It's time to say goodbye. At least for now.

Even when the credits began to roll the three didn’t feel any need to move. No longer needing to twist her head to see the screen, Yumi could fully lean back against her lover. She closed her eyes and let out a content sigh as she hugged his arm against her diminutive chest. And with the scary movie finally over (and with the plucky heroine escaping in one piece), Vina could finally unclench. The curvy girl was practically melting against her new boyfriend’s side. It looked like she was a few seconds, and a fluffy blanket, from her wrapped head sliding down to his lap and taking a nice catnap. And as for Mason, the man in the middle, he did his best to stay still. The last thing he wanted was to break whatever spell had befallen them.

Eventually, even the credits came to an end. The ominous music that played over them was replaced by near silence. The only sound was the gentle, slow breathing of the three as they cuddled together. Mason felt himself sink back into the couch. He didn’t feel far from sleep himself. Which was definitely unusual. The tall teen was the type to have trouble falling asleep anywhere other than his bed. And even that sometimes gave him trouble. He looked down at the two girls. They had a matching pair of utterly relaxed, utterly happy smiles. It had to be their doing.

The blond made a mental note to do some research. There had to be a mattress larger than a California king. After all, at some point, maybe even soon, they all might be able to move in together.

Unfortunately, the peaceful tranquility that lulled them to the edge of slumber was broken. A loud chime came from Vina’s backpack. The Muslim teen groaned in protest as her dark eyes half-opened. She rolled off the bed clearly feeling too lazy to bother standing up. Instead, she just crawled on all fours to check her phone.

Mason didn’t try to stare. Even after their little “educational demonstration” it still felt a little inappropriate. But his blue eyes still ended up locked on her ass. It was wide, bubbly, perky, and swayed hypnotically as she crawled. Her bell bottoms were a little more form-fitting than normal. It had been an off-hand comment during some dirty talk. But seeing her like this, it was clear her ass really could rival Ms. Bailey’s. The sight prompted a few twitches in his long-dormant loins.

He felt movement to his left. Yumi turned around to be able to see what was happening. When Mason looked down at her he found himself surprisingly locking eyes with her. The vibrant blush on her cheeks made it very clear that she had caught him. And that earned a reserved, but almost naughty grin from his Japanese girlfriend.

“My mother is on her way,” Vina said. She had pulled herself up to her knees and was frowning at her phone. Not the cute little pout she did when something minor irked her. But a genuinely upset expression.

“What’s wrong?” Mason asked. It was a stupid question. He already knew the answer.

“I wish I did not have to leave,” Vina said morosely, turning to face him. “It feels like I just got here.”

“Come here for a second,” The tall nerd said to her. He patted his thigh with his large right hand and brought his legs a little closer together. All to make sure she had a lap to sit in. Vina didn’t hesitate. She got to her feet, took a few quick steps, and dropped right into his lap. The Indonesian girl turned to face him as best she could and wrapped her arms around his chest. To his surprise, she didn’t try to crush his rib cage, but she did bury her face in his shoulder.

At least until he lifted her chin to face him.

“We’ll see each other again tomorrow. And every day at school.” Of course, even Mason could realize that wasn’t really the same thing. Fortunately, he had more to say. “And do you really think I’ll spend less time with you now that we’re dating? The picnic sounds great, but I’m not willing to wait for nice weather.”

Vina’s countenance instantly flipped. Her lovely face split into a wide, sparkling smile. The way she was beaming at him almost hurt Mason’s eyes.

“A-And I can help too!” Yumi quickly offered. “I can help cover for you so your parents don’t get suspicious while you figure out how to tell them.”

The Muslim girl tittered like a songbird at that. She leaned over and gave a quick, chaste kiss to her co-girlfriend’s forehead. Then she planted a decidedly more passionate smacker on her boyfriend. For a moment Mason thought they would end up making out again. Especially when her tongue slipped into his mouth. But before it could get serious (and before he could get more than half-hard) she pulled away.

