My Freaky Freshman Year Pt. 03

My Freaky Freshman Year

Chapter 3 of 4

All characters are over the age of 18 at the time of any sexual activity.

We continue to winter term. Now broken up and no longer at the same school, their connection changes. An chance encounter for Spring Break changes the stakes.

A huge shout out to my beta readers and editors: thatsbogus, SpotInTheSand, and Rawsilhouette, all fantastic Lit authors. Please consider browsing their author pages for some great stories.

* * *

I'd been back at school for a couple of weeks.

Lily isn't here.

We aren't together.

The predictable waves of emotion had easily pushed me around like a rudderless boat. The first few days of January were awful, my mental state repeatedly falling into the valleys of you have nothing to live for, then having to force myself up and out of the pain and sometimes anger at where I was.

By the middle of the month, I'd at least not had a breakdown episode in a few days, and I felt like something bordering on decent. I allowed myself a proud moment on the way to class one morning simply because I felt okay. The horrible things Lily was probably going through were usually the sobering reminder that I was still in a very good place, universe-wise.

To his credit, my buddy Frat Dean intuited my mental state the first time we met up and practically demanded I start working out with him. Between the obvious benefits for track season and the endorphin-fueled improvement on my mood, I agreed.

My friends and roommates Adam and Chrissy took the better part of a week to stop walking on eggshells around me. Once I convinced them that I would in fact continue to live and exist, they happily welcomed me as a kind of third wheel that I was more than happy to roll with. Chrissy was of course minorly devastated about her roommate and their family's horrible scenario. The two of them were in touch pretty frequently, and I took to largely getting my news of the Whitlocks from Chrissy. I knew that being clingy and over-communicating with Lily would be that much harder on her than me, and I certainly didn't want to pile on. She had only her dad and sister to lean on, I was physically surrounded by friends and was in an environment that was literally designed for positive growth. Everything was just so... unfair.

Not that I didn't communicate with her, there was no way we were going to pretend the other person didn't exist. We talked mostly over text. I had no idea if she would be sitting in a hospital or doctor's office, or spending precious time with her mom and family. I kept most of our conversations topical, asking about her mom's treatment or how many runs she'd been on since our last chat.

I was surprised that she actually FaceTimed me toward the end of our first week apart. I was still in the throes of our breakup and wasn't sure I could take even seeing her face. The smile I hadn't really seen since Christmas threw me for an unexpected loop as we talked over video. She had managed to get her classes and credits transferred to the local community college, and would be starting the next Monday. Her schedule was really flexible, and all classes offered both remote and asynchronous options. She could still be there for her family, while not losing much time in college. I sighed happily as she excitedly told me, Lily the planner, taking charge of her life and rescuing at least a part of her hopes and dreams.

After we ended the call, I tumbled pretty hard into a what-if scenario I'd amazingly not considered yet.

If it wasn't for the distance, would things be different? Would we still be together?

I nuked that thought from orbit.

Not only would she kill me if I dropped out of college to be closer, it would absolutely wreck her.

I flipped the situation and nearly started hyperventilating, imagining if she'd done it for me.

Nope, I couldn't live with myself.

* * *

With running, working out, good friends by my side, and regular revisits of my mom talks... I was grudgingly proud that by the end of January, I felt like some reasonable facsimile of Theo. Chrissy noticed immediately, and was curiously ecstatic that I'd apparently turned some kind of corner. I'd have said the hill I'd been climbing maybe got a little less steep, but Chrissy was convinced I'd gotten to some new place entirely.

One Friday, she insisted that I come with Adam and her to dinner and bowling. I hated bowling, but it sounded better than sitting alone in our dorm room. The two of them were curiously quiet as we walked toward the restaurant. I brushed it off as I'd certainly used less words lately and maybe they were just trying to make me comfortable. My theory was quickly proven very wrong as we walked in.

"Theo," she said, pulling me toward an occupied booth, "this is Charlotte. Charlotte, Theo." Chrissy grinned like the Cheshire Cat and scooted into the opposite side of the booth with Adam.

