent a year at the small TV station there. On a trip to the big city to visit a college buddy, on a whim I applied at ZNN. I couldn't believe it when they offered me a position. It didn't pay shit, but it was an "in," and I snapped it up.

The idea of moving to the city was overwhelming. Everything cost more, and distances were huge. It took forever to get anywhere, and I didn't know anybody. The one good thing was, I had gotten back together with my high school sweetheart, and she was going to move with me. At the last minute, however, she got cold feet and bailed, so I hit the city alone.

H O L L Y : : : I had worked at ZNN for a few months, and it was a great job, except for the pay -- my paychecks were decimated by rent and a car payment. To save money, I brown-bagged lunch. At first I just ate at my desk, but it didn't take long to realize what a bad idea that was: while I sat there, it looked like I was on the clock, so I was constantly interrupted. The network encouraged tourist visits and school field trips, so the building had a huge atrium with a food court, with dozens of tables. I started taking my lunch down there.

J A S O N : : : The food court was great, but of course everyone breaks for lunch around noon, so it was always crowded. Every day it was the same ordeal: I'd hover around the edges, looking for a place to sit, competing with dozens of others doing the same thing.

One day I had waited a particularly long time, and my food was getting cold. I saw a lady vacating her table, and made a beeline for it. I arrived simultaneously with a really cute girl, wearing a ZNN employee badge just like mine. I really wanted to sit and eat, but I was raised to defer to ladies, so I said, "Go ahead, I'll get the next one."

"Sit," she said, smiling, "we can share, there's plenty of room."

I was hungry, she was friendly -- and pretty -- so I did.

S H A N N O N : : : I guess that made us officially the first to meet. I had already noticed him -- we all did the food court every day, and it didn't take long to recognize the regulars.

A couple of days later, I was looking for a table, and Jason already had one. I caught his eye, and he gestured at the empty chair across from him. Before long, we were sitting together almost every day. I had a boyfriend, so I didn't really consider Jason romantically, which normally I would have, because he was hot, and fun, and obviously I knew he had a great job.

The third or fourth time we sat together, I saw Kristin, who sits near me in the office, looking for a seat, so I asked Jason if he'd mind if she joined us.

J A S O N : : : Kristin is another looker, and fun to talk to, so she was definitely welcome. Her friend Mark joined us a few days later, and he fit right in, too.

Before long, there were seven of us. I mean, it was never all seven at once, most of the tables there seat four, so every day there'd be a different three or four of us. But the core group was seven.

M A R K : : : I got to where I really looked forward to lunch. The girls were gorgeous, and everyone was fun to be around. I had a serious crush on Shannon -- she was intelligent, outgoing, and witty, and she had the face of an angel, great boobs, and killer legs. She already had a guy, though, and frankly, the other girls were every bit as fun and pretty, so I didn't pursue her.

We always had plenty to talk about: what clubs and bands were hot, where the cheap happy hours were, what restaurants had good food and atmosphere, but were affordable. We all dated (not each other), and had stories to tell about great dates, and even better stories about lousy ones.

We all drove used cars, some of them more "used" than others, so if one of us found a mechanic who could fix things that would stay fixed, and perhaps charge less, we'd share that.

H O L L Y : : : I really liked Jason, and since Shannon seemed to know the most about the group, I asked her about him. "Jason is great," she said. "But take your time, Colin is also a great guy, and Mark is too. They're all smokin' hot. No guy wants to feel like your second choice, so before you make your move, be sure Jason is really the one."

She had a point, Colin and Mark were amazing. Deep down inside, though, Jason was who I wanted. Unfortunately, by the time I was ready to act on it, we were all such tight friends, it didn't seem right to disrupt things by reaching for romance.

S H A N N O N : : : Entry level positions aren't very stable at the network, there's a lot of turnover -- management calls it "churn." A lot of the new-hires simply don't work out, but the low pay and long hours inspire the rest of us to look for opportunities elsewhere. Ideally, we'd all like to advance within ZNN, but just as often, the next position up the career ladder is somewhere else.

