Setting things straight...

Jessica moaned -- desperation mixed with pleasure -- as Ernest leaned over her. She shuddered as he said, "We have work to do," vainly trying to escape as he reached for her hand, which was still gripping the jewelry box. She remembered being battered mercilessly by his wishes in her own bathroom, where once again he was standing over her. Of course, she couldn't forget one of the torrent of wishes he had made then: I wish my touch brought sexual arousal.

Ernest's fingers laced with hers as he withdrew the jewelry box from her palm. As expected, this casual touch made her ache for him, and even as the pleasure of the rapid-fire orgasms he gave her receded, she thirsted for more.

Quit it, Jessica! she shouted silently. Get ahold of yourself!

Ernest smoothly slipped the magic ring -- his magic ring, which made Jessica his as well -- back on his finger. His old wish ("I wish the ring couldn’t leave my hand until I willed it off") was once again in effect, and Jessica started to cry. Her taste of freedom was so brief yet so unbelievably delicious.

The genie watched from the grass as her Master began to pace back and forth. Clearly he was thinking about the awful chaos he'd thrown the world into. A few careless wishes -- even ones that had good intentions behind them -- had nearly ruined Earth. How would he undo the damage?

After a minute, she sat up. He was still pondering, leaving her blessedly alone for the time being. The two teenagers were thinking, each of them trying to conjure the right words to set things straight.

Ernest sat down in the grass next to Jess. Her black yoga pants and white camisole rested neatly on her cleanly-bathed skin, though Ernest's grungy, sex-stained, and foul-smelling clothes made her heart palpitate with desire. She knew it was because of his phenomenal pheromones, but that didn't make her excitement any less real.

"Will you help me?" he asked. Jessica blinked in surprise and looked Ernest in the face. To him she looked... earnest.

"Really?" she asked.

"Yes," he breathed. In the cool morning air, near to a freshly-washed body whose pheromones affected him 1000 times less than his affected her, he had finally regained his normal composure. "And.... I'm sorry."

"You're sorry?" Jess asked, incredulous. "You seriously fucked up the whole goddamn world, and you're fucking sorry?"

He was silent. Her rage burned and then extinguished. Jessica thought back to some of Ernest's earliest wishes:

"I wish that our families enjoyed the best health and bodies they could want."

"I wish Jessica and I were both immune to all sicknesses, diseases, and poisons."

"I wish Jessica got straight A’s in all her high school math tests, had bloodless and painless periods, and had my phone number saved on her phone."

He's not evil, Jess realized. He's just basically a good guy with a crush on a cheerleader. But when he had gotten hold of immeasurable power, it sent him into a feedback loop of sex-addicted stupor.

"Hey," Jess said, catching Ernest's brown eyes with her own deep green ones. "It's okay. I forgive you."

The boy had tears in his eyes. "You do?"

"Yeah," she said softly. "But you have to make things right again."

"I will," he said, and he heaved a giant sigh of relief.