Font of Fertility Ch. 22

"Yeah, well, now I'm glad we don't need to, cause I know you love that feeling of him-"

"OK, OK," Stacey interrupted. "Back to the prospects."

"Right," Lauren said. "So Tala wants more. Also, there's Aidra - she texted a thanks as well, and based on what Jerry said she's probably going to be breaking up with her boyfriend soon and will be coming back around, and she's a Witch so there's the added benefit of that. Then there's Jordan."

"She's already been making her case to join our poly pod," Lindsey said. "I haven't slept with her, but we know each other and she knows about all of us. How did you like her, Stacey?"

"She's nice and great with her tongue," Stacey said. "She's also definitely got a thing for Jeremiah."

"Jordan also lives half a country away," I pointed out.

"We talked about that, babe," Lauren said. "If she's in, then she can know about your teleportaling and it's not a problem."

"There's also Moira," Stacey pointed out. "You still need to meet her, Laur, but she's super pretty and we got along with her really well at dinner."

"OK, hold on," I said sternly. "We need to pump the breaks here. I get that this is a group decision, but these women aren't trading cards that we're deciding whether to keep or not. Angie and Annalise joining our relationship wasn't just a spur-of-the-moment thing. Angela wasn't even supposed to get half as far as this, but it happened because we spent so much time together in such a short period. And I'm still worried that Annalise is in this partially because of trauma bonding with me and feeling thankful for everything. All the women you're listing off are great, but I've barely spent any time with most of them. I'm not trying to play Pokemon and Catch 'em All here. Andif any of them reach the point of possibly joining, that's a decision Angie and Annalise need to be a part of too."

All three of the girls sat silently with guilty looks on their faces.

"Sorry, babe," Lauren said.

"You're right," Stacey agreed.

"Mostly right," Lindsey said, which had all three of us look at her with confused expressions. "Don't get me wrong, we were going a little wild there," Lindsey said. "But I think you're closer to being able to make a decision about some more than others. You've known Aidra for years as at least a friendly acquaintance, and while you might not be a goth like her you two share a lot of similarities and interests. And the same goes for Jordan, but maybe even more. And seeing the way she looked at you before she left yesterday, she's very into you and this whole thing going on."

"Well, we'll get there if we get there," I said noncommittally even though I felt a little double-beat of my heart as Lindsey laid out that my renewed crush on Jordan was possibly being heavily reciprocated.

"Just think about it," Lindsey assured me.

"I will," I said and took a deep breath. "Alright, what else do we need to talk about right now?"

And that's how I found out that the girls had already been scheduling the rest of my week.

* * * * *

Clarissa turned out to be as lovely as Jay had made her out to be.

We were hanging out in Jay's basement playing Mario Kart. Lauren and I had headed over to meet up with them after lunch, and the first thing that had surprised us was that Jay suggested we go for a walk. Jay wanted to spend time... outside.

It was a bit of a shock.

But we'd gone out walking in the crisp winter air around the neighbourhood and had swapped who we were walking with every once in a while. Jay and I talked about what he and Clarissa had been doing since she came down, and how his parents had handled her staying with them - she was sleeping in his bedroom, and he was sleeping in the basement. His parents generally liked her, though had mentioned to him they were worried about him being in such a long-distance relationship. She'd already met Benji briefly, but Benji was sort of sulking and hadn't stuck around long. I could tell that Jay was hinting towards wanting to talk about that situation, but I veered the conversation away.

Then I walked beside Clarissa for a bit as Lauren wanted to catch up with Jay, and she told me about growing up in Alberta, Canada and how she lived on a farm her whole life. Then she told me how she and Jay had met from her perspective, and as she talked about running into him in town while he'd been visiting his relatives I could tell she really did like him. Not that I'd doubted that, but it was nice to know for sure. She wasn't as nerdy as the three of us but had dove head first into trying to catch up on what Jay liked, while he had been doing the same with her. She wanted to be a Big Animal vet, which generally meant dealing with farm animals, horses and that sort of thing, though she also wanted to work with wildlife preservation in Canada so she could end up working with bears and wolves and moose.