Colin was the first of our core seven to move on -- he got a fantastic position with PBS and moved to Washington, DC. It gave us all hope.

Kristin was the next to go, hired away by a network affiliate in Los Angeles. Then Melody got engaged to a guy who got transferred to Chicago. That left four of us.

M A R K : : : The first time we traveled together was a long weekend. Jason and I were both going to do the family thing at Christmas, so for Thanksgiving we booked cheap flights to a little town in the Smoky Mountains, which had a bed & breakfast I read about that sounded fabulous. Shannon and Holly were going to visit their families, but those plans fell through for both of them. The b & b wasn't sold out, so the girls joined us.

Long story short, we had a great time.

By our second year at the network, we had all gotten past the phony "part-time" status, and were officially staff. Among other things, that meant we got paid vacation. Just one week that first year, but that's better than nothing.

Holly was going to use her week to go to Oregon and meet her boyfriend's family, but they broke up instead. Once again, Jason and I had planned a trip, this time to Santa Fe. She began dropping hints, so we invited her to join us.

S H A N N O N : : : My boyfriend was becoming less and less tolerant of the long hours I was working, so we split up. What, I was going to be the only one not going to Santa Fe? We had such a great time in the Smokies, joining them was a no-brainer.

The Smokies trip was just a long weekend, Santa Fe was for a whole week. I wondered if it might get weird, two guys and two girls, spending all that time together. If one pair or another started to hook up, it could get awkward. I shouldn't have worried, by then we were such solid friends, no romantic overtones reared their ugly heads. It was a fabulous week.

H O L L Y : : : Santa Fe solidified it -- from that point on, we planned all our vacations together. We were all climbing the career ladder at the network, which meant longer hours than ever at the office. That left none of us in any danger of having a steady BF or GF. The good news was, that meant there was no one to object to our trips together, or want to come along.

We all dated, though, it's not like we were monks or nuns. It was funny, Monday at lunch, I could always tell who had a great weekend, and who didn't. We knew each other so well, just from body language and facial expressions, it was obvious: Mark got laid, Jason didn't but hadn't expected to, and Shannon had expected to, but it didn't work out (jeez, what kind of moron would mess up the opportunity to sleep with a hottie like Shannon -- I'm just sayin').

J A S O N : : : We did holiday weekends in New Orleans, Colorado, then Santa Monica -- we got rooms in a small bed and breakfast barely a block from the beach.

By then we'd all advanced to getting a real paid vacation of two full weeks, and for our next trip we put together a mega-trip to the northeast -- the first time we had planned an entire two weeks together.

We were going to New York City for a week, then the second week at another b & b, this time in rural Vermont. New York was going to be a whirlwind -- we had tickets to two Broadway shows, live jazz at both Iridium and The Blue Note, and a Yankees game. During the day we'd visit the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, Central Park, and the art museums.

Vermont would be the opposite: all we had was four rooms, a rent car, and maps. We made loose plans for hiking, a winery or two, maybe a maple syrup farm, all very low-key and relaxing.

H O L L Y : : : Our flight to New York was fine, our cab to the hotel was fine, and Shannon got her room fine, but after that, the wheels came off.

I was next in line. The desk clerk looked up from her terminal and said, "I'm sorry ma'am, I'm not showing that reservation." I gave her the confirmation number, but she shook her head.

That was ridiculous, we'd booked all four rooms at the same time, and Shannon's reservation was fine. Knowing that if I took a room there at the counter, I would lose the on-line discount, but realizing I didn't have many options, I asked, "Okay, how much can I get a room for?"

"We're sold out." Shit...

J A S O N : : : A different clerk gave me the same story. Fuck me in the heart... All those tickets here in the city, airfare to Vermont a week from now, and no place to sleep. No room for Mark either. So, now what?

