The lights were out. They snuggled together under a duvet in the big new bed.
“Anne?”
“Umm?”
“Can I meet Saul?”
“Yeah, you never. You´ve never seen him. Sure. Lunch tomorrow?”
“Good. We´ve got some things to work out about our new guys.”
“Uh-huh. Just wait to meet up with us until he has his food on the table. He´s dangerous when he meets new girls. Assuming you like him, what do we do next?”
“We´ve got four guys now. First question is, are they the right four? Then, can we get them all together without a ruckus?”
“Missed a step. We need to get Saul and Will to go foursies. Won´t be a problem for Will, I guess,” Anne said.
“No, but what about you? You get that crack this morning about two kings?”
“Uh-huh. No problem for me if Saul screws you. I found out – well, I´ve always known – I love watching. Inspiring.”
“So, we need to find out about Saul. I hope I like him. I hope he goes along... But, are they the right four?”
“I don´t know. Ask me tomorrow. Turn over. I´m wiped.”
“Love this bed.”
“Love your guy, too. Put your hand on me.”
.oOo.
Saul had a bowl of soup and a sandwich for lunch. His pack of books on his back, he managed his tray easily though the crowd at the Union and set it down opposite Anne.
“Congratulations.”
“Aw, I´m only clumsy when I´m meeting a new girl.”
“Well, sit down and put your hands in your lap. Here comes my roommate.”
Saul did as he was told and looked toward Mary, who walked through the tables carrying her own tray-full of food. She wore a short, flared blue skirt and a snug red polo shirt. Her legs attracted almost as much attention as her firm breasts.
Mary set her tray on the table. “You´re Saul Katz. I´m Mary Travis. It´s nice to meet you.” She went around the corner of the table, took Saul´s face in her hands and kissed him on the lips. Saul turned bright red. Mary sat down and began to eat.
“Mary, don´t do that to my guy. He´ll have a heart attack.”
“Sorry, hon. Spur of the moment. He´s a lot cuter than you told me. Saul, you´ve got a great bod. Can you talk, too?”
With a struggle, Saul found his voice and his hands at about the same time. He grinned back at Mary and started his soup without spilling a drop.
“Yes. And thank you for kissing me. I think you blew all my clumsy fuses. You are fantastic looking, you know.”
“Thanks... Anne, Will called. I was in the room just now and he called. Said he´d put in our names at the Art School and they have this crisis today. They need someone at four o´clock. I told him one of us would be there.”
“Are you guys taking Art? Anne never mentioned it.”
“No, a friend of ours is an art student. He put our names in as figure models.”
“Well, which one of you is going to jump into the breach? Makes me wish I was an art student, too.”
“Will says Life Studies are advanced stuff. All you´d get would be a pair of oranges and a banana,” Anne said.
“I know,” Mary said, “let´s go back to the room and get some work done. We can decide who goes later.”
“Join us, Saul?”
“Sure.”
When they walked into the room, Anne noticed the pictures on the wall. Their tattered posters were gone. She looked at Mary. Mary avoided her eyes.
Saul noticed the pictures, too. There were two or three of the better sketches of the girl riders, Mary´s showdown with the bay, and the two nude pastels, all mounted in sandwich frames. He looked at them closely.
“All the same guy. Is this your friend Will?”
“Uh-huh,” said Anne.
“Good work. Really good. He must be more than a green freshman art student. Takes a lot of experience to handle pastels like that. And the pencil stuff is wonderful.”
“I kind of thought so, too,” said Mary.
“Does he sell his stuff?”
“I don´t think so. He says you can´t make any money except in commercial art,” Anne said.
“That´s true for most people, but I think he could be an exception.”
“You seem to know about this stuff,” Mary said.
“My dad collects some. Drawings, mostly. And he likes to talk about them with me. We spend a lot of time at the Chicago Institute of Art. He´s on one of the committees... Now, I´m only telling you what I think. I´m no expert.”
“Well, anyway, I´m glad you´re not upset that I posed for him.”
“Oh, come on, Anne. Don´t give me that. You don´t have any trouble taking your clothes off for anyone you like. If you haven´t been to bed with him, I´d be really surprised.”
“Mary, should I be insulted by that?”
“Not unless you get insulted by the truth. Takes a smart man to see the truth, though.”
“Look Anne. I like you a whole lot. You could even say I like you better than a bucket of ribs...”