For the last part of the walk Lauren had slipped back to me and took my hand, and Clarissa rejoined Jay, and we walked as couples along the sidewalk. Lauren said she liked how happy Jay was, and thought Clarissa was good for him. I agreed, but also echoed his parent's worries that he was getting into something so long distance, and with no plans at the moment to be able to get closer together. Lauren challenged me on that; was I worried for him, or worried for myself that he might move farther away? That made me stop my train of thought to consider, and Lauren quietly reminded me that it didn't matter how far away Jay moved, he'd always be my friend.

Then, back at his place, Lauren and I had stopped to say hello to Jay's parents before we all headed down into the basement and hooked up the old N64 we'd bought from a thrift store.

Clarissa, understandably, wasn't quite as good at Mario Kart as the rest of us considering we'd been playing it for years, but she held her own and was just as into the teasing banter as the rest of us. We played for about an hour before shutting it down - Jay's parents had called down that they were going out, and Jay suggested we play a board game. He had a stack of them and we ended up playing some Smallworld, which was a nerdy, slightly more complicated Risk kind of game that he and I loved, Lauren went along with, and Clarissa hadn't ever played before. We taught her, and she thought the illustrations were cute, which was a good sign.

After the game, Jay asked me to come downstairs to pick a new one, which I immediately recognized as him trying to get me away to talk or to leave Lauren upstairs to talk with Clarissa. I agreed and followed him down to the basement.

"So," Jay asked. "What do you think of her?"

I laughed lightly and patted him on the shoulder. "Dude, she's great. She's pretty, she's funny and she obviously likes you."

"Really?" Jay asked. "I was a little worried she just wanted to travel or something, get away from the farm."

"If that was the case, why wouldn't she go somewhere warm?" I pointed out. "She went from cold to cold - she came here for you."

"You're right, you're right," Jay said.

"Stop second-guessing and enjoy it," I said.

"I know, I'm just in my head," he sighed. "Lauren said the same thing."

"So what are you asking me for!?" I joked. "She'll have a better instinct about her than I will."

Jay snorted. "Yeah, maybe. Are you two good? You weren't hanging out with her a lot at your party."

"I wasn't?" I asked, faking it.

"Well, she hung out with us for like twenty minutes and you weren't around," he said. "And it seemed like she and Stacey were all over the party keeping it all under control, but I barely saw you."

Of course he noticed, I thought to myself. Jay was a great friend, and observant. Usually that was a good thing, but now it meant with all the secrets going on in my life I had to be more careful. "I dunno," I said. "I was around too. There were a lot of people there so maybe we just kept missing each other."

"Maybe," he said. "Still, you good?"

"Yeah, absolutely," I said. "Lauren and I are- We're really, really good."

"OK, horndog," Jay snorted. "Don't go getting her pregnant."

"It's not-" Then I snorted and shook my head. "Same to you."

"Fair," Jay chuckled. "But, speaking of lots of people at your party..."

"Jay," I sighed.

"Look, I'm just saying, if school comes around and you and Benji haven't made up it's going to befucking awkward."

"Yeah, I know," I said. "And I heard he came by my house yesterday afternoon but I was out with Lauren, Lindsey and Stacey. Before anything happens though he needs to apologize to Lauren."

"But you'll hear him out?" Jay asked.

"If he owns the shit he did and said."

"OK. Can you manage to show up two days in a row and come over tomorrow if I can get him here?" Jay asked.

"Yeah, we can do that," I said. "But it's not like we've been avoiding you, dude."

"Jerry, this is the fourth time I've seen you in almost three weeks. Up until you and Lauren started dating I saw you pretty much every day for the last three years if one of us wasn't on a family vacation."

".... fair point," I said. "Sorry if we've been wrapped up in each other a bit."

"It's fine," Jay said. "I get it. School will make things get back to normal anyway. So tomorrow?"

"Yeah, in the morning if you can," I said. "I'm meeting up with Jordan to talk about writing stuff in the afternoon."

"Wait, Jordan the redhead from that class you took?" Jay asked.

"Yeah," I said. "She's back in town for the holidays and wants to meet up."

"Dude, you had the biggest crush on her two years ago. Is Lauren OK with this?"

"OK, it wasn't abig crush first of all," I said. "And second, it's not like that. Andthird, Lauren is very much in favour of me going and talking with her." I couldn't tell him exactly how in favour of talking and more she was.

