After AnimeCon 2: It's Complicated

    Candace led with her contribution—a cardboard carrypack with six bottles of Condor Lite. Following this outstretched offering was a tidy-looking woman with dark brunette hair who seemed to look across the gathering around the fire and immediately put on a sheepish smile, as if realizing she was overdressed for the occasion. Her outfit was cute and professional in a sporty way; a blue short-sleeve women’s golf polo buttoned the whole way up, paired with a white skirt that extended down to just above her knee. Brian could easily imagine the ensemble looking right at home around the tennis courts in one of Seneca’s nicer parks, or fitting right in at one of the country clubs.

    “Hey, everyone?” Candace lowered the beers and gave them all a well-practiced little wave as if embarrassed. “She uh. She told me not to bring anything, but I thought—um, so yeah.”

    “Totally cool, totally cool,” Michael assured her. “Becky loves slaughtering herself some Condors—we’ve mostly been goin’ through the cheapo stuff tonight, so.”

    “Oh hi!” Becky greeted. “Uh yeah, may I? Definitely fucking need one of those, right now…”

    “Of course! Yeah,” Candace raised the carrypack up so Becky could grab one. “Please?”

    “Candace,” Tanya said, raising a finger and beginning to point people out. “This is Becky, Aunt Mattie, Emily, Kelly, Brian.”

    “Hi!”

    “Nice to meet you—”

    “Yo.”

    “Hey.”

    “Then, that’s Mark, Mary, Caitlyn—”

    “It’s Katie—”

    “—Katie, Katie’s friend…?”

    “Oh uh, I’m Dottie?”

    “Yes yes, Dottie, Michael, Monique, Chloe, and then Will will be back in some time, he left to pick up everyone food,” Tanya finished. “Don’t worry, you do not need to remember any of their names except Brian—he’s the good-looking one.”

    “What? I’m not Brian, he’s Brian,” Mark pretended to be confused by her words.

    “Mark shut the fuck up,” Mary hissed.

    “So I thought this was gonna be like, a bonfire get together, not like some stupid blind date setup that’s always about fucking Brian?” Monique scoffed. “I don’t even buy into the whole bullshit sob story about—”

    “But I’m the handsome one, obviously?” Mark looked around for support. “Right? Back me up, here.”

    “Mark…” Michael stepped over and began rubbing Mark’s shoulders. “We’re all out of no homos for tonight…”

    “Ew?” Mary made a face. “Tanya, can you make them stop?”

    “I’m in danger!” Emily called in her high-pitched Rolph Wickums voice.

    “Ignore them, they’re idiots,” Tanya said. “Come, come sit with Brian. Brian, I’d like you to meet Candace, she is very nice and very single.”

    “Oh uh, wow,” Candace couldn’t help but wince. “I mean yeah, but you don’t have to say it like very single…”

    “Sit. Sit with Brian,” Tanya took the carrypack of Condors and pushed Candace towards the couch. “I’ll take those, yes thank you. Sit. Get to know each other.”

    When she stepped closer and Brian could take a better look at Candace, the first immediate impression made was realizing their difference in age. He and almost all of his peers here were in their early twenties, and a four year gap here felt like the leap between acknowledging girls like Emily and Kelly as young women, to then seeing Candace as an adult woman. She was very pretty and she had a good figure, but there was a sense of maturity to her that just set her apart from the younger girls here. Rather than shy or nervous to meet him, she appeared uncomfortable in an oh God what am I doing here exasperated-with-herself sort of way.

    “Hi there?” Candace said, smoothing out her skirt and then taking the last spot on the couch just beside Brian. “Tanya, she uh, she told me so much about you?”

    “Yeah, she’s very pushy tonight,” Brian chuckled. “Nice to meet you, though.”

    “Same!” Candace replied.

