mpmst1@unix.cis.pitt.edu (Michael P. Metlay) (11/24/90)
This work is copyright 1989 metlay, and is in the public domain for all forms of reproduction and distribution SAVE those involving sale of this material. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ PART 3: Valentine's Day (just after midnight) Mid-February 1982 The Bandit and Zero kicked the dirty grey snow off of their boots and walked up the steps of the East Habitat. A quick ping of a security card in the lock, and the door sighed open, brushing a warm breeze across their faces from inside. They walked out of the dark and into the central lounge, gratefully unzipping their coats. The usual late-night gang was there, Thud holding court like a king in the chair by the coffee machine and dealing a hand from his everpresent cribbage deck to Lanky and Plaids. Conan was sprawled out on the couch, reading a paperback, and the notes of an acoustic guitar wafted gently through the air as the Rainbow Wizard played a love song for Mary Magdalene on a nearby stretch of carpet. "Hi, Zero, Bandit," Thud said pleasantly. "Cribbage?" "Nope," Zero smiled. "Against my faith." "What faith?" Thud sneered at him. "You're an agnostic, a Crowleyite, or worse yet, a Satanist." "True." Zero collapsed on the couch with a sigh. Thud gave up. "Bandit?" "No thanks, Thudlike. I'm on a diet." "Suit yourself. I'm just worried about how long I can hold onto these two. They just have no stamina! I mean, we've only played--" "Twenty-one games," Lanky groaned. "Twenty-two," Plaids corrected him. He got up, stretching, and stalked off toward his room. "I quit." Lanky took the opportunity to make his escape as well, leaving Thud alone, the cribbage hand half dealt to no one. "See what you did? Now what am I going to do?" Thud said angrily. The Bandit smiled innocently. "Play Solotaire." "You're the expert on games one plays alone," Thud replied caustically. "Ouch. I left myself wide open for that," The Bandit laughed. He looked over at Conan, and asked, "Good book?" Conan didn't look up. "Yup." "What's it about?" "I'm reading it for my Twentieth Century Literature class as an elective," Conan said, eyes on the text. "I think the professor will get a kick out of my report." The Bandit leaned over and looked at the book cover. His wide mouth split into a grin. "Bitch Goddesses of Thamazor?" Conan didn't say a word; he only looked over at the Bandit and winked. Meanwhile, Zero had wandered over to where the Rainbow Wizard was finishing another song for Mary Magdalene. After the song had ended and Mary Magdalene was thanking the Rainbow Wizard with a kiss, he cleared his throat politely. "Uh, c'n I borrow that for a moment, Wiz?" "Mmmmmm," the Wizard said, pulling off the guitar awkwardly so as not to break the kiss. He set the guitar down beside him, and threw both arms around Mary Magdalene, bearing her down to the carpet on her back. "Thanks," Zero said. "Mmmmmm," the Rainbow Wizard said. "Mmmmmm," Mary Magdalene agreed. "Mmmm. Mmmmmm, mm mmmm!" "Mmmmmmmmmm," the Rainbow Wizard managed with a muffled laugh. "Mmmm mm mmm mmmmmm mm mmmmm mmmmmm, mm mmmmmmm...." The conversation continued in that vein, broken by giggles on occasion. Mary Magdalene rolled the Rainbow Wizard over onto his back, and began to slowly rub herself up and down against his thigh. The others in the lounge watched in fascination as her movements grew more and more obvious in their intent. Thud gaped. "Public fornication! That's DISGUSTING!" Conan laughed quietly to himself. "Mary Magdalene in heat again? Now THAT'S disgusting!" The Bandit looked over at the two lovers cavorting at Zero's feet while he nonchalantly tuned the guitar, and found his mouth going dry. Oh, man, he thought. That lucky bastard. If only it could have been me.... He forced boredom into his voice. "Here we go again." "No, dear boy," Thud corrected him with a sepulchural grin, "There THEY go again. You, alas, have no place in the matter." "Thanks for nothing." The Bandit looked away with an effort, picked up the cards, and dealt himself a hand of Solotaire. "Remember that playing with oneself is a sin, dear boy," Thud smiled. "I just wish you'd make up your mind, Thud," the Bandit muttered. "Either join the Priesthood, or decide you're gay. But don't sit on the fence, you're driving us all crazy!" "I promise I'll make up my mind before I leave school," Thud said with a placid, pious smile. He turned to watch Zero play, and the Bandit risked looking in the direction of the two thrashing