The Time is Now

Did someone get locked out or something? I head straight for the door and tentatively open it.

"Evening, Scarlet." Jasper greets me. "Having a good time?" He adds, inviting himself in. Fuck. He's so gonna tell Mum. Jasper walks down the hall, taking note of each room as he goes. Thankfully Rouge joins me in meeting him in the living room.

"Hey big brother, what're you doing here, did Minnie kick you out?" She asks sweetly. I'm less thankful now.

"Mum called, asked me to come check on you, but apparently you're fine!" He explains with a sarcastic flourish. His eyes shifting to Trish and Skye who are trying to stand out of the way. "Pretty sure the rules were 'be good, no parties' but apparently that's too complex."

Rouge appears not to be taking this seriously. "Yep, that was the issue, see I heard 'no good, be party', I thought it didn't make sense!" She answers with equal sarcasm. "I get you're practicing for fatherhood, but we all know you're not enough of a dick to tell Mum." She adds decisively.

I don't think I've seen Jasper actually angry before... I don't want to start now. "Look, we've had a tough couple of weeks, we just wanted to blow off some steam. I should've at least told you. I'm sorry." I interject. I know what he's really upset about, same reason he was angry i didn't tell him about me. Jasper just hates feeling left out.

"It's not the point, now I either have to lie to Mum, or turn you in, how's that fair?" He asks.

"Still pretending to be a stick in the mud Jas?" Anya's voice responds as she enters the room, followed by Elise. Jasper's taken back by her appearance, that's fair, I suppose, I don't know the last time they spoke. "You know full well you got up to the same sort of thing at their age." She adds with a smile.

Jasper's face turns from surprise to genuine happiness. "Well, well. Should've known you'd be the bad influence, corrupting my poor innocent sisters, how could you?" He asks overdramatically, any semblance of disapproval falling away in the face of a reunion. "How're you doing? Jessie here?"

"Working, but I'll tell her you said hi. Want a drink?" She offers, gesturing with her cocktail.

Jasper seems to consider this for a minute. "Thanks, but I've got a fiancée with the nose of a bloodhound, and seeing as I can't see any party going on here... Or at best kind of a lame one." He decides. Hey, I'm enjoying our little do. "I'd best get back before she gets suspicious. You two, this place is spotless tomorrow, yeah?"

"Cross our hearts." Rouge answers for both of us. Jasper nods and I walk him to the door, coming across Rob on the way.

"Hey... See you on Tuesday?" Jasper asks the fear-stricken face of the guitarist, who just forces a smile in response. I guess they know each other? Jasper opens the door and turns back to me to explain. "He works for me, so make sure he doesn't die or anything." He whispers with a sly grin. Huh, I guess even Rob needs a day job, especially supporting Skye as well. I wonder what the story is there.

Jasper's appearance seems to draw everyone back to the living room, except Gabriel, not sure where he vanished to.

"Well, that was tense!" Henry laughs as I re-enter the room, Elise makes her way directly to me. The look on her face is one of desperation, it's worrying me.

"I need to talk to you." She requests urgently. Okay, now I'm definitely worried. I nod and lead her upstairs to my room. taking a seat on the bed. Please don't be the break-up speech. "I... I need to tell you something." She begins, pacing around the room. "I just... It's hard to say and I don't know how."

Anything but 'I'm breaking up with you,' I will take literally anything other than that. "It's okay, just tell me, you're kinda putting me on edge here." I plead to be put out of my misery.

"Okay... Sorry... I think I've felt this way for a while, and it was only tonight I really understood, and I wanted... I needed to tell you the truth." She stammers. Well that doesn't sound like a break-up speech, so there's a positive I suppose. "It's just... Now you're here, and I'm here, and I actually have to say words, it's so much harder." Okay, sounding like a break-up speech again.

I stand and take her hand. "It's alright, whatever you need to say, I want to hear it. No matter what." I reassure her, placing my hand on her cheek. She nestles her face into my hand in response, yeah, there's no way this is a break-up.

Her eyes look straight into mine as she tries to summon words. "I..." She begins but cuts off. "I..." She tries again, it's all okay, I'm right here. "I think we should have a threesome with Trish."

...

Okay, what?