    There was a slight, awkward pause, and then Candace seemed to make up her mind and treat him like her date tonight. She shifted over towards him a bit more on the cushion until their legs were touching, and then she carefully combed a hand through her hair and tucked her bangs behind one ear so that they wouldn’t block her view of him. The sudden proximity also made him aware of her lavender perfume, and Brian didn’t miss the sour expressions across the fire as Mary and Katie both exchanged looks of irritation.

    Tanya tonight however was an astute wingman, and immediately led both Becky and Aunt Mattie over to stand towards the woodpile side of the bonfire clearing rather than the entrance side. This gave them on the couch some more space to talk with privacy, and with the way the separate groups chatted now, they stood as a buffer between where Brian and the girls sat, separating them off from the half-dozen lawn chairs ringing the other side of the fire where Mark, Michael, Katie, and Dottie were seated. Monique and Chloe had pulled their chairs off further still, and from his end of the couch Brian now couldn’t see them at all because the big bonfire itself was in the way.

    “I, uh, I work with Tanya!” Candace began. “Obviously. And, also at the library in town. Actually, that’s why I’m really here—do you know a girl named Stephanie Brandt?”

    “I do!” Brian confirmed with a wry smile. “She’s my… well—”

    “So yeah, I thought so,” Candace chuckled, leaning forward to peek past him at the other occupants of the couch. “‘Cause, yeah she mentioned you, and I recognized these two, from when she came in for her interview. Hi?”

    “‘Sup?” Emily said.

    “Surprised you remember us,” Kelly remarked.

    “You’re hard to forget!” Candace said. “She was pink, and then we have blue and red. I half figured Brian here might have—I dunno—green hair, or something? Ms. Brandt mentioned she might maybe be moving in with you, Brian? At the end of her semester.”

    “I do think that’s the plan,” Brian honestly admitted.

    “Okay, cool,” Candace nodded, evaluating him with her eyes for a moment before lowering her voice. “I, uh. I don’t think you’re actually quite as single as Tanya thinks you are? Not that that’s like, any sort of problem! I know that Tanya sees me as ready to like, settle down and remarry immediately, but there’s just a lot going on right now. Uh, I don’t mean it to sound like I’m just trying for hookups. At all. Just—yeah, like having fun with friends, and uh, making new friends? Right now? That sort of thing?”

    “Hey, I’m not judging,” Brian said. “I’m in a sort of… complicated relationship, right now?”

    “It’s not complicated,” Emily whispered. “Brian basically has a harem!”

    Hearing Emily say it out loud like that put him on edge, but also he recognized she was using her silly matter of fact tone of delivery to indicate she was joking, just like she’d done earlier with her story. The problem was, she wasn’t joking, and then also putting that admission out there to a girl they were meeting for the first time made him feel like they were trying to give the impression that Brian was some kind of playboy or womanizer.

It was a strange and uncomfortable position to find himself in.

    “Oh!” Candace blinked. “I uh. Wow, okay. So, I guess—?”

    “Pink, you’ve met. Blue. Red,” Emily indicated herself and then Kelly. “Silver is a secret, for right now! Brown is pending.”

    “You—you guys have a color code?!” Candace whispered with a laugh. “Oh my God. Oh my God. I, uh, wow! The librarian uh, compulsive organizer in me just went, like—yeah for polyamory that makes total sense. I’m all for it. Okay. Normally I guess that would sound absolutely bonkers, but. Yeah wow, you know actually Tanya uhh, wasn’t overselling you at all, Brian? You’re surprisingly really good-looking? Can I say that?”

    “Thank… you?” Brian couldn’t help but grin.

    “And, I mean like, she would not fucking shut up about you,” Candace chuckled. “Sooo, expectations were already pretty high?”

    “Yeah, sorry about that,” Brian nodded. “Tanya can get kinda… pushy. Once she has her mind set on something.”

    “Oh, trust me I know,” Candace laughed and then hesitated for a moment. “So like—uh. Can I ask? Are you guys actually even… open? To anything? More people? Are there openings, do you—I have no idea how things work with that poly sort of stuff. I suppose you find a way to make it work? Would I need to apply for a color?”