I grinned and sighed loudly. "Nice to meet you, Charlotte." I extended my hand and shook hers. Her slender fingers were soft and warm.

She flashed me a friendly smile. I could only see her top half from her spot in the booth, but she was cute. Light brown hair, lean and on the taller side much like Lily. The way she smiled at me felt genuine and disarming. Charlotte was objectively pretty.

The similarity made me raise an eyebrow, hopefully not too obviously.

"Is this really happening?" I said directly at Chrissy, with only a hint of exasperation in my voice.

Even tried to find someone that looked kinda like her?

"Yes," she tutted, "it is. You need to have some fun, leave your pity party, and..."

Be social, meet new people, get over... us.

"I'm really sorry about this," I said, turning to face this girl I'd never met, "they didn't tell me what was going on."

"I know," she said brightly. "I kinda like being a surprise. But no pressure, okay? Just have fun and I'll maybe let you win at bowing."

I laughed out loud for the first time in recent memory. "Well, that's gonna be tough. I'm absolutely horrible."

"Dude, you were like mister basketball stud..." said Adam, "it's just a heavier ball, right?"

"Dunno," I shrugged, "maybe it's the shoes."

Everyone laughed and I had a tiny moment of secret happiness that Chrissy had done this. I turned toward this person who I now understood was my date, and properly looked at her. I tried to keep the comparisons away...

Our dinner was fantastic. The family style entrees were fun to share and compare favorites, and the four of us clicked like Charlotte had been in our circle already. A couple of times I had to push back the dour thought that I shouldn't be having fun, that bordering-on-toxic guilt that I didn't deserve this.

As we left the restaurant to walk toward the bowling alley, Charlotte walked next to me and grabbed my hand. A breath caught in my throat as she laced her fingers in mine in exactly the way I was used to. Her hand behind, mine in front, my thumb resting over hers. I fought a brief but spirited emotional battle in my head. I finally ceded victory to the part that had apparently been craving physical human contact.

I could hear Adam and Chrissy whispering excitedly behind us. I surreptitiously rolled my eyes and continued on.

Bowling was fun, even after me coming to grips with the evening being a double date. I played horrible as promised, but Charlotte did worse. I began to suspect she was deliberately trying to let me win, like actively throwing gutter balls every other turn just so my score stayed above hers. It began to annoy me after I realized what was happening, but I forced myself to not read into into it much and just enjoy the time.

As the four of us walked home, she'd taken my hand again and I found I didn't mind. I squeezed it absentmindedly when she said something funny or smiled at me, always getting a squeeze in return. We got close to the dorms and she asked me if I minded walking her back, her room was in a different building a few blocks past ours.

Adam and Chrissy smiled widely as they turned at the next block, waving as we separated.

"Thanks for being a good sport about this," I said once we were out of earshot. "I'm sure Chrissy told you about me, right?"

"Yeah," Charlotte said with a grin. "I don't mind. She was kinda intense about it though," she added, "seemed like I didn't have a choice. I was just... coming. She's a hoot."

"You have no idea," I said. "Thank you for tonight, I think I actually needed this."

"I enjoyed it too. I know this isn't like a great time for you. But don't stay all closed off. I've been there, and it sucks."

"That's really good advice," I said, turning to look at her.

We walked another half block to the next building.

"Well, this is me. Thank you Theo, I did have a good time."

We stopped in front of the entrance door, pale light from inside spilling out onto the sidewalk. I became very aware that she'd turned to face me and had released my hand.

"Again, no pressure, but if you were thinking about kissing me, I'd be okay with it."

I felt my chin drop just a little as the next battle began. The thoughts were too jumbled to tease apart. Images and feelings and experiences, it was almost like cars piling up on a freeway. I realized I hadn't moved but her face was getting closer. An image of Chrissy, sitting on my lap with the same expression and shrinking distance rose out of the ruckus. I finally took a deep breath and let my entire brain formulate a response.

