“This is so not cool, man,” Jason grumbled.
“The hell it ain’t,” chuckled Drew. He slapped Jason on the back as he rounded the table again to make another shot.
“Now you know how Alex felt when he first introduced me to you,” smiled Lorelei.
“No, no, I’m interested,” Amber pressed, leaning her butt against the pool table as she listened. She waved for Wade to continue despite Jason’s objections.
“So ah’m like, ‘Whut the fuck happened to you?’ An’ Jason says, ‘Hey, can I crash here for a night or two? Mah momma jus’ threw me outta the house.’”
“I want to point out that I didn’t sound like a hick,” Jason interrupted.
“An’ ah said, ‘What inna hell did you do?’ Well, Jason jus’ walks inside, dumps his bags right in the hallway inside mah door. He slumps down on mah couch, an’ stares off into space, an’ then he finally says, ‘It’s true what they say, man. It’s all true. Pimpin’ ain’t easy at all.’”
Laughter burst from Amber. She noted that the story had not yet gotten old for Drew or Lorelei either, given their smiles. “So wait,” Amber said, turning to Jason, “you said you’ve got your own place now, right?”
“Yeah, I was only on Wade’s couch for like two or three nights. I mean my parents went back and forth on the whole ‘exile’ thing, but after a week of not knowing where I’d be sleeping on a given night, I said, ‘Fuck it,’ and I got my own place. It’s small, but at least it’s mine and there’s no bullshit.”
“No roommates either, right?” Amber asked. She ventured a wink.
“Hell no,” Jason said, giving a cocky shrug. “Cramps my style.”
“But you say you don’t have a girlfriend. Or, you know, plural. So was this just a one-night stand?”
“More like a couple weeks. Everyone was cool at first. I mean I’m not gonna say it was all just, uh, sex,” he grunted as if reluctant to say it out loud, “but in the end we didn’t have all that much in common. I don’t think either of them was hoping for a white picket fence.”
“I imagine not, if they were trying to share you,” Amber said. The whole thing seemed more than a little unbelievable, but here stood other people swearing to the whole story. “That sort of thing doesn’t sound like it could last. I mean, two girlfriends?”
“Polyamory has more in common with monogamy than you might think,” Lorelei countered mildly. “They both require communication. Honesty. Commitment to the rules of the relationship, whatever they might be. Ultimately, the relationship works until it doesn’t. One can say all the same for traditional dating and marriage.”
“Been there, done that, huh?” smiled Amber.
Lorelei nodded. “I am.”
“Oh? How so?”
“Yeah, Lorelei, how so?” Jason agreed.
“Hey, you aren’t off the hook yet,” Amber told him, shaking a finger at him without looking. She waited for an answer from Lorelei.
“Aw, man,” he grumbled.
“Yeah,” Drew agreed, “she’s still gotta hear about the Great Open Teamspeak Mic incident that ended your run on My Two Shorties.”
“Teamspeak?” Amber asked. “What, you mean like on an MMO?”
“Oh Jesus, really?” Jason sighed, “Do we really have to do this?”
“Greatest total party kill story ever,” Wade nodded sagely.
“You weren’t even there!”
“Ah’ve seen the YouTube.”
“There’s a YouTube?” Jason exploded.
“Okay, wait wait wait,” Amber chuckled, “I want to hear this, but don’t change the subject yet. Lorelei, what did you mean?”
“As we mentioned, I was introduced to our friends here through my partner, Alex. He and I share a second partner named Rachel.” Her eyes swept the faces of the young men around them as if to convey a soft reminder. “She likely won’t be here tonight. I had thought Alex would join us by now, though,” she muttered.
“Wait, you ‘share’ another partner?” asked Amber.
“We are all equal parts of the same relationship, yes,” Lorelei nodded. “Some would call it a triad, though I care little for labels.”
“Wow. I can’t say I’ve never heard of the idea, but I’ve never actually met anyone with that kind of, um, arrangement.” She paused. “I imagine you get a lot of dumb questions about it?”
“We don’t exactly advertise. I wouldn’t tell you of it, but for the likelihood that it will come up,” she said, eyeing Jason with a bit of a smile. “Rachel doesn’t get out with us much. If others perceive Alex as my only partner, she doesn’t mind. She is not one for fretting about the opinions of others.
“But yes, I have some experience in relationships outside of traditional models. I would suggest that Jason’s recent entanglements fell apart not because it was inherently flawed as a model, but because of the individuals involved.” She threw a calm wink to Jason to take any potential sting from her comment.
“I suppose that’s fair,” Amber said, though skepticism colored her voice.
Drew gave a bit of a nod over Amber’s shoulder. “You could always ask Alex his take on it, too,” he offered.
Amber turned to look as the newcomer arrived. With her mind split between acting natural and thinking like an investigator, she made assessments quickly. She found youth that fit with the guys around her, but immediately recognized a degree of sex appeal and good looks that somewhat justified Lorelei’s interest. She spotted the leather jacket and the helmet in one hand marking him as a rider. Yet she also noted a slightly breathless, amped-up look in his eyes and his stride that seemed a bit out of place for a night at a pool hall.
“I was afraid I wouldn’t catch you before you left,” Alex said as he moved in to embrace Lorelei. Amber caught the lilt in his voice-and the reactions of his friends. “I’m not even sure what time it is.”
“It’s almost eleven,” answered Drew with a frown.
“Ah, so late, but not too late, I’d say,” Alex smiled. He turned to the rest with Lorelei’s arm still around his shoulder. Amber caught his eye. “Who’s this, then?”
“Alex, this is Amber,” said Jason.
Amber stuck out her hand with a friendly smile. “Hi,” she said. “So at the risk of sounding dumb, I’ll just ask now: are you from Ireland?”
The question stopped Alex in his tracks. He blinked and looked to his friends. “No,” he answered with a flawless Irish brogue, “I’ve lived in Seattle all my life.”
“Bro, you feelin’ okay?” Drew asked.
The others waited while Alex hesitated. Amber detected a shared look of concern on everyone else’s face. Finally, Alex said, “No. No, I’m not.” He swallowed hard. “Wade, have you ever… have you ever had a flashback to… you know, fightin’?”
“Can’t say ah have, but y’all don’t look right,” said Wade. “Where’ve ya been?”
“Over at the U,” answered Alex, his brogue still strong. “And, uh… Ypres, I think. I dunno. I was at the lecture, and then I was in the mud, and… and I locked myself in a bathroom.”
“Oh Jesus,” breathed Drew, “did you get on your bike and come here? Why didn’t you call us and have one of us pick your ass up?”
Lorelei closed her eyes with a soft curse of frustration. “Alex, do you trust me?” she asked.
Though out of sorts, Alex answered easily, as if the only oddity were that she would even need to ask. “With me life,” he nodded.
“My friends,” she said, “there is much to tell you, but I didn’t expect us to be in mixed company. I am sorry.”
“It’s okay,” Amber spoke up. The last thing she wanted was to be excluded now. “Don’t worry about me.”
“I must,” said Lorelei, stepping closer. “I am sorry.” She reached out to slip her hand around Amber’s neck and looked deeply into her eyes. “Forget the awkwardness of these last few minutes,” she said. “You found nothing worthy of suspicion here tonight. You found companionship and acceptance. Nothing more.”
Amber almost swooned. She leaned on Jason, nodding, finding his presence comforting. He was a nice guy. They were all nice guys. Whatever bothered her must not have been a big deal.