Nothing big from either.

"Your mom said that to me too," Gary told Bernie. "She thinks we're good together."

Bernie leaned on the arm of her theater seat and laughed quietly. "I hope she's right," she said. "Mom was completely off about my girlfriends." She shook her head continued in a more serious tone, "So. Is that everyone you've had sex with while we've been together? Peter, Sonia Rubin, and Stuart? Um, and my mom?" Bernie chuckled. "Though that counts as a vote of confidence. She wouldn't masturbate with just any guy."

Gary laughed, then took a deep breath. "Yeah," he said. He swallowed. "Hang on...no, that was right before we met."

Bernie laughed. "Who?"

"Um. My friend Peter used to make it with his music teacher. They invited me to join them once. This was after Sharon but before you. I jumped at it. So was that everyone for you?"

"Yeah," she said. "Ben. Habiba. Mom. Oh. And I go to Mom's Pleasure Circles, you know, women masturbating together. Sometimes masturbating each other." Her glasses glinted in the light of the movie screen as she looked up to the side, remembering.

"And you touch other women there? Help them get off?" Gary asked.

"Yeah," Bernie said.

"I'd like to see that sometime," Gary said.

Bernie swallowed. "I'd like to show you sometime. Not at a Pleasure Circle. It's really women-only and kind of, you know, confidential. But even if I've had a hard time with girlfriends, it always feels so good to me, you know, to touch a woman between her legs." She held her hand up, fingers out. "To cup her in my hand. To open her. Feel her swollen and moist with desire. To touch her there and bring her pleasure. Do you have that with your friend Peter?"

Gary felt warm. He hoped his blush was invisible in the dark theater. "Yeah, I mean. I really like playing with his dick," he said. "Getting him hard. And, you know, fucking him. I guess, fucking is kind of like the world to me. It just feels like that. Especially with girls. But with Pete too, kind of."

"I'd love to see that." Bernie said. "Do you think he'd be up for it?"

"We can catch him next week when he's back from the cruise," Gary said. "I, I bet he'd be okay having you there. Maybe watching you and me."

"So fucking is really special to you," Bernie said.

Gary laughed. "Uh-huh."

Bernie giggled. "How about when you were with Stuart?" she asked.

"You know, I still don't know how I feel about last week," Gary said. "I mean it didn't feel wrong." He swallowed. "Getting fucked. And Stuart knows what he's doing. I've seen him enough times doing other guys. And girls. He's good. It felt good. I came while he was fucking me. But I still kinda don't know how I feel about it. It's like it felt good but really weird. So it's not like I'd want to go looking for it, exactly. Or...or like I'd want to invite someone to watch me that way."

Bernie laughed. "It was kind of like that with me and guys until I met you," she said. "But something about you just feels right. Good. I want you in me. I want you like I used to want my girlfriends. I'd be proud to show you off. There's just something special about you."

"Huh," Gary said. "Peter said something like that to me. Like, he wasn't that interested in playing with other guys. It was something about me that made him ask to play with my dick. And after that to ask me to try fucking him. Me, not anyone else. How about you and Ben?"

"You know, Ben's my cousin," she said. "We get along okay for about a week at a time, and after that we drive each other crazy. But we trust each other. And that's important. He and I, well, we kind of try out new things together. Not just sex, I mean it started out with like ethnic restaurants and cooking and stuff, but sex is part of what we try out together. So it was partly because Ben helped me get comfortable having sex with a man, that I was ready for you. And for him...well, he used to be kind of anxious, high-strung. He talks fast, that sort of thing. Being with me helped him learn how to slow down and relate to somebody in a different way. How to touch. How to communicate, but not to just talk until the feeling goes out of it."

"Huh," Gary said, acknowledging Bernie.

Bernie continued, "Ben started being a lot more successful with girls after he and I started getting together." She and Gary laughed together. "So, it's not like there's anything romantic. But we help each other out. He's more adventurous. That helps me. Sometimes he gets some idea of something he wants to try, and I guess I trust him enough to try it. And I'm curious. Something that might spoil the mood if he asked his girlfriend about it."

"So are you still experimenting?" Gary asked.

"Yeah," Bernie said. "We found out we didn't get much out of getting tied up or spanked. Peeing on each other made us laugh because it just seemed silly. But it was kind of fun. Last time..." She paused, swallowed, and took a deep breath. She giggled. "I'm being silly. I'm feeling shy because I'm embarrassed and didn't want to put you off. When I visited Ben last time, we tried out anal sex. With each of us. It's a bigger deal to get ready, you know, and clean up and stuff. But it was a lot of fun. So that one worked. And I was waiting for the right time to suggest it to you. I didn't know if you'd think it was okay." She suppressed a giggle.

"Guess you know now I'm kind of into it," Gary said. "No, let's get real, you saw me with Pete. I really get off on it. But I didn't want to suggest it to you either because I didn't want to make you feel bad about me or yourself if it was something you didn't like. And kinda also because anal was something Sharon and I did a lot, and I wanted to put some space behind how I was with her."

"Let's try it together," Bernie said. "And let's find a way to make it different. Special for you and me."

"I'd like that," Gary said. "And. Um." He stopped himself before complimenting her butt. Bernie was a little sensitive about her rear end, though he didn't see one thing wrong with it. Gary loved following her up the stairs and he'd love to have a reason to give Naomi Bernie Bernstein's big beautiful buttocks more attention.

"What?" Bernie said.

"Nothing. Did you, um, did you want me to ask Sonia Rubin if you could help with chores?"

"Uh-huh," Bernie said. "If you're gonna be with her, I've got to be there. Same with Peter. Same with Stuart, if you think you might do it again. I'll give you a pass on my mom."

"Thanks," Gary said. He chuckled. "I figure she'll keep you in the loop. Okay. I'll tell Sonia the new deal in the next couple days. Pete next week when he gets back. For me, I mean, if you're getting together with someone, I don't need to be there, but I want to know who and what. If you go visit Ben, give me a call and let me say hi at least and tell him it's okay. And you fill me in on what you did when you get back. For your mom's meetings, I guess maybe you can't say exactly who. But tell me what you do. I would love to see you touching another woman, like you said, if there's some way that can happen."

"Okay," Bernie said. "Hug?" she asked.

Gary and Bernie leaned around the arm rest separating their seats and held each other tightly.

"I love you Gary," Bernie said. "It makes me feel so good you can be open with me."

"I love you so much Bernie," Gary said. "Do you forgive me?"

"I forgive you. You're so special to me in so many ways," she said. "I feel good you share sexual pleasure with your friend. With my mom. Even with your doctor's wife. I just want to be part of that sharing too."

"Okay," he said. "Together."

"Together," she said.

They held each other quietly as "That Love Thing" played on the movie screen. At the front row of their half-empty section, Gary's sister Lil watched and munched popcorn.

Gary excused himself to use the toilet. When he stepped back into the carpeted hallway of the mall's multiplex theater, he saw Bernie waiting for him with a smile on her face.

"How's tricks, Trixie?" he greeted her.

She frowned and snorted, then smiled again. "You know what we just talked about?" she said. "Sharing together? I have an idea. It may sound a little crazy but..."