Anne laughed, and Mary grinned broadly as she watched them.
“...but I wasn´t born yesterday. You took me home and jumped me the first time I met you, and you knew what you were doing. I liked that. You are smart, sexy, and a good swimmer, too, if that makes any difference. A really, truly woman. I plan to take you as you are, cause that´s the way I like you.”
Anne wrapped herself around him, hugging. “Thank you, Saul... Mary, you want some of this, too?”
“Only if he does.”
Saul reached out a long arm toward Mary, who let herself be folded into a three-way embrace.
When they broke apart, Saul said, “Where did you find Will? Tell me about him.”
Mary told the story while Saul and Anne snuggled on the sofa. When she was done, Saul said, “I want to meet him, see some of his other work. He sounds like a nice guy. I think I´ll like him.”
“Good,” said Anne, “now, I´ve got work to do. Mary, please pass me that history book.”
Saul dug in his pack and pulled out another copy of the freshman American History text, went to work in it. Mary turned on her computer and got her own things going. They worked comfortably together. Anne looked in Saul´s book and pointed to a passage of text. They murmured comments, went on reading.
When the phone rang, Mary picked it up. “Mary Travis. Hi, Will. Yes one of us will be there, we just haven´t picked the winner yet. Just keep guessing. ‘Bye.
“Getting late. Who goes? You want to do it, Anne?”
“If I do, will you take good care of Saul? Maybe you should show him what Will made for us yesterday.”
“Don´t mind if I do.”
“Then I´m off.”
Anne grabbed her jacket, kissed Saul soundly, and sped out the door.
.oOo.
At the Art School, Anne went to the office. “Hi, I´m Anne Stilwell. I´m supposed to model this afternoon.” The secretary gave her directions and a smile.
In the classroom, the students were just gathering. Anne introduced herself to the instructor, who showed her the changing room. Anne explained that she was new at this.
“I know. Will Spector said you were helping out. Just take off your clothes and put on this robe. We´ll probably use it as a drape. Uh, the earrings, too. I´ll ask you to wear jewelry another time. You pose for 15 minutes, take a break for not more than five minutes, then resume. The class is 90 minutes, but you only have to pose for four periods. Okay?”
Anne nodded agreement, and put her earrings in her shirt pocket. She dropped her skirt and turned to hang it on the stand provided. The instructor quickly left the room. When she was naked, she put on the robe and went out into the classroom. She mounted the pedestal and waited for instructions.
In the end, she spent the time standing. The robe was draped over a post next to her, her right hand resting on the top. She stood hip-shot, her left hand at her side. She posed looking down and to her left. The students worked busily, the instructor walked around giving advice and assistance.
At her first break, Anne simply stepped down from the platform and strolled around, looking at the students´ work. Most of it was routine, but one or two studies were very good. At each break, Anne roamed around, looking at how the work progressed, saying nothing.
After her fourth posing period, she took up the robe and put it on, making another tour of the room before dressing. When she was ready to leave, the instructor came to her.
“Thank you, that was very good. You pose well. And, thanks for not moving the robe between poses. People use that time when you´re not there to get the drape right. I forgot to tell you that. Sure you haven´t done this before?”
“No, I haven´t. Tell me, what happens to the completed work?”
“They keep it in their portfolios, usually until the end of the semester. We mark their stuff as it gets done, so they don´t really need to keep it, but many of them like to look back and see how their technique grows.”
“I liked some of them. There are one or two that I thought are quite good.”
“I noticed you looking at them. Thank you for not commenting. Yes, some are very good. Can you come again? Wednesday?”
“I have a class Wednesday. Would it be all right for my roommate to come, instead?”
“I guess so. Let´s do that, then. You come Mondays, she comes Wednesdays. Would you tell the secretary that? And she´ll want you to sign some paperwork so we can pay you.”
Anne did as he asked, and walked back toward North College.
.oOo.
“Beer?”
“Thanks. What are you working on?”
“Starting a paper for Humanities. ‘Social Attitudes at the Beginning of the Age of Enlightenment´. Just an excuse for making me prove I´ve read the material.”
“How else are they going to know? Classes are too large for anyone to know from what you might say.”
“Yeah, problem of the system, I guess. Shame they gave up tutors.”
“Too many students... You want to show me what Will made?”
“Tell me first what you think about these two pictures,” Mary pointed to the corral scene and to the pastel of her.