    Emily giggled and gave Brian an unsubtle nudge that pushed him up against Candace more—and he felt the awkward sudden discomfort of needing to adjust his pants. Brian had to mentally pause for a moment, clearing his head of that sudden instinctive flash of embarrassment and guilt… because he actually did not have a boner, right now. Something was jammed up in his one pants pocket all weird, and it became more noticeable with the slight shift in the way he was sitting. Not remembering what he might have shoved in there back when they were getting ready, Brian reached down to check his pocket.

    Oh, fuck— Brian’s eyebrows shot up as he realized he was pulling the harem charm partway out of his pocket, right next to where Candace was practically pressed up against him.

    In a slight surge of panic he tried to quickly shove it back in, but the folds of the fabric caught it in a strange way and it almost refused to go back in. Candace realized he was trying to reach his pocket and leaned away from him for a moment to give him more space, but her hand was drawing back across her thigh and then her hip and trailing fingers were about to brush across the charm on accident—

    Brian clamped his whole hand over the unruly charm, and the girl’s errant fingers instead traced slightly across the edge of his wrist.

    “I uh, sorry, one sec,” Brian apologized.

    “Your phone?” Candace guessed.

    He was forced to stand up off the couch just to finally cram the wooden charm back into his pocket there, because somehow with the way the folds of his pants sat, it just did not want to go back in otherwise. It took him a sheepish moment to remember that way back in Tionetta, Rebecca had taken special care to pass the trinket over to him without allowing it to make contact with her skin. When they got back to Seneca and were getting ready for the bonfire, Brian had changed his shirt but left on these same pants—somehow completely forgetting about the charm stashed away there in his pocket.

    Which sure seems like a rather IMPORTANT DETAIL I wouldn’t normally have blanked on, Brian thought as he slowly returned to his seat. Feel like this has happened before, too. Where normally we SHOULD all be thinking about where the blasted thing is and whether or not it’s safe and secure—and then we all just… DON’T. Somehow completely just slips out of mind.

    “What do you think, Brian?” Emily giggled—perhaps imagining that Brian really had been adjusting his pants because of some sudden erection. “Room for one more? Oh, but Candy, you don’t pick the color—the color picks you.”

    “Candace, please,” Candace winced. “I uh, yeah so I had stepsisters growing up, and. Yeah, I just don’t like people calling me Candy.”

    “Oh, my bad,” Emily dropped the teasing tone. “Seriously.”

    “Don’t worry about it!” Candace assured her. “Happens more often than you’d think, still. Somehow. Even in professional settings...”

    “You do seem real cool, and any friend of Tanya’s is a friend of mine,” Brian started to say. “But…”

    “But, no dice?” Candace asked. “Aggh. I uh, well yeah I figured.”

    “No, it’s more like—” Brian paused to share glances with Emily and Kelly. “It’s not just a me decision, anymore? So. I’d want to know for sure that everyone’s cool with you. Have more time to get to know you better.”

    “I’d say it’s up to Steph,” Kelly gave them a shrug. “She needs to be the one to vet newcomers.”

    “Newcomers—newcolors?” Emily sounded it out. “But, which one would she be…?! White? Purple? Uhhh. Tan? Cyan? Mauve? Salmon?!”

    “Oh, hey no—that makes total sense!” Candace nodded in approval. “Yeah, I get that. Ms. Brandt—Stephanie seemed very uh, cool! Really knew her stuff, and everything. Which is going to be huge a relief, because some of those older ladies we have there? Are just super set in their ways and not adjusting to some of the new catalogue systems at all. And then Ms. Sanderson’s way overdue to retire, she has to be pushing ninety and now I think she has more leave of absence days than she does days where she can actually come in and work. We are absolutely going to hire Ms. Stephanie! She’ll be great, and uh, yeah. Not trying to just push my way into things with you guys, if there’s already stuff going on? We can see how things go. I uh, if you want I can give you some space, tonight?”

    “No, no,” Brian surprised himself by daring to lean back and then put an arm around her. “Here.”