“Thank you! Thank you both! I promise I will try to think of things we can do in the meantime,” Vina said brightly. Mason wanted to interject and assure her she didn’t need to be the only one to make plans. But it seemed his motor-mouthed girlfriend was determined to get all her thoughts out in one breath. “Oh! Can we visit Paradiso on Saturday? It has been a while and I wanted to go through their singles. I could also use a few new deck boxes. I have some spare cash because my parents still gave me my allowance last week, but I was stuck in bed and did not get the chance to spend any of it.”

Paradiso was the local game shop. And one of the trio’s favorite haunts. It was a nice, even great, place to kill a few hours. But it wasn’t exactly a hotbed of romance. Still, if it made Vina happy Mason could roll with it. Maybe they could go out for lunch or something afterward.

“Sounds like a plan,” Mason warmly, cupping one of her cheeks.

“And Yumi! You should come too,” The Muslim girl said excitedly.

“W-What? You want m-me there too?” The Japanese teen asked, clearly flabbergasted.

“You said you would help hide this from my parents. If you come too, my father will not suspect anything untoward.” It seemed a little silly to Mason. He couldn’t really imagine anyone thinking the two of them meeting up at a game shop was anything suspicious. Let alone the idea that it was a date. But Vina seemed totally genuine.

“B-But… Are you sure you don’t want to spend some time alone with him?” Yumi pointed out. The short teen seemed a little disappointed. And her boyfriend could guess why.

“I said I would enjoy your company,” Vina reminded her cheerfully, even working an arm free of her hug to give her tiny friend a quick squeeze. “And I could use help in learning to be a girlfriend.”

“It’s not like I know that much,” Yumi muttered, staring down at her lap.

“We can learn together!” The taller girl countered.

“As long as you’re both okay with it,” Mason interjected. “That sounds like a plan to me.”

His two girlfriends shared a quick glance. He felt odd being a spectator for this. Mason and Yumi were so close, and knew each other so well, that they could often reach a consensus with just a look. And every once in a while, he did the same with Vina. Though it was pretty rare given that his Muslim friend wasn’t exactly shy about vocalizing her feelings. Still, it was pretty odd, and kind of touching, seeing the two do that with each other.

“Well it would be fun,” Yumi said quietly.

“Of course,” Vina said, her smile so big it almost **** her eyes closed. “It always is. Does ten o’clock work for you two?”

It was the normal time the three would go over on Saturdays. It was a little early for a day off. But it meant they could beat the crowd. And right as they were feeling ready for a break, restaurants (especially the hole-in-the-wall Chinese place in the same strip mall as Paradiso) would begin serving lunch. It was a sound plan the three had developed over the years. But that made it sound less and less like a date with each passing second. Admittedly Mason might need to rethink what a date actually meant if he was going out with multiple women. Especially if they were all going somewhere together. Still, it didn’t sit quite right with the massive teen. He felt like he was cheating Vina out of a real date. And he knew he wouldn’t be absolved of that guilt until he made it up to his innocent girlfriend. He would need to figure something out.

But he also couldn’t do anything about it now.

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Mason said. He stretched his long arms wide, then curled them in. His two girlfriends were pulled into a tight, group hug. Yumi squirmed a little, mostly out of surprise. Her face practically burst into flames as she ended up face to bust with her voluptuous, best friend. But the tiny teen made no move to pull away. Instead, she just did her best to bury her face in her boyfriend’s chest. Vina didn’t seem to realize any of that happened. She just enthusiastically returned the hug, squeezing her boyfriend and co-girlfriend like they were almost empty tubes of toothpaste. But despite the pressure, neither of them made any attempt to escape.

After a while, the girl from Jakarta pulled away of her own free will. Not happily, but she still did it. After all, they had work to do. The three of them packed up their respective cards that were still lying on the kotatsu. Then they headed downstairs grabbing the dirty dishes they made with their snacks. Once the cleaning up was done the three chatted in the living room, waiting for Mrs. Wibowo to arrive.

It didn’t take long. Vina’s house was only a few neighborhoods over. It usually took somewhere between fifteen and twenty minutes to drive from there to Yumi’s or Mason’s. And today it proved closer to the former. Before they could talk about much of anything another chime sounded.

