Kinky Confessions

Something about her tone made me worry about my own schedule.

“Monday-Wednesday-Friday,” Wren said. “Late afternoon. That’s one of the reasons I picked it. It works with the rest of my schedule. I won’t have time for anything else, but I’ll be able to graduate in June.”

“We could take it too,” Christy said to me.

“Oh, no!” I said immediately. “I’m already taking seventeen hours, and six of those are Joska’s design class. You have a full load yourself.”

“Siobhan would approve the extra hours for me. And you’re Professor Joska’s favorite. I’m sure he’ll approve. We could do it together, all four of us.”

“Are you kidding?” Trip blurted. “I’m taking twenty hours already, and I had to argue with Joska to get him to approve it.”

“So? Drop a class and take dance with us instead.”

“Is she serious?” he asked me.

“Sounds like it,” I said. “And it’s no use fighting, dude.”

“Says you! She isn’t my girlfriend.”

“Yeah, but your girlfriend has to take the class, and since misery loves company…”

“When’re we gonna have time?” he snapped. “On top of school and everything else, we have to keep an eye on the boarding house. Yeah, it’ll be finished soon, but then we have to do the planning and prep for Susan’s renovation. That’s a lot of extra work. Besides—”

“Dude, chill out,” I said calmly. “Extra work’s never bothered you.

Aren’t you the one who wanted to work through the Fourth of July last year.”

“That was different!”

“How?” Wren asked.

Her voice was deceptively mild, but Trip wasn’t so upset that he missed it. He surveyed us and realized he was going to lose, one way or another. To his credit, he decided to do it gracefully.

“Yeah, all right,” he said. “I’ll talk to Joska on Monday.” He shot me a glare. “But you’re coming with me. Christy’s right, you’re his favorite.”

“Coulda fooled me,” I snorted.

“You are,” Christy insisted. “And if he won’t approve it, I’ll ask him. No one can resist me. I’m too cute.”

“Yeah, you are,” Wren said. She smiled at Trip and wearily rested her head on his shoulder. His glare didn’t soften, but he automatically put his arm around her.

Sorry, I told him with a look. I owe you.

He nodded and eventually relaxed his jaw.

“So it’s settled?” Christy said. “We’re all taking Dance.”

“That was a really mean thing you did to Trip.”

Christy and I were in the privacy of our bedroom, but I still kept my voice down. She looked up from her nightly routine.

“So? He deserved it,” she said. “He expects Wren to make all the sacrifices, while he gets to do whatever he wants.”

“He makes sacrifices. Trust me. You know what she’s like, how she has to be in charge. Besides, it’s their relationship, not yours.”

“But she’s my girlfriend. Everyone said so.”

I decided to change tacks. “Choose your battles. I was easy to convince.

Besides, I already knew you wanted to start taking dance lessons.”

“I wasn’t sure you remembered,” she said.

“I remember everything where you’re concerned.”

“What is it you say? Touché?”

“Mmm hmm. So I don’t mind taking the class with you, especially if we can do it with Wren. But Trip’s different. He’s pretty focused—”

“And the rest of us aren’t? Why’s he so special?”

“He isn’t,” I conceded. “But he’s trying to get an Architecture degree and a Business minor. That’s a pretty big deal, and he has to argue with Joska every quarter to get permission.”

“So Wren’s just supposed to give up what she wants because Trip has a plan? What about her plans? She’s trying to graduate and get a job. That’s more than the rest of us.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” I said. “So… why’re we fighting?”

“How should I know? You started it.”

“I felt guilty for making Trip change his schedule.”

“And… um… maybe I was annoyed,” she admitted. “At Trip, I mean.

Now that you and I’ve gone all the way, he acts like he gets to sleep with me, no questions asked.”

My eyes widened in surprise.

“Yeah. You probably can’t tell, but I can.”

“Ah, now I get it,” I said. “Wren wants us to become swingers—”

“And Trip thinks we will—”

“But you aren’t sure—”

“No,” she said, almost too soft to hear. “And I don’t like it when—”

“He treats you like a sure thing, an easy lay.”

“For the record, I’m not an easy lay, thank you very much!”

“Ha! You can say that again.”

“I’m not an easy lay.”

“I deserved that.” I gathered her in my arms and kissed her forehead.

“Now I understand what you were doing tonight. You were pushing back, showing Trip you’re still in control.”

“I don’t know what I was doing,” she admitted. “I just know that he annoyed me.”

“Note to self, don’t annoy Birdy.” I pulled back and looked down at her.

“Your mother called you that. This weekend. When I was talking to her after you and Brooke went off to talk about us.”

“She does that sometimes,” Christy said. “She’s normally very proper, like my nana. She calls us by our full names too.”

“Your Boston nana? Your mom’s mom?”

“Uh-huh. But every once in a while Mom or Nana will call me Birdy, usually when I’ve done something really silly.”