“I´ve told you what I think of the work. You want me to tell you what I think about the person in them. You want me to tell you what I think of you.”
“That´s right.”
“Let me ask you something else, first. At lunch today, you came up and kissed me. What was that about.?”
“I asked Anne if I could meet you. So, we set up lunch. Anne told me you get clumsy when you meet girls, so I wanted to do two things. First, to get your attention, I decided to wear something a little more noticeable than I normally do, also to see your reaction. Then second, I wanted to knock you back some so you´d forget to be clumsy. It seemed to work.”
“Thanks. Now, about the corral scene. Will shows you as strong, knowing, competent, fearless. I suspect some of the fearlessness I see there is cover-up; anyone doing what you were doing ought to have some fear, it´s a survival matter. But you come across that way in the picture.
“In the pastel, Will shows you as beautiful – which is evident from looking at you – and warm. Affectionate and fun-loving – which is evident from what you pulled on me at lunch today.
“For me, Will´s view of you in the nude is accurate. So, he´s almost certainly right about you in the corral. There´s only one thing.”
“What, for heaven´s sake?”
“I don´t make up my mind about people from pictures. I like you because I like what I see and what I feel about you.”
“Thanks... Let me show you what Will made for us. It´s in here.”
.oOo.
I have to say this about Will. When Mary took off her clothes, everything I saw, I´d seen in the nude he´d drawn. Long and gorgeous, strong and loving. We hugged and kissed and necked for a while. I tasted all of her I could reach and then she moved so I could reach that, too. Silken skin underlaid with long, firm muscle. Legs that could crush your skull – like Anne´s, only longer.
When the time came, I entered her – or, she drew me into her. Hard to say who did what. She was warm and eager and absolutely wonderfully horny. We thrust and bounced and rolled around on that big bed until we couldn´t last any longer and we both came. She howled with laughter, then told me that´s how it is with her orgasms. Pure joy. For both of us.
Somehow, I managed to stay hard and we rested for a while before we started again. It just went on and on...
.oOo.
When Anne got to the steps of North College, she heard her name. It was Will, loping along the walk from the other direction.
“Will! Hi. What are you doing here?”
“How was your session? How´d it go?”
Anne hugged him, kissed him, stood with her arms around his waist. He slipped his hands beneath her jacket.
“Great, no problems. I´ll be doing that class on Mondays for a while, I guess, and Mary will do it Wednesdays, ‘cause I´ve got a class. Actually, I really enjoyed it. Interesting to see what they do. But answer me, what are you doing here?”
“Got a call from Mary a while ago. She asked me to wait for you, meet you here and come up with you. Sounded mysterious, wouldn´t say why... I knew you´d like the posing. Not many models enjoy it, it´s just work. But there is a real process going on there, and I knew you´d find it interesting.”
“Some of the work was quite good. Really interesting. As for Mary´s call, I can guess. We brought my friend Saul Katz back from lunch and were studying. He saw your drawings, liked them. When I left, I told Mary to show him what you made for us yesterday. So, if you´re game, I think she wants us to join them.”
“He´s one of your lovers, I guess. Hadn´t been sharing, eh? Well, let´s give old Saul a surprise.”
“I think it will take a lot to surprise Saul. We can but try.”
Anne did not tap with her key at the door. Instead, she opened the door as quietly as she could. They slipped inside. There were murmurs and sounds of sex in the other room.
Anne began taking her clothes off. Will followed suit. When they were naked, they walked into the bedroom and settled down next to Saul and Mary, who were vigorously making love. Anne climbed on top of Will, slipped him inside her and settled down to loving him. Saul raised his head from Mary´s shoulder, looked at Will.
“Presume you´re Will.”
“Yeah. Hi, Saul.”
“Talk to you later, I´m busy.”
Anne bent over and kissed Mary´s lips. “Thanks, hon, for taking care of him.”
“Any time, Anne, any time.”
.oOo.
They all went to dinner together, then back to the room for more homework.
“Will,” Saul said, “you´re no freshman art student. Where´d you study before?”
“My folks teach art at Central Florida. I started pretty young. Sort of like Mary with horses.”
“You´re good, you know.”
“Thanks, but I´ve got a lot to learn.”
“I hope we all do. I think you could sell some of your stuff, if it´s like this.”
Anne said, “Mary, that reminds me. When did you frame and hang all that stuff?”