    Candace had spoken with measured good cheer, and her smile was friendly but a little bit too composed for him to take at face value. At Tanya’s behest, Candace had dressed up nice and then arrived amidst a group of strangers, somewhat putting herself out there, only to realize right away that the setup had fallen through long before she ever had a chance. Putting himself in her shoes, Brian couldn’t help but want to comfort her—he couldn’t stand the idea that Candace would leave tonight feeling defeated and humiliated, all because he and his girls had been trying to keep their circumstances secret from the rest of their friends.

    “Oh?” To her credit, Candace seemed to intuit this and did not react to his arm around her, except to lean into him as if this was natural. “Go on.”

    “It’s uh, this stuff with me and the girls here, it’s complicated, and we’ve been trying to keep low key with it. Don’t want the rest of our friends here making some huge deal over it. But well, now they all think I’m single, and suddenly everyone is bringing along someone to the bonfire to try to matchmake with me.”

    “The one over there giving you the positively venomous look is my little sister!” Emily confided. “She thought she had a shot, and I mean psshh, get real. Mary’s being all pissy now, too—the Chinese girl, there. Becky actually… you know, I thought she would be floppin’ her big boobies all over Bri tonight, but she legitimately looks like she’s about to go over there and fucking strangle Chloe, instead? Surprisingly.”

    “Chloe is Brian’s ex,” Kelly explained, lazily gesturing a finger. “The one sitting over there.”

    “Ooh, yeah, I uh,” Candace gave them a grimace and shifted herself against Brian to situate herself more comfortably. “I overheard… some of that? When I was about to walk up. Wasn’t even sure if I should, hah, should have waited a minute to speak up, or. I don’t know?”

    “Y’know, Brian? I was real against Becky at first, but seeing how absolutely pissed she is over what Chloe did to you?” Emily held her chin as she pondered out loud. “Actually, she gets points for that from me.”

    “I… don’t know that me and Becky would ever work out,” Brian admitted. “Like uh, I like Becky, but maybe not in that way? She’s a friend.”

    “Is it because she’s fat, or is it because she used to give Will pity handjobs?” Emily asked. “At least, that’s what I heard from Scotty. She did used to get around the guys in the group quite a bit…”

    “No, no, it’s just—weird?” Brian said. “Like, she’d just be doing it because she’s curious, not because she’s really interested in ever actually being with me. Maybe I’ve known her for too long? I don’t know. Did, uh, did she really give Will pity handjobs?!”

    “Oh, my,” Candace remarked.

    “Brian, if you want handjobs, there’s not gonna be any pity involved,” Kelly said in a seductive purr—eliciting a giggle of surprise from Candace.

    “Hmm—” Emily thought about it. “You know what? Okay, I actually do get that vibe from Becky, like she just wants to try out all of the flavors of guy here at least once. Okay, yeah. Like I was tellin’ ya, Kell—she’s a sloot. She’s for the streets.”

    “What happened to her having points?” Kelly teased.

    “Oh no, she did still earn a buncha points,” Emily explained. “Just, she doesn’t have enough. Five points. She would still need way more. I’m keeping tallies.”

    “I like that, a points system,” Candace said. “You guys have your thing with Brian, and then you can do up some rewards cards? For girls to punch.”

    “Damn, that’s brilliant!” Emily praised. “Five points to Candace! That’s a good suggestion. We’ll have to price getting cards done up at a screenprinter? Pamphlets, too.”

    “Ooh, points!” Candace giggled. “Thank you.”

    “No, thank you.”

    As he settled back against the couch cushions and tried to force himself to relax, Brian couldn’t shake the slight dissonant weirdness at play, here. If he was being honest with himself, he didn’t think he was all that interested in Candace, romantically speaking. But, for a minute there after rediscovering the charm was right there in his pocket, he found himself driven to distraction and couldn’t help but imagine what it would be like kissing her. Would her neck smell like lavender? Would it be soft, sensitive, and responsive to exploration with his lips, maybe tiny little nibbles? Would the calm and collected Candace keep her cool, or would he be able to fluster her with some touching and teasing? Did this minx have a hidden passionate side, was she vocal in bed? 