bodies on the floor to better hear the music. Zero was shy by nature, and rarely played in public, but his little concerts drew more than their share of gossip. Every rock band on the campus wanted him as a lead guitarist, for his blinding speed and perfect articulation had become legendary. "If Mr. Spock played guitar," the Bandit was fond of saying, "He'd sound like Zero." Doing his best to ignore the moans of Mary Magdalene, who was obviously doing HER best to come as quietly as possible on the Rainbow Wizard's thigh, Zero torched his way through seven songs in seven minutes, including two famous pop tunes, a Villa-Lobos guitar concerto excerpt, two songs by the Bandit, one of his own tunes, and just to finish things with a flourish, a raunched-up version of one of the Wiz's love ballads. Thud and the Bandit applauded as he bowed and took off the guitar, and Conan tore himself away from the Bitch Goddesses of Thamazor long enough to make clapping motions with the paperback and his free hand. Zero, grinning with pride, looked down at the people on the floor beside him. His smile died. The Rainbow Wizard was cradling Mary Magdalene in his arms, whispering in her ear as she sighed in the glow of post-orgasmic peace and snuggled against his shoulder. They hadn't even looked at him. Zero looked outraged for the barest fraction of a second. Then he saw the Bandit's wide grin out of the corner of his eye, and smiled sheepishly, putting down the guitar next to Mary Magdalene. "That was wonderful!" He looked up at the sound of an unfamiliar voice, low and alluring. Every other man in the room turned around as well; there was something in that voice that demanded attention. She was standing behind Zero, carrying a battered old guitar case in one hand and brushing her hair back from her eyes with the other. She was small, perhaps five feet two, with the lithe curves of a gymnast ill-disguised by the flimsy blouse she wore. The Bandit's gaze flicked over her in a practiced instant: tight, well-worn jeans with a patch over the crotch, strong legs, light from the window behind her outlining her torso through the shirt, and the particular jiggle and barely noticable tenting of the fabric that bespoke small, slightly pointed breasts and no bra to hide the nipples. Her eyes were blue and wide like a child's, and her freckled face was scrubbed clean of makeup. She tucked a wayward strand of wavy brown hair behind one ear, and continued, "I wish I could play like that...." Zero looked into her eyes, and came to an instant decision. "A lot of people do," he said pleasantly, and turned away from her, walking out of the lounge. She watched him go, her eyes puzzled. "Oh, don't mind him," the Bandit said hurriedly, getting up from the couch and striding over to her. "He just gets nervous when people compliment him, that's all. Say, I haven't seen you around here before. Did you just move in?" She smiled at him, revealing tiny dimples. "Yes. I just transferred here from Crystal City. This is my first semester. I'm called Flower." "I'll just bet you are," the Bandit grinned. "And I am the one and only Bandit. At your service, madam!" He took her proffered hand and kissed it. She withdrew the hand gently, smiling. "Pleased," she said. The Bandit's grin grew even wider, if that were possible. He waved to the assemblage in the lounge. "My merry men," he said. "Thud, Conan on the couch there with the Bitch Goddesses of Thamazor, and, uh, oh, yes! These two shameless exhibitionists at your feet are our very own Do-it-Yourself Messiah, the Rainbow Wizard, and HIS very own Mary Magdalene." "Messiah?" She looked over as the Rainbow Wizard got to his feet, drawing up Mary Magdalene beside him with one strong arm around her waist. She smiled up at him. "I've never met a real Messiah before. Do you work miracles?" "When I'm not being trodden down by the unfaithful," the Rainbow Wizard smiled, "I can do almost anything. Welcome to the East Habitat." He bowed to her. She dimpled prettily and gave him a mock curtsy, and the Bandit suddenly felt like the fifth wheel on a Continental: not good for much, and hanging on for the ride. It's that goddamned Wizard thing again, he thought disgustedly. Why the hell does HE have to attract the pretty ones all the damn time? Flower turned to Mary Magdalene, and said, "it must be terribly exciting, having your own Messiah. How did you manage to do it?" Mary Magdalene smiled, but there was something in that smile that wasn't the orgasm. "I was," she said