I got my phone out and fired up the browser, to see if I could find some rooms, hopefully nearby. I hated the thought that we'd be in different hotels, we had always stayed under the same roof before.

S H A N N O N : : : The lobby only had a few places to sit, and they were all taken. Holly, Mark, and Jason had their phones out, and stood uncomfortably, searching for rooms on-line. Their body language indicated they weren't having any luck. Jason in particular looked like he was getting seriously aggravated.

"Hey everybody," I said. I held up my key, "Maybe we only have one room, but at least it has places to sit -- come on up."

The room turned out to be quite nice, with two queen-size beds and a sitting area with a love seat and two chairs. The guys went to work on their phones, and Holly got her tablet out. I stepped out, saying I'd be right back. I went down to the lobby bar and got four beers to-go. When I got back to the room, the air was thick with tension.

"No luck?"

Mark said, "Nothing."

Jason said, "Not really. I found one room at the Ritz-Carlton, it's $529 a night."

Holly said, "The Plaza has a single for $659 a night."

"A night? That's ridiculous," I said. They all nodded in agreement.

We sat in stony silence, drinking our beers.

"Look around you," I said. "I see two queen-size beds. We can all sleep here, easily. There's no reason to get any more rooms, especially at those rates."

Nobody argued, but I could tell from the body language, they weren't thrilled.

M A R K : : : I said, "Um, there's no reason you needed to know this until now, but I don't really sleep in, uh, jammies. Or anything, really."

Jason said, "Um, well, same here."

S H A N N O N : : : I savored that vision, for just a second, and answered, "No problem. We've all been swimming together, just sleep in your tighty whities-"

Jason interrupted, "Boxers."

I continued, "-whatever, sleep in your underwear, it's no more revealing than a bathing suit. I sleep in a t-shirt," Holly nodded that she did too, "you've seen way more of me than that at the beach."

Everyone nodded.

H O L L Y : : : By then it was almost 8:00, and I was hungry.

The hotel was near Carnegie Deli, so we headed there. We all left our luggage in Shannon's room. No one had unpacked yet, so I guess it wasn't "official" that we were all staying there.

It was good to get outside, even in the concrete canyons of New York City. It only takes a bit of effort to see the sky, and it was a crystal clear evening, not a single cloud. Sunset was spectacular; it made me feel like maybe things would be okay. Nature was showing off that evening -- I have no idea how the sky can go from golden to aqua to purple in a smooth gradation, but it did.

M A R K : : : Carnegie Deli was great. Jason had been there before, and on his advice we all got matzo ball soup, chocolate egg creme, and these amazing mile-high sandwiches -- mine was pastrami dressed with a layer of chopped liver, Russian dressing, and cole slaw. (I know, most people hate chopped liver, but I like it.) I'll say this: anybody that makes light of chicken soup being a universal remedy hasn't had the matzo ball soup at Carnegie Deli.

I was wondering whether to bring up the room situation, but Shannon beat me to it, saying, "So, no one seems to have come up with other arrangements, are we agreed that we're all sharing my room?"

We all nodded. Shannon put her hand out over the table, palm down, and we added ours on top, in that three musketeers "all for one" thing. With that settled, we headed back to the hotel.

In the elevator going up, I said, "We don't know how long the hot water lasts here. I assume everyone wants to shower, and the ladies should go first. But I'd ask that you keep it short, so maybe there'll be some hot water left for us guys."

Everyone nodded.

S H A N N O N : : : I showered first, they all insisted on it because it was "my" room. I had to take a deep breath as I stepped out of the bathroom, wearing nothing but a t-shirt. They'd seen much more of me than that before, most of my bikinis are tiny, but somehow, in the seclusion of a hotel room, I felt much more exposed.