"Whatever you say," Jay shook his head, smirking at me a little. "What are you thinking, then. Root, or Settlers?"

"Settlers," I said. "It's got farming in it, maybe Clarissa will find it ironic."

Jay snorted and reached for his box of Catan. "Dear God, don't make that joke upstairs."

* * * * *

Lauren and Lindsey needed to make another, longer appearance at home with their parents, and Angela was still working a double at the mall, so I ended up going with Stacey to see Annalise and Maya. We drove by and picked them up and I had planned to take them somewhere halfway decent to eat, but Maya had given me a puppy-dog look and asked if I'd be willing to bring them to the mall so she could grab a few more clothes now that she could actually see what she was trying on.

I agreed and got a big hug and a kiss on the cheek from the voluptuous girl that had Annalise pulling her sister off of me with a grumble, which left Maya and Stacey snickering a little.

At the mall we split up briefly, Stacey going with the sisters to help Maya pick some things out while I detoured to try and find Angela. I entered the big department store where she worked and went looking in the beauty and perfume section, and Angela broke into a big grin when she saw me but she was in the middle of helping a customer.

"Can I help you, sir?" asked another woman. She was blonde, done up in a business-casual work outfit and had the same little metal nametag that Angela was wearing. She was also looking at me with a suspicious bend to her perfectly manicured eyebrow and I realized I was lingering around what was commonly a women-only area of the store.

"Oh, sorry," I said. "I'm just waiting to speak to Angela."

She narrowed her eyes a little but kept that vapid, emotionless customer service smile on her lips. "I'd be happy to help you with whatever you need, sir. All of our sales associates are more than capable, you don't need to speak to a specific one."

"I'm... actually not looking to buy anything," I said. "Angela and I are dating, and I just wanted to let her know I'd be in the food court if she had a break coming up."

"Oh," the woman said, then blinked as her expression changed. "Ooh, you're the new guy, huh?"

"That's me," I said. "Jeremiah. New boyfriend."

"Alright, well, she should be done any minute now," she said. "Sorry, we've had a couple of creepy stalker incidents in the past with our associates. Guys get obsessed and just hang around being weird."

"Everything OK?" I asked.

"Oh, this was last year- er, I guess two years ago now, so it's fine," she said. "I just keep a lookout. Not to say you looked suspicious, but..."

"But I looked suspicious," I laughed.

"Looks like she's finishing up," the woman said. "Feel free to say hey, just try to keep the PDA to a minimum, yeah?"

"Will do, thanks," I said. We separated and she went through the racks while I went to Angela over near the till in her area.

"Hey, babes," Angela said with a bright smile as I approached her. She leaned over the counter and took my hands, and I gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "So you met Sarah, huh?"

"I did," I said. "She thought I might be a creep, but she was just looking out for you."

"I know, she's kind of a momma bear in our department," Angela said. "What did you think of her though? She's single right now, just got out of a relationship a month ago and could use a rebound fling."

"Angie," I chuckled. "I was completely focused on you."

She preened a little at my compliment. "Thanks, babes," she grinned. "But seriously. She's a couple of years older than me and Linds, but she's hot. Want me to set it up?"

"Let's take things just a touch slower," I said. "We have time. This week is pretty packed with stuff already."

"Fair," Angie said. "I'm still wrapping my head around all the planning the girls do in the group chat. I saw you're seeing Jordan tomorrow, though. Looking forward to that?"

I didn't know why but I actually blushed a little. "Yeah, it should be good," I said. "But for now, I came by to let you know Annalise, Stacey and I brought Annalise's sister Maya to the mall since they need some more clothes. We're going to meet up in the food court for dinner if you have a break coming up."

"Umm," Angela hummed, looking over at the clock. "I should have my dinner break in half an hour. Meet you there?"

"Sounds good, babe," I said. "Want me to pick you up some dinner so it's ready and waiting?"

"You don't need to do that," she said with a smile.

"But I want to," I said. "Especially if it means we get an extra five or ten minutes with you because you don't need to wait in line."

"OK," she said, then leaned forward and gave me a little peck on the lips. "Just a salad from the Veggie place. Their Thousand Island dressing is pretty good."

"Thousand Island salad, coming up," I said.