archly, "In the right place at the right time." There was silence for a few moments as several different thoughts went through several different heads. MY tits never look that good without a bra on, Mary Magdalene thought worriedly, and how the hell does she keep her hips so slim? It's a good thing I know the Wizard, or I'd be really worried.... This, thought the Rainbow Wizard, is a woman to get to know better. Nice hair, thought Flower. Seriously good smile, too. But she's too heavy and she doesn't take care of herself. And not only does she know it, but he knows it, too! Oh, mama, Crystal City was NOTHING compared to what I'm gonna do to Arcadia! Wow, man, serious tit action here, Conan thought. Wonder if the Wiz'll let me tear off a piece once he adds her to his little harem? Thud was watching Mary Magdalene's eyes. This is going to be very ugly, he thought to himself. I wonder how stable MaryMag is these days? If she gets too iffy, then POW! Catfight! Break out the body oil and the video camera! The Bandit, forgotten in an instant, decided that sterner measures were necessary. "Uh, listen," he said, "We'll be getting together tomorrow to do some playing. Zero and I, I mean. Would you like to join us?" Flower had obviously come to the conclusion that the Rainbow Wizard was more worth knowing than Zero. "Maybe later," she said, scarcely looking at the Bandit. "I want to play some guitar duets right now." She looked over at the Rainbow Wizard and smiled. "If you don't mind, that is." "Not at all," he said. "Will you teach me some new songs?" "If you'll teach me a couple," she replied guilelessly. "Great! We can take turns playing," Mary Magdalene said brightly. "I love playing duets." She smiled pleasantly at Flower, her eyes hard as flint. Flower gave her the sort of smile one gives an adorable young child who's just brought home a live snake as a pet. "We'll make it a trio, then," the Rainbow Wizard said, fishing in his pocket for his room key. "Why don't you go get my other guitar from my room, dear?" "Okay!" Mary Magdalene's desire to please the Wizard overruled her her suspicions, and she skipped off toward their room. The Bandit watched her go, thinking, too trusting to live. Jesus! "Well, I guess I'll be leaving," the Bandit said uncomfortably. "You should stop by our place when you get a chance...." "Oh, I'd love to," Flower said hastily, remembering her manners. "I'd love to hear what you and, er, Zero do." The Bandit managed a weak grin. "Well, we--" "YO! BANDIT! HEY, WIZ my MAIN MAN! Whuss happening, people?" The Bandit winced. Please, he thought, O merciful God, not now, not while there's some faint shred of hope.... Livewire threw a corded arm about the Bandit's shoulders and squeezed hard enough to dislocate his collarbone. "Howya DOIN' my MAN!" He caught sight of Flower for the first time, and his eyes nearly popped out of his head. "Well, hell-LO there, pretty lady," he said in his best Rhett Butler imitation, which was terrible, "I don't believe we've been introduced...." "Flower, this is Livewire. Livewire, this is Flower. She's a transfer," the Bandit said in a rush. "Now as I was saying--" Flower gave Livewire the barest nod, and said to the Rainbow Wizard, "You have a lot of interesting followers." Any thoughts that the Bandit had in Flower's direction were chopped brutally short. His eyes burned as he whirled to face her. "You watch your mouth, missy," he gritted. "Livewire's my drummer, and neither he nor Zero buys into this crock of shit that old Glow-in-the-Dark here shovels out for the faithful. And what goes for them goes double, triple, for me. Understand?" Flower took a half step back from him, her eyes widening fearfully. "Don't you talk to me that way," she said feebly. "I can make mistakes, can't I? I thought he was your friend...." She looked from the Rainbow Wizard, who was regarding the Bandit sourly, back to the Bandit again. "He is my friend." The Bandit's voice was soft. "I just wish he'd see a shrink before he gets somebody hurt." He turned on his heel and left, tossing angrily over his shoulder, "Particularly himself!" "Oo, bad scene," Livewire said, watching him go. Then he shrugged and said to Flower, "But he's right, you know. This guy is like a TOTAL fuckhead. Thinks he can create trees!" Laughing uproariously, he did a back handspring away from them, bounded to his feet and charged off with a wave. "Later!" The Rainbow Wizard smiled and shook his head with the weariness of a patient parent. He said, "It isn't