It's okay... you're allowed.

I'd barely made the decision when Charlotte's lips pressed against mine. My eyelids drooped closed and I relished the combination of the physical sensation, but more powerfully the idea that someone could want to be with me, when I was like this. Even if it was just a first date kiss, the affection was overwhelming and was filling a tank inside me I didn't know was dry and empty.

My hands slowly moved, gently holding on to her narrow waist. I didn't want to go lower or higher, only expressing that I appreciated her being close, sharing this with me.

Our kiss was slow and nice. Not chaste, but not frenzied. Just the tips of our tongues found their way between open lips before we pulled and opened our eyes. I hadn't even realized she'd been holding the back of my neck in her hands. We shared an awkward grin and finally separated.

"Did that make you wanna run off and scream into your pillow?" she asked sweetly.

"No," I said quietly, shaking my head. I felt proud that I could say it.

"You're on the way then. I'm happy for you."

"Thanks." I smiled at her, a little confused that I didn't have the overwhelming urge to kiss her again.

"You're a good guy Theo, don't beat yourself up. Okay?"

"Okay."

"If you ever wanna go do something that's not bowling, let me know. That was painful to watch."

I laughed. "Will do. G'night."

Charlotte leaned to peck me on the cheek and turned to leave.

I spun on my heel and started back towards the dorm. I could feel my face smiling all the way back. It wasn't like I'd just had the best date ever and couldn't wait to see her again. It was me I was happy for. I was taking advice and actually adulting.

A strange thing happened as I walked into the lobby of my dorm. I felt the almost overwhelming urge to communicate with Lily. I wanted to tell her where I'd just been, not out of a sense of guilt or trying to get some kind of atonement, but to simply share. Like you'd tell a friend.

Lily is still my friend.

The realization hit me hard, in a good way. Despite what I'd seen other breakups do to people, I didn't harbor any ill will for her. I'd known her for more than ten years, and come to grips with that even through our frenemies stage, we were good for each other. Just because we weren't dating didn't have to mean we didn't exist in the other person's world.

I pulled out my phone and was about ready to start a text. 'Went on a date, doing fine at not being your boyfriend', it would have said.

Jesus, you're still competing with her... I thought. Don't do that.

I gave a brief thought about what she might be doing right now and lost the enthusiasm. She was probably home after driving her mom somewhere for her horrible, body-poisoning treatment.

The conflicting thought pattern swung me around three-sixty several times before I finally got out of the elevator.

Doesn't matter, I thought, Chrissy's gonna tell her anyway.

I shook my head to myself as I opened the door to our room. Adam mercifully didn't grill me for details.

"Dude, I just started GTA, grab your controller!"

* * *

It didn't take too long for my blind date to fade from my important things memory. As I started the next week, I was more interested and concerned with Lily's state of existence. I knew she'd started at community college today which probably gave her a modicum of satisfaction, but not Oakmont Scholarship level. Her mom's health weighed even more heavily in the back of my mind. Despite our recent status change that I'd somehow become marginally okay with, I really longed for more than one sentence thoughts in our text thread.

I risked a voice call that afternoon and was elated when she answered.

"Hey you, what's going on?"

"Not too much, just finished an engineering lab."

"I had school today, and it was as good as I expected. It's not Oakmont, but it's fine. A credit is a credit, right?"

"Yeah," I chuckled.

She talked for a few minutes about her classes, how the formats were a bit different than we'd gotten used to from last term. I gave a few lazy updates on my classes.

I miss you.

"How's your mom doing?"

She sighed into the phone. "Decent I guess. The docs say her treatment is going well. Too early to tell, but..."

"What is it?" I said after a long pause. I wasn't prepared to hear her choke up.

"It's horrible to see her like this. It's almost like part of her is gone already."

I felt my throat tighten up. I'd read a few articles about the awful side effects of the radically invasive treatments.

"Are Zoey and your dad doing okay?"

"They're alright. Z helped me pick her out a wig. It's really cute... she loves it."