She squeezed my hands, which we hadn't let go of, and pursed her lips in an air kiss before I left her at work. It took a couple of texts and some wandering to find the girls, and I ended up finding Maya and Stacey in a clothing store.

"Shit, OK," Maya said when she spotted me. "Jerry, please tell my sister how good the dress I picked out for her looks."

"This isn't my style," Annalise said from inside a nearby changing room.

"She's feeling shy about it," Stacey explained to me quietly.

"Just come out and show him," Maya called back to her sister.

"You don't have to if you don't want to, Anna," I said, giving Maya a look. "But it might be the only way to get her off your back."

There was a loud sigh in the changeroom and then the latch unlocked. Annalise opened the door and I couldn't help but let my eyebrows raise and my jaw drop a little. She was wearing a yellow, off-the-shoulder sundress with cute flowers embroidered across it, and it hugged her hips and bust snugly without looking gaudy or too tight.

"Holy shit," I said.

"See! I told you he'd love it," Maya said.

I brushed past Maya and went to Annalise in the doorway of her changeroom. I cupped her face as I kissed her softly.

"You really like it?" Anna asked me afterwards, frown-smiling as we stayed standing with our faces close together.

"You make it look amazing, Anna," I said. "It's very flattering on you, but if it isn't your style that's OK. It makes you look like springtime."

She bit her lip and looked up at me, then sighed. "Fine, Maya," she said. "I'll get it."

Maya crowed her approval, and I had a feeling I'd stepped into an ongoing, possibly years-long argument between the girlier younger sister and the more rough-around-the-edges older one.

The girls had already made a couple of purchases, so I quickly paid for the dress for Annalise and we headed to the food court, splitting up to get our choices before reconvening at one of the bigger round tables in the sitting area. I made sure to get a fifth chair for Angie, and while the girls dug in I waited until my other girlfriend came into the food court and spotted us. I got up to give her a kiss, a proper one this time, and Stacey stood to give her a hug while Annalise just waved hello.

"So, you guys find some cute outfits?" Angie asked, kicking off the conversation lightly. Maya described her purchases, and Angie gave her some tips on other stores to check out for similar styles.

Then, about halfway through Angie's break time, Stacey cleared her throat during a lull in the conversation. "I'm really glad things are going smoothly right now, but I think we need to talk about something."

I was concerned and a little curious about this, and Maya looked a little confused, but Angie and Annalise both seemed to know what Stacey was talking about so I realized they must have touched on the subject in their Harem group chat.

"We need to at least start the conversation about the future," Stacey continued. "In less than a week Lindsey and I are going back up to school, which means we won't be around as much. Jerry and Lauren are also going back to classes next week, and I assume Maya you're expected to be in school too. So we need to start talking about options."

Annalise swallowed reluctantly and sighed. "I- Well, we- need to reconnect with our brothers," she said. "There's a lot to tell them and I'm not sure how to even start. Our mom, our father..."

"They didn't know about your father?" Angie asked, reaching over and putting her hand on Annalise's arm comfortingly.

"I didn't even know until he snapped," Maya said. "I- I feel like I should have seen something sooner, with the way he and Anna interacted. Or didn't interact."

"Part of me wants to tell them all of it, because then it would be easier to handle the other stuff, but the other part of me doesn't," Annalise said. "But I think part of the problem is there was no one else who knew what was going on in the beginning. So we'll probably tell them."

"What about after?" Stacey asked. "Once the family stuff is done, do you want to come live with me and Stacey in the penthouse? You can both have your own rooms if you want."

"I think that's the best thing for me," Annalise said, then turned to her sister. "You're going to need to change schools no matter what. Do you want to stay in New Mexico with Brandon or Paul if they can take you, or come up here?"

Maya blew out a long breath and then pressed her lips together firmly as her eyes watered up a bit. "I don't know," she said. "This all doesn't really feel... real, yet."

"I don't want to rush you, sis," Annalise said softly, grabbing her hand and squeezing. "And if you need time before going back to school, that's OK. We can figure it out. But if you want to try and move forward, we need to get you transferred soon so you can start a new semester on time."

"Let me think about school," Maya said. "But... I don't want to leave you. Or Jerry. Not while Dad is still out there somewhere."

"OK," Stacey said. "You can come live with us at the penthouse. We'll do up your room however you want."