easy, being me." "Awwwww...." Flower smiled at him, her eyes at once teasing and promising. "Awwwww...." mimicked Conan, his eyes still on the book. Mary Magdalene was walking down the narrow hallway, the guitar case bumping against her legs, when the Bandit came striding toward her like a juggernaut. He brushed past her roughly, bumping the case from her hand with a jerk. "Hey!" Mary Magdalene's voice carried a lot more ire than people were used to hearing from her. "Why don't you watch where you're going?" "I could say the same for you, sweetheart," the Bandit snarled, not even turning around. "Better get out there in a hurry, or you're going to be out of a job." He slammed the door of his room behind him. Mary Magdalene looked at the shut door, then back down the hall toward the lounge. Her eyes narrowed into cruel slits, and her jaw set into a grim line. She marched down the hallway toward the lounge, rolling up her sleeves as she went. The Bandit pulled open the refrigerator, pulled out a beer, opened it with his teeth, and downed a third of it in one swig. He sat down wearily on the couch and sighed, running a thumb over his aching teeth. Why do I keep doing that, he wondered wearily. One of these days I'll break a tooth. It's just not goddamned fair! He reads a book on the theory of miracle working, convinces himself and everyone else within earshot that he's got something special, and all of a sudden he's up to his eyeballs in devoted female followers! It's enough to make you sick.... I should have been a Psych major. Then I could get into people's heads and make them do whatever I wanted them to, just like him! Bells! Love songs! Give me a break, for shit's sake! There was a soft knock on the door. The Bandit took another long pull on the beer, finishing the bottle. I'm not going to answer it, he decided. I'm going to sit here very quietly and wait for whoever it is to go the fuck away. Then I'm going to crawl into bed and try to sleep while the Wiz is probably conniving BOTH of them into bed with him across the room. What the hell's so special about cum that glows in the dark, anyway? Hell, if I'd been irradiated as badly as he was, MY cum would probably glow, too! The knock was louder the second time. Go away, the Bandit willed. Go away and leave me alone. I don't want to be comforted, I don't want pity and understanding. I just want to be left alone. Please! "Bandit? Please open the door...." The Bandit's eyes went as wide as Frisbees, then contracted shut in pain. No, anyone but her, he begged. Please? There was a long silence. Finally, with a ragged sigh, the Bandit got up and walked across the living room, setting the bottle down with a clank. He pulled the door open, and snapped, "What?" Twink was obviously a bit taken aback by his tone, but she smiled tremulously and managed to struggle onward. "Can I come in?" "If you must," sighed the Bandit. He motioned for her to enter, and she glided past him and sat down demurely on the beanbag chair, her legs curled under her. He resisted the impulse to get another beer, shut the door, and returned to his chair. "So what do you want?" She smiled, the faintest hint of a kiss-me pout on her lips. "I ran into Livewire," she said. "He told me you'd had a run-in with the Wiz over this new transfer kid." The Bandit sighed again. "I'm just a little bit tired of seeing him do the old hoodoo and having women drop their drawers for him," he muttered. Twink frowned slightly. "Drawers? What kind of drawers?" The Bandit slapped his forehead. "DRAWERS, Twink! Panties! Underwear, y'know?" "Oh," Twink said, blushing. "No, I've never heard that word for them before. Drawers? What a funny word for underwear! I wonder where it came from? Shut up, Twink." The last three words were spoken in the same conversational tone as the rest of her speech, and the Bandit almost missed them. He raised an eyebrow. "'Shut up, Twink'?" "I've started ending all of my sentences with it," she said proudly. "It saves time." Somewhere in the Bandit's gut, a small cold something tied itself in a knot. "Aw, Twink, that's a terrible thing to say!" "Well, it's the truth," she replied, shrugging. "People have been telling me to shut up ever since I got here. I can't ask what the words mean in the movies--" "Well, you've gotta admit not knowing the jargon in a movie that's rated 'R' is a little bit flaky for a modern teenager," the Bandit said drily. "I wasn't raised with it," she said wistfully. "My mummy and daddy never used curse words