“My mother is outside,” Vina read glumly.

Not having any time to waste, Mason stepped forward. He pulled his Indonesian lover into one final kiss for today. The blond might not have had a ton of experience but he did his best to make it a good one. One hand cradled the back of her veiled head, and the other rested in the small of her back. He pulled her curvaceous body against him. When he leaned down and captured her lips, he almost **** the shorter girl into a dip. Part of him worried that it might be an uncomfortable position. But Vina didn’t seem to mind. Her graceful hands balled up the back of his shirt as she fiercely, and clumsily, returned his kiss.

When he pulled back, the Indonesian girl just stared at him. She seemed stunned by her bliss. But she found her voice quickly.

“I’m going to miss you,” Vina said, with uncharacteristic quietness.

“Me too,” Mason admitted. “If you get too lonely, text me. We can chat as much as you want.”

“I will,” The Muslim teen said brightly. She gave Mason another hug. “And I will see you tomorrow.”

“Count on it.”

Vina grabbed her bag and walked out the front door. In the driveway was an idling, green SUV. And in the car was a Mrs. Wibowo. She looked very much like an older version of her daughter. A little shorter and not quite as… endowed, but even accounting for that there was no way to miss that they were mother and daughter. She even had almost the exact same smile when she waved at the three of them. It wasn’t hard to imagine she had the same dislike of cold weather.

The Indonesian girl scrambled to the car as fast as she could and visibly sighed when she got into the heat. Then as the car began to pull away, she gave them one last smile and waved goodbye.

Now that the two of them were alone Mason could give his full attention to his original girlfriend. Yumi was sitting on the loveseat. She had a bashful smile on her face. On instinct, she lowered her head to hide behind her long hair. Only to remember she had tied it back earlier. Face now thoroughly reddened her boyfriend intervened. He walked over to her with long strides and sat next to her.

“How are you feeling?” Mason asked, putting an arm around her narrow shoulders. The Japanese girl didn’t even bother trying to play coy. She graciously leaned into him. He felt her body almost instantly relax.

“Good,” Yumi said only a little above a whisper. “I’m so glad this worked out. You and Vina are really cute together.”

“I’m glad too,” He said. He was still trying to figure out exactly how to talk about this with her. It was difficult to tell what she wanted to hear. At least when it wasn’t dirty talk. “I’m glad we can all be happy together.”

“I do wish she would take this a little more seriously though,” Yumi said, her voice surprisingly stern. But as Mason considered it he decided it made sense.

“Give her time. We dropped a lot on her today,” Mason reassured her. “Even she admitted she didn’t know much about this stuff.”

“I guess that’s true,” The petite girl sighed. “She’ll also probably just be more laid back and fun anyway.”

“We have plenty of fun together,” He quickly reminded her. The tall blond leaned over and kissed the top of her head. That earned another sigh, a satisfied one. The petite girl had seemingly grown quite fond of those sorts of things.

Yumi snuggled a little closer to him. The two lapsed into a comfortable silence. The kind only they could share thanks to a lifetime of familiarity. The kind the two could use to recharge and recover. The kind where neither were ever exactly sure how much time had passed. The kind Mason always had to break.

But that didn’t happen this time.

“You’ll have to leave too soon,” Yumi pointed out glumly. Much as he hated to admit it she was right. Her parents would be home any minute. And it wouldn’t be long before it was dinner time. If he didn’t leave soon someone would come to get him.

But he needed to do one thing first. The massive, young man leaned down until he caught his love’s hazel eyes.

“Remember, everything I said to Vina goes for you too. I’m never more than a text away,” Mason reminded her warmly.

“I know,” The skinny teen said a little breathlessly. She gave him a small, earnest smile, readjusting her glasses so she could get one final look at him.

“I love you,” He said.

“I love you too,” She said back.

They kissed. Neither made the first move. Each was drawn to the other like opposite ends of a magnet. In contrast to his earlier goodbye kiss, this one was tender. A gentle, tender, affectionate act. One that came as naturally as breathing.