“You´re not the only Fix-It. I only had one class this morning, so I found those framey things and slapped it all together. I sort of had an idea what would happen this afternoon. Anyway, I really wanted those things on the wall. That´s where they belong.”
“Saul, I guess you know we never had a chance with these two.”
“I am willing to go happily to my fate.”
“As for selling, well, I´ll wait until lightening strikes.”
“You both staying tonight?” Anne asked.
“Will your other lovers get annoyed?” Saul asked in return.
Anne´s mouth hung open. Finally, it snapped shut.
Mary asked, warily, “How many do you figure us for?”
“Not more than a couple more,” said Will, “There´s only so much time. And you´re people who want a genuine relationship.”
“Actually, we are recruiting for a formal study group.” Anne had found her voice. She spoke solemnly. “We discussed it, and we feel the optimum is six, each with specialties in the main study areas. We also wanted to be sure we had some variety in the Arts. Our plan is to meet as a group each Friday afternoon and spend the weekends studying together. There will, of course, be time off for recreation – Mary´s riding, my swimming, football games, and certainly parties now and then. The real issue, however, is to spend enough concentrated time on schoolwork so that we can achieve...”
“Oh God, Anne, Stop,” Mary could no longer control her laughter, fell howling onto Will´s lap. Anne joined the laughter until they all fell silent. Saul dug in the fridge for beer, handed it around.
“Okay. Here we are. I know you were hamming it up, Anne, but you meant what you said, right?”
“Every word.”
“Objective?”
“I interrupted her,” Mary pointed out. “The objective is to get to the top of the class as quickly as possible and stay there until graduation.”
“With plenty of screwing in the bargain,” said Saul. “Exclusive? No outsiders?”
“Not exclusive. Only on weekends, when the group is working. The rest of the time, we all have our options open. Just, we´ve got to be careful about diseases. Safe sex outside the group.”
“Can you get fired from this group?” Will asked.
“Don´t know. Haven´t discussed it. I think it´s going to be pretty hard, because Mary and I really like all of you. I had a group going during High School, three guys, three girls, and we never had any problems. On the other hand, anyone who wants to, can quit.”
Saul said, “So far, I don´t have a problem. When do we meet the other guys? Want to tell us who they are?”
“They don´t know all the details yet,” Mary said. “We´ve only just gotten them used to foursomes.”
Anne said, “If you won´t discuss it with them...”
The two men agreed.
“...They are Tom Harrison and Alex Jefferson.”
“Think I know Alex,” Will said, “he lives here in North.”
Saul asked, “How do you plan to break the news to them? I mean, I don´t imagine – since you´ve been swapping together – that they have any great illusions about true love, or anything.”
“Saul Katz, you rat-fink!” Anne flared. “I care just as much for Tom and Alex as I do for each of you. And so does Mary. If you want to get fired, you´re on your way.”
“No, Anne, I said that badly. I didn´t mean to say you don´t care for them. I mean that this arrangement is not intended as true love. You see it as a practical arrangement between good friends who like to sleep together.”
“Sorry. You´re right. I´m a long way from wanting to get married. So is Mary, I think...”
Mary nodded, “But we like men, we like sex – loving, high-quality sex, anyway. We want to do extremely well in school, and have some fun. We think six heads are better than one.”
“I guess I should have asked whether the other two see it the way you do.”
“We need to find that out, Saul, you´re right. I´m sorry I blew up.” Anne went and sat on Saul´s lap, hugging him.
“I have a suggestion,” Will said. “Why don´t you two explain the idea to Tom and Alex. If they´ve been sleeping with both of you and aren´t jealous, they probably aren´t thinking of marriage or exclusive relationships either. Tell them what you have in mind, preferably in bed with suitable demonstrations. Then, if they agree, let the four of us guys meet together and see if we hit it off. We can work out any issues we might have, and let you know.”
“That´s a great idea,” Anne said. “I´ve been trying to figure it out for days. That´s perfect. At least, it´s perfect if it works.”
“Guys,” said Mary, her arm tight around Will´s neck, “thank you for really understanding what we want.”
“Well, Mary, it may not have occurred to you, but it happens to be what we want, too. That makes it simple.”
Mary sat up and pulled her polo shirt over her head.
“So, are you guys staying tonight?”
.oOo.
On Tuesday afternoon, Mary answered the telephone.
“Mary Travis... Hi, Sarah... Golly, wait. Let me put you on the speaker so Anne can hear. Okay, would you say that again?”