    Charm effect, Brian told himself with an incredulous smile. Has to be. Like it just wants me to zap new girls into the harem. Incentivize it, with a little boost of, uh, libido, I guess? Happened way back there with Rebecca for a little bit, had us putting our hands all over each other and ROLLING AROUND IN THE DIRT. With Rebecca it was way more intense, even. It… it’s like it AMPS UP immediate hormones or, or feelings or something. Whenever there’s a chance. I don’t know. I need to get it under control, though…

    Although a good deal of Emily’s friendliness with Candace might be because she thought Brian was attracted to her, and Kelly was being polite enough—Brian himself just plain did not feel ready to add new people into their harem. Especially not people he was just now meeting for the first time. Rebecca was a bit of a different story, because while she’d been a distant peripheral friend back before, since the AnimeCon adventure she had been involved with them and the magic. She had been their serious, dependable person who dealt with Chloe on her own for the whole past month.

    With Rebecca, yeah I TRUST her, I really do, Brian thought. That’s enough to build something real off of. More than enough. We have chemistry, there, too. I feel like we can be a definite thing. With Candace? I don’t know at all. I don’t know her. I can maybe give her a chance way on in months to come—when I suppose her and Stephanie will be work friends at the library?

    Even that sounded like too much for him, though. Brian wanted their group to be a small, tight-knit one, a family. Overextending himself, or allowing there to be ‘casual’ members of the group—he didn’t like that thought at all. Emily maybe might like that idea just because she wanted to see what powers a girl might get, as if each new person they zapped was a free spin of the prize wheel. To his surprise, he really didn’t like that idea, there was just something antithetical about continuing to reach for more past what he thought of as the core group that he was absolutely in love with.

    Maybe that will change in the future, when or if we get to know Candace and get real close to her? Brian thought. Fuck. Or, maybe this is just a personal hangup of mine. I don’t know. What happened with Stephanie and Kelly was special, REALLY special. And then, bringing Emily into it just felt… right. Natural. I didn’t think I was ready for Christine, or even Rebecca, but then things just kind of TURNED OUT that way, and no I don’t regret that. I do have genuine feelings for both of them, and I’m committed to making that work out. I just don’t KNOW Candace, and I feel myself suddenly getting super guarded and defensive, now.

    On the outside of his pants, his thumb traced along the edge he could feel of the charm hidden in his pocket.

    Maybe I just really don’t like that the charm just FLOODS me with GO GO GO SIGNALS, Brian thought. With this girl I just met. Probably doing the same with her, somehow. Fuck, my arm’s around her and everything. That’s honestly not cool, it just felt really RIGHT in the moment. I get that it wants to do it’s thing or whatever, but right now I just want to love and appreciate the girls I’m already with. You hear that, little buddy? I’m starting to think you and I do not have the same priorities.

* * *

    “Alright guys—c’mon,” Michael whispered. “What do you think?”

    “About Candace?” Mary huffed. “Or, about Kelly?”

    “That Kelly chica? Lady’s stacked, and that’s a fact,” Mark shrugged, leaning out to take a quick peek past Michael’s shoulder over at the girl. “Fuck, I dunno. More kinda caught up in the whole ‘Chloe tryin’ to frame Brian for a serious sex crime?’ Like—what the fuck.”

    “But, what’s with Chloe not saying shit back there when Kelly just straight-up kisses her?” Mary said. “Weird. Really weird. Like, what’s the deal, there? What the fuck is really going on? This whole crying rape thing—”

    “Yeah,” Michael nodded. “I mean, yeah. Should we like, say something?”

    “Yes!” Becky growled. “We fuckin’ should. You know Brian goes too easy on Chloe. He always did. Who the fuck lets—”

    “And, isn’t that like, a legit crime?!” Mary demanded. “False accusations.”

