Take a shower

CCL House has four bathrooms on the second floor, counting the one attached to the master bedroom, which is Athena’s. You can imagine that back when there were twenty or more girls living here at a time, three was a little rough, although there’s another one on the first floor and… there’s an awkward truth about the CCL cohort that preceded yours.

Amy was, in addition to being crazy, a pretty good leader. She made sure that the three shared bathrooms all have two sinks now, which sounds like a small thing, but it’s actually huge.

You try not to think about that as you climb into the shower.

The state of relaxation and enlightenment that you began in the car on the way back, you complete in the steamy shower. Getting the gross con and cosplay feel off your skin goes a long way.

You wrap a towel around your body and lean on the sink to dry your hair.

Yuki enters the bathroom wearing nothing but a pair of her chic, black briefs. She’s yawning and carrying a can of beer, but you’re more interested in rock-hard abs, bare, perky tits and her pronounced, muscular ass. That, along with her messy hair and carefree style… if she gives you the look right now, she can do anything she wants to you.

But she’s not giving you the look. She puts the lid on the toilet down so she can sit to clip her toenails.

“Did you have fun?” she asks you as she clips.

“Yeah,” you reply, toweling your hair and trying to be an adult. The way she’s sitting… you have seen her naked, but you just automatically want to look between her legs. You wonder how much DNA you share with the average teenage boy.

But Yuki is totally unconcerned with her nudity for once. She’s usually pretty vain, but tonight she’s just tired. Yet, as fit as she is, she looks good no matter what she’s doing.

She shoots you a quick smile. “Teach me some of those knots sometime. I feel like that’s a life skill that I could get some value from.”

“Sure,” you say. She doesn’t mean tonight.

The look that she’s giving you is an approving one.

“You’ll fit in here,” she says.

You feel as though this weekend might have unofficially been your initiation. It probably wasn’t planned that way, but that’s how it worked out. You are not complaining, and you’re embarrassed by the compliment.

“Thanks,” you say.

Yuki snorts. “Nerd.”

Whatever. She likes you. You gather up your things and let her have the bathroom to herself. You find Nancy reaching the top of the stairs. She’s already changed into hip-hugging jammy pants and a tank top that must be designed to be as provocative as possible in the area of showing pokey nips. Her hair’s up in a messy bun and she’s taken out her contacts and put her glasses on. She’s eating Pringles from a can, crunching away. She pauses at the sight of you.

“You know,” she says, chewing. “I know about the rumors and everything, but we never actually did anything like that until you got here.”

“You mean last night?” you ask, walking over to her, holding your towel closed and carrying your basket of body wash and shampoo.

She nods, and for the first time, you realize that these girls are just people like you. They aren’t quite as jaded as you thought.

“Did you like it?” you ask.

Nancy’s smile is sly. “I guess that if you guys invited me to another nerd party or whatever,” she trails off, rolling her eyes. “I’d go.”

“I had fun too,” you tell her, beaming.

“God. You are too pure. Too much,” she says, stuffing more chips in her mouth. She waves and retreats to her room.

It doesn’t surprise or bother you that they aren’t, uh, leaping into your bed. The four of you have been around each other nonstop for 24 hours. It’s normal to want to have a little space. You don’t feel lonely, you just feel relaxed.

Back in your room, you sit on your bed with a tired groan. You need a snack, but before that, you need to write down your thoughts and notes on the con before you forget them. You noticed the things that CCL did wrong, and you had tons of ideas for how CCL can do better. It’s good stuff.

You pull out your computer, plug it in, and start it up.

Of course, Discord opens automatically on startup. You go to minimize it, but… Colby’s online and she’s in the channel. She’s in a menu in DBD. You could just jump right in with her.

There’s a tap at your door.

“Yeah?” you say, distracted.

Athena opens the door and peeks in.

“Oh,” she says, seeing that you’re in a towel. “Is this a bad time? You said that you wanted to talk.”

Close the laptop and talk to Athena?

Or jump in the channel with Colby now, and talk to Athena tomorrow?