around the house, and neither did anyone else in the school." "I guess you didn't miss much," he smiled. The knot in his stomach was slowly unwinding, and he took a moment to appraise the figure Twink cut critically. She was wearing that awful shapeless nightgown again, the polyester one that zipped up to her chin with the little lace collar, and furry bunny slippers in matching powder blue. Bunny slippers, he thought to himself. I mean, really! For a brief moment, he found himself wondering what she would look like in real clothes, as opposed to the Godawful things her parents sent with her from wherever the hell in North Dakota she'd come from. All he knew was that she was no lightweight, and he wondered just how much fat she was hiding under those shapeless sweaters she wore. For a brief instant, he had a brief mental vision of Diva, her heavy breasts and wide hips as appealing as a Rubens in their way. The Bandit had always gone for short, willowy girls, but maybe there was something to Zero's taste for ladies closer to Diva's size.... He shook his head slightly. Get real, Bandit. You're never going to get closer than ten feet away from Diva, and Twink ain't no Diva! "Penny for your thoughts," Twink asked, twirling the tip of her nightgown's collar drawstring between her chubby fingers. The Bandit's gorge rose into his throat at her pitiful attempt at flirtatiousness, and he suddenly was feeling about as amorous as a retread on the Interstate. "I was thinking," he drawled, "About what an incredible pain in the ass some women can be...." "Oh, you mean Flower? Yes, she's a live one, I'll say," Twink smiled. For the briefest instant, the Bandit could've sworn that she'd actually dodged an insult and delivered a comeback. Then he realized, as she continued talking, that she'd just missed the reference completely. Merciful God, he thought, how did a woman like this ever get into college? "I've been talking with her, she lives in my hall. She's kind of weird, always wearing old tiedyes and beads and and talking about how her parents used to walk around naked so she wouldn't have any hangups and stuff like that. After I saw Livewire, I decided to breeze through the lounge and see what was going on. I thought it was really pretty funny, well, actually kind of sad, to tell the truth, I mean there's the Rainbow Wizard playing away, and there's Flower matching him note for note, and poor Mary Magdalene struggling along on the chords just to keep up! Everyone tells me that the two of them have been together just forever and they always will be, but it doesn't seem to me that that's a terribly healthy way to go, you know? Shut up, Twink." "Oh, stop that," The Bandit scowled. He'd heard about enough for one night. Somebody was leaving. Soon! "Why?" Twink smiled at him again, standing up and stretching. "Do you have something better for me to do?" Oh, Lord God, the Bandit thought. That's the last straw! He was on his feet in an instant, pulling open the door to the room he shared with Zero. It was empty; Zero had already gone to Diva's for the night. He strode inside, growling, "Leave, Twink. Just...leave. Shut the door on your way out." He reached behind him to shut the door but Twink was there, pulling it shut behind her. "Are you sure you want me to leave, so soon?" Her voice was low and liquid, teasing. The Bandit wasn't having any of it, tonight, though. A woman like Flower ending up on the Wiz's hit list, and Twink, for God's sake, TWINK as a consolation prize? No, Goddammit, NO! He whirled on her and hissed, "I have had enough of your stupid insinuations and your ridiculaous attempts at flirting! You're making a complete and utter fool of yourself, and you're not impressing anyone! You love the attention I give you and you have absolutely no intention of following through on ANY of your little hints, so why don't you just put up or shut up!" Twink stared at him, her eyes wide and bright. He returned her stare, his eyes burning black in the dimlight through the Venetian blinds. Then, quite suddenly, she smiled. "All right," she whispered. And in a single smooth motion, she unzipped her nightgown from her collar to her waist and let it fall to the floor. The Bandit, master of the quick comeback, the left-handed compliment, and the subtle jab, the most dangerous verbal assassin in Arcadia, dimly heard his higher reasoning faculties shut down. His blood roared in his ears and he barely registered the fact that she was stepping forward and putting her soft arms