Sarah´s voice spoke from the instrument. “Well, it´s two things, really. First, I need to know if you can come tomorrow and help me with this group of girls. It´s a different bunch than the ones you met Saturday. It would really help me a lot. I can brief you on what to have them do. I´m sure you won´t have any problems.”
“Well, the problem is, I promised to do something tomorrow afternoon, and Anne has a class then, can´t take my place.”
Anne interrupted. “Mary, I can do it. It isn´t until four, and my history class gets out at three thirty. You go help Sarah.”
“Anne, thank you. I hope I get to meet you soon. Is that okay, Mary?”
“Yes, I´m really unsure about the teaching, though. Can we agree that this is temporary?”
“If that´s what it has to be, of course. Now, the other thing is, can Will come out, too? I´ve had calls from the families of three of the girls he sketched last Saturday. They want him to do drawings of their daughters on horseback. I told them it was going to cost them at least $60, but they would have to settle that with Will.
“Wow!”
“Now, can you see if Will can come with you tomorrow, so we can talk about this? I think it would be a good idea if he started giving rough sketches to all the girls who ride with me, and we´ll see if he can get more commissions. These people aren´t poor or they couldn´t afford riding lessons. And Will is good.”
“Well, of course, he´s not here, Sarah,” Anne slugged Mary´s arm. “But I can call him and see what he says. I´ll bring him with me if I can. Thanks for thinking of that.”
“Mary, the more service I can give my customers, the better. And maybe some day Will can complete that drawing of Zulu for me.”
“Oh, I´m sure he will, Sarah. You want me to call you after I talk to Will?”
“No, just be sure and bring him – if you can. Okay?”
“Okay. Say, Sarah. How´s The Bay?”
“The Bay? I guess that´s his new name: The Bay. He´s a lot better, Mary, thanks. I can handle him a lot better now, mucking out and all, but I still can´t let anyone else near him and he´s nowhere near ready to ride.”
“Oh, no. Don´t try it yet, Sarah. I think I can get him rideable for you, but it´s not time yet. I´ll let you know.”
“He´s really almost a pleasure to work with now. Much quieter. And he is a beauty. See you tomorrow. ‘Bye.”
Mary looked at Anne, and turned to dial Will´s number. When she reached him, she explained what Sarah proposed.
“You can? Great. Meet me for lunch tomorrow. Right. Bye.”
Mary turned and hugged Anne. “This is terrific! I still don´t know about the teaching, but it´s great for Will. Thanks so much for taking my modeling shot.”
“Hey, I enjoyed the first one, I can stand to do it again. It´s no sweat. But I hope you get a chance to do it, too. I just know you´ll get a kick out of it.
“Mary, do you think this is something special for Will?”
“Who knows? He can just give it a shot. See where it goes. That´s what he said just now.”
.oOo.
Anne got to the Union for a late lunch. She wore a long, chocolate-brown, zip-front corduroy jumper dress over a plain white tee-shirt.
Tom was sitting with a good-looking woman. She had short, dark curly hair and wore jeans with a snug, navy wool sweater over small, high breasts. There was no sign of Mary or Will.
Anne got food and saw Tom´s lady get up and leave. She counted to fifty and set her tray at his table.
“Hi. Can I join you?”
“Of course. What do you think of Sigrid?”
“Who?”
“The woman I had lunch with. I saw you come in – she didn´t. She just left.”
“She´s really good looking, Tom. You like her?”
“So far. Don´t know her too well.”
“How about meeting Mary and me for supper tonight, if you haven´t got anything else going?”
“I don´t. I will. What about Alex? Or, is that out of line?”
“No. I´ll see him in history next hour. I´ll ask him, too. We want to get started prepping for the history hour exam next week. Thought we could do it together. About six?”
“Good idea. Count me in.”
They talked about other things while Anne ate her lunch, then walked off toward their classes.
In the history lecture hall, Alex sought her out. They sat together. Anne´s skirt was slit to mid-thigh on both sides. She made sure Alex got the view.
“Nice skirt. Nicer leg,” he said.
“Mary and I are going to start working on the History exam tonight. Tom´s coming to help. Can you come, too? We´re going to meet at the Union for supper about six.”
“Need any beer?”
“Bring some, if you want. We still have some, too. But, we´re out of English muffins. I just remembered.”
“I´ll think of something.”