Calling Lil goes well. Gary leaves voicemail for Peter.

"Hey Pete," Gary said to Peter Walker's voicemail. "I'm calling because I need to check in on our, you know, video game dates. Anyway me and Bernie are setting up some ground rules and maybe she'll have to be there too, or give an okay before next time. Gimme a call, okay?"

Where video game date was code for a boy to boy booty call from Peter to Gary.

Bernie Bernstein nodded to her boyfriend as they sat together on the edge of her bed. Bernie's naked breasts bounced softly with her motion. "Okay," she said. "How about Lil?"

"Coming right up," Gary said.

Gary closed his eyes, took a breath, and pulled up LILLIAN MENARD (Mobile) from his contacts. The picture was a candid of Lil brushing back a tress of blonde hair with her lips just parting to say something.

"Hi Gary, what's up?" Lil asked.

"Hey Lil," Gary said to his sister over the phone. "It's me and Bernie here. We just talked about our open relationship rules and I wanted to check in."

"Okay," Lil said. "I'm not busy or anything."

"Going on speaker," Gary said.

Lil went quiet when she heard that Bernie had watched Gary and Lil having anal intercourse in the Super Surf Van.

"I asked him," Lil said. "Gary is the only man I trusted for my first time."

"That's what he said," Bernie replied. "I'm actually really happy about it. I understand because I have someone like that in my life too."

Bernie explained about her out-of-town cousin Ben, who had been something like a sex lab partner for her first times. Just as Bernie was Ben's sexual partner for many of his own sexual firsts.

Before long Lil and Bernie were comparing notes about how their "safe" partners meant a lot, even if Lil had only called on Gary that way once.

"Yeah," Lil said "The only asshole you want in play when you're starting out with butt stuff is your own. Not a partner who just pretends he knows what he's doing but you can't trust to listen."

Bernie laughed. "That sounds like something my mom would say," she told Lil. "You should come meet her sometime. I mean, if you're okay that Mom runs a nudist household."

"Oh, yeah, Mom and Dad used to take us to lots of places like that," Lil said. "And we're kinda casual about clothes, I mean, so I'd be fine. Like, we have a sauna, and it's, you know, la la la, naked of course."

"We have a pool," Bernie said. "Mom got it put in with the money from selling Free to Masturbate as part of the sex education teaching material for public high school courses."

"Oh I loved that book!" Lil said. "I used to borrow it from Gary when he went through the class because I wanted to read over Advanced Female Masturbation Techniques over and over. I'm glad that they stayed with the same material when it was my turn for the class."

Gary watched Bernie's eyes sparkle as she talked with his sister Lil. They went on long enough that Gary excused himself to pee in the upstairs hall toilet. There was still light in the sky at the end of a long summer day, though it was cooler than it had been the last few days.

Gary returned to hear Lil's tinny laugh through the phone speaker join Bernie's full-throated laughter.

"Yeah, I'll let you know," Lil said. "And it seems totally fair to me, I mean."

"Sure," Bernie said. "I mean I'm glad that Gary could be there for you sexually. And just like you trust him, I need to be able to trust him the same way. So I gotta know where he's putting his dick."

"Haha, yeah, well, I guess Peter and me," Lil said. "But me only one time. I mean I can't think of anything else I need Gary for, you know? But it's totally fair. I mean I'd want to know."

"Did you want me to ask my mom about your favorite chapter? I mean, you could even join one of her Pleasure Circles if you want," Bernie said.

"Oh totally," Lil said. "She's not too scary?"

"Well, Mom's got the emotional subtlety of a five-pound sledge hammer and you'll have to be naked in the house, and she'll want to practice the masturbation techniques with you," Bernie said. "So a Pleasure Circle will mean you're not in the full glare of Mom's SEX IS GOOD spotlight."

"Haha, yeah," Lil said. "Maybe I should just come over and hang out in your pool and spa sometime to get a sense of your Mom. I mean the house is kinda empty this week with Mom and Dad on a trip. So yeah, I should come over and meet her."

"Gary, you want to give an example of Mom's latest maneuver?" Bernie said.

Gary cleared his throat. "Before Bernie and I had this talk? Joyce gave me a message from Bernie and basically insisted that I jack off in front of her to clear my head."

"Whoa," Lil said. "Did it work?"

Gary looked at Bernie, who looked like she was holding in a laugh.

"Yeah, I guess?" Gary said. "Anyway Bernie and I talked and then we kinda napped away the afternoon, so then we called Peter and then you."

"What did Pete say?" Lil asked. "Oh wait, aren't he and Sandy on the same trip as Mom and Dad?"

"Oh shoot, you're right," Gary said. "Of course it went to voicemail. Anyway the main thing to start out, with me and Bernie, is that I have to be totally open about sex and Bernie has to be okay with whatever or whoever. But she also said, um, well..." Gary's voice trailed off.

"I want my boyfriend to stay sexually connected with good people who will appreciate him," Bernie said. "Not use him or try and own him. I think you and Peter count as good people. But basically I have to be there with him, because that's what I need."

"Oh," Lil said. "I mean that's totally fine. Hey Gary, are you all on board with that?"

"Yeah," Gary said. "You know? I'm totally on board." He felt tension drain out of his body. "I really am."

"Good for you," Lil said. "Hey, too bad Pete is taken. I could use a boyfriend as good as your girlfriend. Bernie's letting you off hella light, AND laying out what's gonna work, which is pretty much most of what you want anyway."

Bernie laughed. "Sing it, sister," she said.

"Guess so," Gary said.

There was a beep on the line.

"Oh hell it's work calling me," Lil said. "Anyway Gary, love you, hey Bernie, thanks, I'll call you. Bye!"

Lil disconnected.

Gary put away his phone. Bernie pulled him down to lay down on his side, facing her.

"My boyfriend isn't a chicken," Bernie said. "He just needs more practice not hiding things from me."

"Yeah," Gary said. "Oh, I thought of something, well, just that thing about your mom reminded me."

"Uh-huh?" Bernie said.

"Yeah," Gary said. "Last year I came down with something and I had a fever and a headache and was tossing and turning, I couldn't get to sleep?"

"Yeah?" Bernie said.

"My mom jacked me off to help settle me down," Gary said.

Bernie asked for more details. She nodded along as Gary described how things had gone.

"And that's how it went," Gary finished.

Bernie laughed. "At least your mom pays attention," she said. "One time I was sick and my mom asked me where I'd been, and I told her." Bernie shook her head as she lay on her side facing Gary. "I'd had the forty-eight hour flu and Mom barely noticed other than not seeing me. Well, to be fair I'd crawled back home late at night after a couple days with Habiba, so Mom might have thought I was still away. If she actually knew I was home, you know what? She might have done the same for me. I mean, except that she'd use a vibrator, probably."

Gary sighed. "Well, we're not gonna hear back from Pete, or Pete and Sandy, until he gets back. I think it's basically a whole week, maybe eight days? Anyway."

"Do you want to be with me when I call my cousin Ben?" Bernie said.

"Dunno," Gary said. "I think I kinda trust you on that? But I'll be there if you want me. I mean, you know, if he's important to you, maybe I should be. Just let me know, you know?"

"Okay," Bernie said. "Hold me."

Gary scooted closer and put his upper arm around Bernie's shoulders.

He never really knew what to do with the lower arm, lying on his side. He and Bernie shifted their shoulders around until they found a comfortable enough position.

Bernie's nipples were stiff. They pressed into Gary's chest as two definite points.

Gary's penis was half-erect, pressing into Bernie's soft, rounded belly.

There was some kissing, but soon they dozed off together.