about his neck. Instinctively his hands came up and grasped her waist, and her soft lips met his as the last remnants of his reasoning abilities surrendered with a fading crackle of static. Her lips were gentle, soft, and caressing, and she broke the kiss after a moment and held him tightly, whispering in his ear, "You're trembling. What's the matter?" "Oh, God, Twink," he managed to get out somehow. "You mustn't. I treat you like dirt! Worse than dirt! You deserve better than me, for God's sake, find yourself someone who'll give you a fair shake, don't do this--" She placed a cool fingertip on his lips. "Shut up, Bandit," she said in a tone of mock sternness. She giggled at the turnabout, and he found himself laughing with her. Suddenly, with a roar of released emotion, he threw his arms around her waist and hugged her as hard as he could. She squealed as he lifted her up off the ground, thought better of it, and quickly set her down again. She met his gaze, her eyes mischevious, and suddenly lowered her arms to encircle his waist. His breath whooshed out of him as she returned the lift, laughing. She set him down on his feet again, giggling, "You shouldn't hurt yourself. I'm a pretty big girl!" "No kidding," he whispered reverently, stepping back a pace to admire her. In all of my life, he thought, I have never dreamed that someone like this could exist outside of Playboy. I was right, Twink's no Diva. Poor Zero, stuck with Diva.... She wasn't a classic beauty by any means, but her body was the stuff of Bandit's dreams. She was ever so slightly overweight, just enough to give a softness to her joints and her lines, smoothing away the angles of bone beneath the skin. Her oval face and long, aristocratic neck swept uninterrupted into gently sloping shoulders, strong arms, and the most beautiful breasts the Bandit had ever seen. He'd only really slept with a couple of women in his life, and all of them had been, by choice or chance, short and slender, with tiny A-cup breasts that suited their small frames. In that instant, at his first sight of a woman with an average-sized bustline, the Bandit became a lifelong and firmly committed breast man. "You're beautiful," he moaned, fingering her swelling nipples in disbelief. Twink's breasts weren't unduly large, but her nipples were something to see. As she sighed at his touch, they grew and swelled to the size of pencil erasers. He let his hands slide down her wide, flaring ribcage, and across her her washboard-flat stomach, pausing for a moment with his thumb in her navel and one questing finger curling about a tendril of downy, honey-blonde hair. "You're also a natural blonde," he noted with a grin, his sense of humor slowly returning. "Of course," Twink giggled. She reached up and began to undo the buttons of his shirt, whispering, "I want to see you naked, Bandit...." Suddenly he gripped her hands with his, looking hard into her eyes. "Twink," he said, "You don't have to do this. I don't know why you picked me, but I'm giving you the chance to back out now, before we go any further." She smiled up at him, her eyes bright with tears and her smile almost aglow. "I picked you," she whispered, "Because I love you. I forgive you the way you've treated me in the past, because I know you were all broken up over Teenie and how she dumped you. I want you, and I'd like for you to learn to love me, but all I really want to ask for are two things. Will you promise them to me?" He frowned. "I will, if I honestly can." "Okay. First, will you be a litle nicer to me from now on?" Her gaze was wistful, and so full of pain that that the Bandit had to swallow to keep from crying. He shook his head. "I can't promise you that, not until I get to know you better. You and I need to talk, really talk, to one another, and right now I'm in no condition to make conversation. But I will promise to give you the common courtesy I've maybe been denying you, and to help you learn to defend yourself a little better when people start picking on you...." "I'll settle for that, for a start," Twink whispered, a tear rolling down one cheek. "Hey, hey, don't cry. I want to see you laugh!" He smiled encouragingly at her, then on a sudden impulse tried tickling her ribs. She pulled away with a sharp laugh, and wiped her eyes. He found himself staring at her again, entranced by the way her breasts swung as she moved. She smiled and slipped her arms around his neck, and whispered into his lips, "My second request is as follows. If I were to tell you