M A R K : : : My heart skipped a beat when Shannon came out of the bathroom -- I've never gotten over the crush I've had on her since day one, even though I never let it show. She's so gorgeous, and in her t-shirt, somehow she seemed vulnerable in a way I'd never seen before, in a very sexy way. She must have felt it too -- her nipples were trying to knife their way through the front of her shirt. I did my best not to stare.

S H A N N O N : : : I thought, "Hello, nipples, what are you doing? This isn't what you think." They argued, going, "No, actually, it isn't what YOU think."

J A S O N : : : Holly grabbed her stuff and headed for the shower. I said, "Wait, before you do that, let's figure out the 'arrangements.' Who, um, is sleeping where?"

Everyone was hesitant, making a long uncomfortable silence. Shannon finally said, "Look, this doesn't have to be awkward, we're just four friends with only one room, right? Let's just draw straws, or rock-paper-scissors, anything. I mean, it's just sleeping, right?"

I nodded at Shannon and Holly and said, "I wonder if one or both of you would really be as comfortable sharing a bed with a guy as you would be with each other, and I don't think anyone should feel put on the spot. Maybe it should be ladies in one bed, and Mark and I can take turns in the other. I'll sleep on the couch tonight."

S H A N N O N : : : No one spoke. I went and sat on his lap, put my arms around his neck, and kissed him on the cheek. I said, "That's very sweet and considerate, but not necessary. I'm sure everyone will behave." Holly nodded in agreement.

Despite the chasteness of what I said, my tummy turned little flip-flops as I sat in Jason's lap. Actually, the flip-flops might have been somewhat lower than my tummy -- we've all been friends for such a long time, but he and Mark are still hot guys. Make that VERY hot guys. I noticed that his cock twitched as it realized that a nearly-naked girl was sitting on it.

H O L L Y : : : I recalled some sensational New Year's Eve kisses with the guys, as well as how fine they look in their swimsuits. I subdued that thought and expanded upon what Shannon said. "I say no one sleeps on the couch. It's actually a love seat, anyway, and it's way too small for either one of you, you'd be miserable on it. I'll share a bed with either one of you. Even if we're under the same covers in our underwear, I know you won't molest me. You guys figure out who's with whom, I'm taking a shower."

As I headed for the bathroom, I felt a ripple of excitement as it occurred to me I might end up paired with Jason. I'd wanted him for such a long time. In all the things we'd done together, I'd never gotten to "be with" him...

M A R K : : : Holly shut the bathroom door. Shannon pointed at me and said "Eenie, meenie, minie, moe," alternating her finger between Jason and me. It came to rest on Jason. "You're with me, big boy," she said. "And you ARE taking a shower before you get in bed with me."

I'm pretty sure I hid my disappointment. My heart (and my cock) had pulsed a bit when she pointed at me, but then she ended up with him. It probably wouldn't lead to anything, but I would love even being under the covers with her. Waiting for my turn in the shower, I must have briefly dozed off with that happy thought, because the next thing I knew, I felt my dick straining against my jeans, and someone had plopped onto my lap, saying, "Is that for me?"

H O L L Y : : : I exited the bathroom, wearing nothing but a t-shirt and panties, hoping that I'd find myself paired with Jason. Yes, I knew he wouldn't molest me, but if it's consensual, then it's not molesting, right? I needed to quit thinking that, it'd be terrible to wreck the best friendships I've ever had. I was clearly the only one having naughty thoughts, so I tried to calm down. Jason gathered his toiletries and headed for the bathroom. Shannon gestured quickly between me and Mark, signaling me I had been paired with him. Just as well, I guess, things could get out of hand if I was with Jason.

Mark looked like he had dozed off, and must have been having quite a happy dream -- he had an impressive stiffie showing. I thought for a second that maybe this night still held some possibilities, then squashed the thought -- these are my best friends.

A few minutes ago Shannon sat on Jason's lap in her underwear, and I was feeling playful, so I did the same to Mark. I threw my arms around his neck, felt his hard-on on my thigh, and squealed, "Is that for me?"