I could hear her grin through the phone before she continued.

"So, tell me about your date?"

Okay, I guess we're talking about it.

I chuckled nervously into the phone, despite trying really hard not to.

"It was fine, we went bowling."

"That's too bad," she said seriously. "You suck at bowling."

She was diverting to make the conversation not all about her. I chewed on my lip, glad that we weren't sharing video.

"Ohmigod Lil', it was horrible. I think the poor girl tried to let me win to save my ego or something... it was so horrible to watch."

I cherished the warm laugh that echoed through the tinny phone speaker. It tapered off and the silence settled in for a moment.

"Theo, you're gonna be okay, right?"

I wanted to tell her that I didn't matter, that she was the one that needed to be okay. I desperately wanted to ask it right back, but knew she'd deliberately steered the conversation away.

"I'll be good." I gulped, holding the phone away from me for a second. "Please tell me if anything happens. Your mom, you... anything. Okay?"

"I will, I promise."

We ended the call and I leaned back against the pillow on my bed. I took a few minutes of deep breathing to calm myself down. As I sat there and let everything swirl in my head, I began to let the different parts of our relationship sort themselves. The new, exciting first bits were there, chiseled in indelible stone forever, just like my mom had told me. The more visceral pieces -- touching, holding hands while we walked, kissing... those were amazing, but not entirely unique.

The douchey monkey hormone part of my brain callously offered that anyone could fulfill those needs. Hell, I'd just had a very nice date with Charlotte, and all those things were sweet and tender and poked at all the same feels.

Does it really not matter who you're with?

I'm not really that shallow, right?

I wrestled with my thoughts for a few minutes, willing the inevitable comparisons away. I finally landed on the real truth.

I missed Lily's spirit.

When we fought and competed, she pushed me. Whether it was being faster or stronger or better in some way, she was always a hand on my back. Sometimes it was a pat, but more often than not it was a firm shove in the right direction. Even being a different gender while occupying her body taught me things I never would have known otherwise.

But I love her!

I choked back a lump in my throat.

But... I can't now, not like that.

Mom advice was again forced into the front and center of my thoughts. Everything I'd experienced and learned would stay with me, none of it disappeared when Lily and I stopped being us.

* * *

I internalized my recent revelations and had another in short order. While I got to keep everything I'd experienced, I was on my own now. The force of nature that pushed me my entire life now lived four hours away and was dealing with her own universe-supplied struggle.

If I wanted to keep my life on an upward trajectory, I was going to have to be my own cheerleader.

A new term of classes gave me plenty of runway to exercise my mental faculties. The physical portion of my self-improvement plan had already been primed and was just waiting for me to commit. By the time February rolled around, I'd become a reasonably committed gym rat. With a little outside motivation from Dean, I visited the school fitness center nearly every day.

"Dude, you got this. Two more reps!"

It wasn't enough that my buddy Dean was ridiculously good looking and reasonably smart, but he was also one hell of a personal trainer. I grunted out every last ounce of strength to push the bar up once, then twice more.

"Niiiiice," he said, helping me steady the weights back onto the bench press rack. "Proud of you, dude," he said through some labored breathing from his own set just prior. "Got some decent gains for only a month."

"Thanks man, never really done much but running. This feels... good."

"Right?" he said, turning to give me a nod. "Now go pound a shake, see you in the showers."

I paid for the protein shake and chugged it as instructed. I made my way into the enormous locker room and stripped out of my sweaty clothes. Dean was already scrubbing himself in the communal showers when I came in.

"So we're having an event at the house coming up," she said, glancing over a shoulder. "Should be a good time, if you're interested."

"Cool, when is it?"

"Uh... Valentine's Day," he said with a grin.

"For real?"

Valentine's? Dick move, Dean.

"It's not just couples or anything. In fact I bet there will be a lot of available hotties there, if you're ready. Might be good for you."

"Hmm..." I pursed my lips and considered it.