    “S’a misdemeanor, probably?” Michael guessed. “Like, intentionally filing a false police report. Chloe, though? Probably just get a slap on the wrist. Isn’t her dad some bigshot?”

    “Meanwhile—Brian would’ve lost his job,” Becky said. “Lost friends. Lost a lot of things.”

    “Wouldn’t have lost that many friends,” Michael argued. “None of us would’ve believed it. Sexual assault? Brian? Yeah bro, no way in hell. Not buyin’ it.”

    “So—does she still have him all dancing on her little strings?” Mark asked. “Dancing to her tune? Because, it’s hard to tell. With her uh, I guess fraud attempt all out in the open, like that? It’s weird. Can’t even tell for sure if they’re being serious or not.”

    “Emily exaggerates everything,” Katie said. “So, I want to just call bullshit, but then when Chloe speaks up, she’s like—‘yeah, that did happen,’ and Brian also goes along with it, until it’s like—what the actual fuck?”

    “Fuckin’ weird,” Michael agreed. “But Mark, you shoulda seen like, some of this, man! You were right there at fuckin’ AnimeCon, with all of them!”

    “Fuck that,” Mark denied. “I had my tournament, I’m tryin’ to get ranked. If Brian was smart? He woulda been in there right next to me stackin’ decks. Instead of—getting caught up in all that stupid relationship drama bullshit. I’m the smart one, here.”

    “I legit just thought no one was going, this year!” Becky hissed. “What the hell. It’s AnimeCon, AnimeCon’s fun? We shoulda just all gone anyways. Next year, we’re going.”

    “Trying to remember what we did do back that weekend,” Michael ran a hand through his hair. “This was… last month? Last month and some change? Probably was out in the woods with Scotty and Will. We were doin’ dirtbike stuff all the time, ‘til my clutch started slipping, there. Then, Scotty had some B.S. goin’ on with his fuel line, and took most of his apart—”

    “Well, can we like, make sure Chloe starts getting uninvited to whatever we’re doing?” Mark shot Michael a look. “From now on? Fuck it, I never fucking liked her in the first place.”

    “Seriously,” Mary added her scowl. “Yeah.”

    “What’re you lookin’ at me for?!” Michael laughed. “I’m not the fuckin’ arbiter of—”

    “It’s not even just that, though,” Katie pointed out. “Like, Emily’s acting like she’s cool with it. Which is—fucking weird, and out of character for her? I know my sister. If Chloe pulled that kind of bullshit on Brian, Emily would be more than just seething about it. Certainly wouldn’t be, like, cracking jokes, telling goofy stories. If Chloe tried to bury Brian with a rape accusation? Emily would be fucking clawing that girl’s eyes out.”

    “Yeah…” Becky scowled. “Pretty fucking tempted to, myself? I think you’re right. That is weird.”

    “She does seem weirdly… detached from it?” Mark observed. “I thought that maybe she’s just finally over Brian. Or, maybe her new girl Kelly keeps talking her down? Only thing I could see happening. I mean damn, that girl’s got herself some uhh, powers of persuasion. Ain’t got a bra or nothin’ holdin’ all that back.”

    “I don’t like it,” Becky said. “I don’t like it. Someone should go talk to her. Emily, I mean.”

    “Not me!” Katie crossed her arms. “Fuck that. I’m not touchin’ any of that with a ten foot—”

    “Seriously though, guys, Mark said in a daze, leaning back in his chair to look over again. “Those are insane. Massive fucking tiddies, I mean, goddamn.”

    “Okay yeah we get it—”

    “Oh, shut up,” Becky used her sneaker to kick dirt in Mark’s direction. “They’re not even as big as mine, and—”

    “Yeah, but hers are still real damn perky for their size, and on her frame?” Mark scowled, leaning down to make sure he didn’t get dirt on his pant leg. “Sure, yeah pound for pound you might—”

    “They’re probably not even real,” Katie groused, crossing her arms in front of her own much smaller chest. “I bet they’re not.”