that I want to stay a virgin, would you be upset?" "Not at all," the Bandit said instantly. "It's your body, you have the right to control what happens to it." And to his surprise, he realized that he meant it. Mom, you raised me right, he thought to himself, but the fact that there's so much else of her to enjoy is gonna make keeping this promise a lot easier! "Thanks," she breathed, starting to unbutton his shirt again. "Now, where were we?" She peeled the shirt back from his chest, and leaned forward to kiss his nipples as she pulled the sleeves off of his arms. She dropped to her knees before him on Zero's Persian rug, and giggled as she hastily undid his belt and the snap of his jeans. Slowly, tantalizingly, she lowered his zipper and pulled his pants down to his knees. His underwear, bulging and already stained, were next, and she laughed as his penis sprang free and gently swatted her on the cheek, leaving a sticky stain. She reached up and grasped it with both hands, stroking it gently. She looked up at him, and said, "You'll have to excuse me if I'm a little awkward at this, I've only done it once before." She frowned at the memory. The Bandit caught the frown. "Really," he said, "With who? Anyone I know?" She released his penis. "Conan," she whispered. The Bandit stared aghast at her. "CO--WHY, for God's sake?" Her eyes filled with tears. "It seemed like the only way I could get close to you was to get in with one of your friends...." "Oh, Twink...." The Bandit's erection wilted. He dropped to his knees and held her tightly as she began to cry. "He, he stuck it in my mouth and started pushing it in and, and out," Twink sobbed, "And I, I wanted to run away but I was afraid he'd stop me and maybe if I made him feel good he wouldn't, wouldn't...." She broke down. The Bandit rocked her in his arms, tears in his eyes. "That son of a bitch," he whispered. "That dirty son of a bitch, I'll kill him!" "NO!" She looked up at him and grasped the sides of his face with both hands. "I don't ever want you to mention any of this to anyone. He's never tried anything since, and I just want to put it behind me. I don't want to forget that it happened. But I do want to forget enough of the hurt so I won't go through the rest of my life afraid...." She sniffled a bit. "Twinkles, how the hell'd I ever underestimate you? You're braver and more mature than anyone I know!" A tear rolled down the Bandit's face. "Oh, I love you...." She hugged him hard. After a long moment, they heaved a simultaneous sigh, and helped each other up. Twink giggled as the Bandit waddled comically over to the bed and sat down, his pants still around his ankles. "Gotta get these shoes off before I kill myself," he laughed. He quickly undid the laces and divested himself of shoes, socks, and pants, as Twink came over and sat down on the bed beside him. She started at the scratchiness of the blanket on her bare bottom. "Hey, this is wool! No wonder you're never cold at night," she marveled, running a hand over the expanse of blanket. "It's beautiful." "You're beautiful, too," he whispered, running a hand down the exquisite curve of her spine and watching her arch her back in pleasure like a cat. "And tonight, you won't be cold." Twink looked up at him, her expression suddenly pensive. "It's funny," she said softly. "I've never spent the night with anyone before." "That's okay," he smiled, running a hand through her long golden hair. "You can get used to it really easily." He drew back the covers, saying, "Hey, I just had a thought. Let's just sleep together tonight, nothing else. It'll give us a chance to get to know one another better, with no pressure." "Are you sure?" Twink looked askance at his penis, which was already erect again. "I don't want to leave you like that. Won't you burst?" "Wha-at? No, of course not! You really do have a lot to learn, don't you?" The Bandit grinned at her crestfallen expression. "Come into bed." She smiled uncertainly, and slid under the covers beside him. The Bandit sighed as Twink spread her warm body out over his like a blanket and cuddled against him with a happy smile. She's kinda heavy, he noted, but as long as she doesn't stop my breathing I guess I don't mind.... One of her hands, wandering down his belly, found and gently held his penis. "Good night, my love," she whispered. "Good night, Twink," he replied, kissing her hair. -- Mail rec.arts.erotica submissions to erotica@telly.on.ca. Most software will automatically mail your postings to that address.