"You... You want to have sex with someone else?" I clarify.

"No! No..." She stammers. "I... Just thought it'd be fun... And maybe we could learn some things!" Elise's face is pale, like she's sick, was she that worried about suggesting that?

"I mean, we've only done it twice, am I doing something wrong?" I ask her. It seems early to bring in another person, especially a close friend.

Elise looks even more scared suddenly. "No, no, don't even think that, you're everything I could ever want." She stutters, pulling me in for a hug. "I.. I just know I was your first, and you were mine, and if we staying together I don't want you to wonder what else is out there." She tries.

"Okay, just, give me a sec, yeah?" I request, breaking the hug. Can we do that? Just both of us have sex with Trish? I mean, I know she'd be up for it, and Rouge wouldn't care, but... Could I actually go through with it? Does Elise really want to or is this some kind of test? "Are you serious about this? You really want to have a three-way with Trish? I mean, why Trish exactly?"

Elise's expression is hard to read, like she's trying to put together an acceptable answer. "I... Because I know you're attracted to her, and I know she wouldn't try to steal you from me..." She lists the reasons. Okay, this is weirdly thought out and yet slap-dash. "I know... I know it's out of the blue, but I think it's a good idea." She continues.

Is she trying to convince me or her right now? "Look, if this is about before we got together, that was a stupid mistake, okay? It's you I want to be with. Only you." I confirm.

She smiles as she looks into my eyes again. "I know, I guess it's something I think we need, before I can... That is, before we can be together fully." She states. Are we not together properly now? "I... I just mean, it'd reassure me." She corrects herself. Is she anxious? I guess I did run out on her and immediately try and sleep with Trish, maybe she needs to see there's no chemistry there?

"Alright." I decide. "Alright, but I need you to know, you're the one I want, the only one, you're my girl, okay?" Elise's face looks relieved, and yet, something feels off... Don't get me wrong, after so many hours I've stopped counting, the thought of having sex with two gorgeous women definitely appeals to me... I just worry about the aftermath.

"Don't worry, I know. It's just fun, just a bit of closure, we'll be fine. I promise." She assures me, pulling me in for a deep kiss. Wow, something tells me she's more than a little excited by the prospect. "Let's go ask her." She decides, breaking the kiss

Wait, now? When would we do this? Tonight? That's pretty quick. Well, we'll just talk to her, and maybe she'll say no and we won't have to worry about it anyway.

*

"Yeah, sure, tomorrow good?" Trish answers nonchalantly. We'd found her in the kitchen, looking for snacks. After rambling a lot we'd finally managed to get the question out.

"Erm... You don't have any other question?" I ask, looking to Elise's equally surprised face.

"Nah, kinda saw it coming as soon as you got together, honestly, it's more surprising it took so long." Trish explains. "I mean, you two are clearly all about each other, but you're both also very obviously attracted to me, I figure, a one-off, you can get it done, I can have some fun, and you two can... Go get a mortgage or whatever it is couples do." Wow. Putting it like that, maybe this isn't such a bad idea. I guess I didn't realised Elise found Trish hot too.

"Er... Yeah, tomorrow, I guess." Elise answers. So this is actually happening? I don't know if I'm scared or excited... It's a matter of perspective really.

"Cool, I'll bring toys." Trish confirms, finally finding a bag of crisps in the cupboard. She exits the kitchen and returns to the party... She's even more casual than I thought.

"So... To be clear, you realised halfway through a party that we desperately needed to fuck one of our friends? What on Earth caused that?" I ask Elise. Her face looking panicked before finally admitting the truth.

"Okay, so that wasn't what I wanted to say, I'm too scared, but I promise it's nothing bad." She explains apologetically. "Plus... I really do want us to have sex with her, it's kind of a fantasy."

Well that explains so much and yet absolutely nothing. Except the last part. "Yeah, mine too, if I'm honest, but promise me you'll tell me the big secret when you're ready, okay?" I implore her. "Wait, if this is your fantasy, why didn't you say it for the bet?"

"Why didn't you?" She responds. Fair point. Elise chuckles at me awkward expression, and pulls me by the hand back towards the party. I may not know exactly what's happening right now, but I'm holding onto one thing I know for sure.

I fucking love Elise.