"Besides, we don't fuck around with parties. We're gonna have fillets, shrimp, maybe a little bubbly... top shelf, my man."

"Well alright," I said, nodding. My brain did some quick social calculus. "Any chance my roommate and his girlfriend could come again? Adam and Chrissy are super cool."

"Of course," he said with a smile. "Your friends are my friends."

"Sweet."

"Oh, and one other thing."

"Yeah?" I said, turning to see the smile turning his perfectly chiseled cheekbones upward.

"It's a pajama party."

"Do you guys never have parties without a theme?" I chuckled.

"Dude," said Dean seriously, "Pa-ja-mas. You know what some girls sleep in? Doing everyone here a favor, man. Plus, a chance for you to show off your gains if you wear the right outfit. Can't hurt, right?"

"Fine."

I finished showering and left for my dorm. I dropped my bag by the bed and flopped onto it.

Available hotties, I thought, my face pulling into a frown. It's only been a month.

I reasoned my way in and out of trying to pursue some kind of... date. I certainly wasn't ready for a relationship. I was proud of the effort I was putting in to schoolwork and exercise, when would I even have the time?

But it's been a month... I thought again. The closest I've gotten to sex with another person is listening to Adam jack off when he thinks I'm asleep.

The thought of maybe just having a good time with a girl wasn't unappealing. It would be good relationship experience, find what I like and don't like, just like mom had so wisely prescribed. I'd talked myself into going with a good attitude by the time I left for dinner.

I sat alone in the dining hall, picking at the plate of pasta. Even with the prospect of the fraternity party, my thoughts kept drifting back in time. All my recent memories of Lily seemed to funnel into and then end on our last time together. She looked so blank and dispassionate when she told me we were done. No emotion in her eyes, none of the mischievous sparkle.

How could she just not care?

I'd deliberately avoided looking at any of her socials since we'd separated. I decided that I was in an okay place and it wouldn't hurt. I took another bite of food and opened my phone.

Lily's Instagram was fairly sparse, but she'd posted a few pictures in the last week. Most looked like she was at school, maybe the community college's version of the student union. Most were group shot selfies, a handful of repeated people maybe studying together. They all looked happy, even Lily. It made me glad to see her smiling, but I zeroed in on a guy that happened to be next to her in each of the photos.

He's decent looking, maybe just shorter than me. Spends more time on his hair, I thought. Wonder if he's got a thing...

I frowned at the photo.

Interestingly, the thought didn't flare up as much pain and jealousy in my guts as I would have expected. I scrolled down to see if she'd tagged anybody.

I tapped on @jakedog84848.

Yup, that's him. He's not good enough for her.

"Jake Dog," I mumbled out loud. "Sounds like a frat bro." I sneered at his picture anyway.

His account was public so I started swiping through his images. Most were him with actual dogs, either kneeling next to one or playing in some display of cuteness. A few with chain link stalls looked like they were taken in some kind of animal shelter. Another photo of him in a branded shirt cleared it up.

'Best Friends Puppy Rescue', the shirt said.

Well fucking dammit, he rescues dogs. The dude is some kind of puppy angel. Great.

I kept swiping but stopped on his most recent photo. He and Lily were sitting on a low concrete bench, probably at the college. The image was centered on her, and he was pressing his lips onto her cheek. She was grinning widely and it was obvious they'd posed for the picture. I stared at it for thirty seconds before shutting the phone off.

Why am I doing this to myself?

The thought quickly morphed into something else, the sickening idea that we were actually moving on. I gulped and couldn't decide if I was angry, jealous, or sad. Probably all three.

Was what we had really just... average?

I let out a protracted sigh, trying to decide what I wanted to think. I finally assembled some mom wisdom and was proud of a tiny, adult-leaning thought.

I guess I'm glad she looks happy.

* * *

The next two weeks of school leading up to midterms were a slog. I ended up spending quite a bit of study time with Adam, he'd taken on more credits this term and was regretting it.