    “Bet,” Michael said. “Those’re big ol’ naturals. Trust me, I can tell. Got an eye for the way they move. That little bit of—”

    “Yeah right, like I’d trust you to—”

    “Um, hello, can we focus on the Chloe bullshit, guys?” Mary scowled. “Not all the sluts fucking airing out their goods here, tonight?”

    “Yeah, Tanya’s right fucking there, Michael! I don’t think she’d appreciate—”

    “They’re implants,” Katie insisted. “They’ve gotta be. No way does—”

    “I think they’re real?” Dottie murmured. “They look real.”

    “How old is she, anyways?” Mark asked.

    “Y’all didn’t go on like nasty perverts like this back when Chloe was ‘in’ with everyone,” Mary muttered. “Not that I think—”

    “Guys, hello?” Becky sighed. “They’re not even THAT big—”

    “Listen, girl like Kelly?” Michael shook his head. “You can see those things comin’ from around the corner. And still have time to slick back your hair. The moment I—”

    “Can we shut up about her fat tits for one second?!” Mary groaned. “Who even cares?! Guys don’t like them that big, anyways!”

    “Whoa, whoa, I wouldn’t go that far,” Becky frowned. “Guys do like a big ol’ healthy-looking pair. Just, Kelly’s kind of too skinny, honestly? Like, they don’t fit her body type, they’re too big for her frame, and don’t look right. She needs a bit more weight on her bones.”

    “Becky…” Mark groaned, tilting his head back. “Fuck off, Becky.”

    “Fuck off, Becky,” Mary agreed.

    “No, fuck you guys!” Becky stamped her feet with a motion that purposefully made her enormous breasts jiggle. “Seriously.”

* * *

    “She is very pretty, but…” Aunt Mattie fretted. “I really don’t know, Tanya. She’s quite a bit older, she has a kid…”

    “Is all smokescreen,” Tanya confided in a whisper. “Candace say she is looking for something serious, I play along. She is not looking for something serious, she is just saying this so as not to attract only a bunch of fuckboys. She needs to get laid, Brian definitely needs to get laid. They are both very nice and good for each other, for right now. Lucky matchup and good timing.”

    “Well,” Aunt Mattie paused, glancing back over and letting out a sigh. “What if…? Well, you know what I’m talking about. I’m not sure Brian will see things that way. Even if this Candace girl does! He has a big heart, and he gets so serious about relationships, Tanya. I mean—look at all he went through for Chloe! It’s unbelievable.”

    “Is why he just needs to get laid!” Tanya sniffed. “Get head out of past, and move on. Palate cleanser, see her? They are both of them just like celery sticks. Brian is boring good man who won’t hound after her for sex always. Then for him, Candace is flavorless nice girl who is not part of group—only a mess if Emily, or Becky, or those little brat bitches involved!

“We do not need any more of that. Trust me! Candace will press him down into mattress for few weekends, and then step back and draw lines, disengage. Both will be able to move on. She is not interested in remarry, or have him be involved with her son. I know these things—because I listen to what she say, and I listen very carefully to what she do not say.”

    “You’ve been wrong before,” Aunt Mattie teased. “Remember when—”

    “Yes, yes, long time ago,” Tanya nodded. “Long long time. And, only about stupid idiotic Michael! Everyone always wrong about him, because he is Michael, and defies all logic. This, this is what both of them need, Brian and Candace both. I’m being a good matchmaker here, the best.”

    “Then, since you started this,” Aunt Mattie said with a raspy chuckle. “If he gets Candace pregnant? You have to babysit for them for free.”

    “That… is fair,” Tanya conceded with a growl. “But, that will not happen. I don’t think. Why—why you must always tempt fate like that?! Aunt Mattiieee—”

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/// It's my birthday! Despite my pen name being Forty I'm not forty yet, though it does loom ever closer. Doing a mass release here for Renfaire Fantasy to celebrate, expect several more chapters spread out over the course of today.

Edit: YeMcBear sent me this last night!