A Phone Call.

I push the towel through my wet hair as I step out of the bathroom, I grab my earphones and push them into my ears, I grab my phone and scroll through my favorite contacts; Maki, Anya, Sai, Ari and Vi. I send her a message asking that I'm ready for her to call whenever she's ready. I fall back on the bed and scroll mindlessly through social medias. I can't help but enjoy the thirst traps that pop up as I scroll. A really stupid guilty pleasure, most of the women that the TikTok algorithm pushes to me are completely unattainable, even with the somewhat open relationship that Vi and I have found ourselves exploring, they are either enough of a niche celebrity that they wouldn't waste time with someone 'normal' or they live in a completely different part of the country. I scroll past videos of a tattooed Asian with large perfect tits, an olive skinned Brazilian beauty, mesmerized by her full tits and full curvaceous ass, a teasing typical e-girl; flexing in the mirror, showing off muscles attained by what must be several hours in the gym. The screen changes as the phone vibrates in my hand, Vi's profile picture taking up the top half of the screen.

"Hey babe, How's your labs going?"

"Hey Erik! It's so fucking boring. Half of the stuff we're doing is shit we fully already know. It's so dumb, I get it's a uni requirement to do the hours but the least they could do is cover the expenses!" I let out a small amused exhale as I hear her vent and sigh at the end of her rant.

"Yeah, it's kinda bullshit that you have to front those expenses, food and everything else as well right?

"Yeah!! Literally nothing! And they **** us to come out to the other campus instead of using the labs at the campus I'm at because 'Oh, They're not up to standard and the assessors live closer to this campus." I can almost hear her fingers through the phone as she does air quotes. "Babe, believe me when I say the lab is the exact same, literally no difference, Ugh!"

I stifle a small chuckle, I feel for her of course, but it does sound like the exact thing a University would do to their students. "You're splitting the expenses though right?"

"Uh-huh. Matt and Ellie from my class."

"Have I met them?"

"I doubt it." She lowers her voice to a whisper. "They're super sweet but, they're both a little nerdy and kind of keep to themselves a little, I don't think you guys move in the same circles." She giggles softly.

I scoff as I feel the click in my brain. The sharing fetish. The netorase fetish. The cheating fetish. The scenarios flow through my head, is Matt and option for her? Maybe even Ellie? I salivate at the thought, maybe both?

"Erik? You still there?"

I clear my throat, "Yeah sorry, are they nice? How'd you manage to score an airbnb with them? You three close?"

"Yeah they're super nice!." She pauses. "Mostly, we chat in class and have done some studying together before but nothing crazy. I was just looking at prices in class and Ellie offered me to join them since they were looking too. Mostly a happy coincidence to be honest."

"Oh nice lucky you were looking in class." I laugh. "What do you think of them? I assume they're dating?"

I sense that the Vi has picked up on the angle of my questioning, I'm not one to typically show interest in other couples up until much more recently.

"They are dating... Ellie is cute. Picture a little nerdy girl, she's short with black hair and small red highlights throughout her hair. Matt is tall and lanky, literally all limbs." She giggles a bit. "They're both cuties but they're really shy and pretty quiet babe."

"Maybe you could tease them a little. Matt is still a man at the end of the day, and who knows. Maybe Ellie will get something out of it."

She coos over the line as she continues "We'll see baby, Talk to you tomorrow? I'm hungry and need to cook dinner."

"Of course babe, just message me when you're ready to call!"

"I'm looking forward to it. And, Erik?"

"What's up?"

"I know how hard it is for a man to be alone. So, have some fun, Love you!"

The line clicks as she hangs up the phone. I grin and look at her contact as I drop my phone on the bed, I'm not used to this. I had forgotten that the openness applied to me too. The smile quickly falters from my face as the through reminds me of Ari.

"I really need to talk to her."