February the Fourteenth dawned clear and sunny, but still cold. I only had one class that morning, raising the ire of my roommate who had four that day.

I'd waffled about backing out of the frat party, but shook my Go Theo! pom-poms enough to convince myself that it was a good idea. I'd considered going in sweats, but again leaned on Dean's motivation to take a little credit for my efforts at the gym. I drove to the nearby mall after lunch and spent way too much money on a single pair of Calvin Klein trunks and a coordinating tank top. I tried everything on when I got home, the dark blue material clung to my nicely-defined thighs. The wide silver band highlighted my waist, which after lots of effort, was now the bottom of a nicely proportioned V. The tank top was similarly tight and while covering my pecs and abs, didn't hide their shape.

I allowed an admiring glance in the mirror.

"Not bad," I said aloud.

Just then the door opened and Adam strolled in. A laugh caught in his throat as he saw me flexing for my reflection.

"Whatchya doin, buddy?"

"Just putting on my outfit for tonight. What do you think?"

His face fell. "Pajamas..." he said slowly. "Well, fuck."

I flashed him a quizzical look.

"Chrissy got us these," Adam said rather dejectedly, opening a dresser drawer after he'd dropped his backpack. He extracted a package and opened it, then shook out a full pants and shirt set of tartan flannel pajamas. The shirt had large buttons and wide lapels.

I held back a laugh and clapped a hand over my mouth.

"She said we should match," he trailed off. "You're lookin' like a buff gym bro, and here's me..." He held the shirt up in front of his torso.

"You guys are gonna be adorable," I tutted. "Besides, you don't have to pay for a nice Valentine's dinner. Decent trade off to look like dork a for a few hours."

Adam chuckled and shook his head. "Yeah, alright."

Chrissy appeared in our room an hour later, already in her matching outfit. She'd rolled the pants to fit her shorter legs, but otherwise looked cute. I'd already put on sweats over my new undies for the walk to the frat house.

"You're not wearing that, right?" said Chrissy as she came in.

"No, just didn't wanna freeze my ass off on the way over."

"Well let's see then," she said, gesturing to my sweats.

"I'll take 'em off when we get there."

Chrissy crossed her arms and arched an eyebrow.

"Jeez, fine..." I said. I pulled down the pants and then the hoodie off over my head. I locked eyes with her again and her expression had changed.

"Well," she said, obviously eye-groping me now, "that should get you some attention."

"Dude, I'm right here," said Adam.

"Oh stop it, it's just Theo. Not like I'm gonna hop up on him and start making out."

I stifled a laugh at the memory of her just doing that. I tried not to grin while quickly pulling on my outer layer again.

"Why didn't we go sexy for our outfits?" said Adam.

"Because I didn't want to freeze my fucking ass off, that's why."

"I hope I'm not the only one wearing... less," I said.

"Oh, I don't think so. This thing will be all packed with frat guys and sorority sisters," said Chrissy. "I wouldn't be surprised if we see pasties and thongs."

We left around seven, the same time the party was to officially start. Our threesome got plenty of funny looks from other couples out and heading to their own romantic dinners, all dressed rather differently than us.

Music thumped from the huge fraternity house as we approached. Several other groups were making their way up the front walk to the grand entrance in front of us.

I had a dissonant thought as we approached the frat house. I'd been dressed in similarly odd outfits the last time we'd come to an event here, but in a different body. It felt like a lifetime ago.

Dean was on the front porch, welcoming guests as they arrived. He was apparently unconcerned with the cold, his barely-there pair of bikini underwear leaving absolutely no mystery to his sculpted body. He saw us coming and gave us a judgy sneer.

"Jeez you guys," he laughed, "I guess some people sleep like that, but..."

"Hey man," I said, clasping his hand and leaning in for the obligatory bro hug. "These are just for the walk, it's frickin' cold!"

"Well, off with 'em then, let's see what we're working with."

We all stepped into the foyer and I pulled my sweats off. The house was already loud, and people were coming and going from different rooms.

"Okay, better," he said, looking me up and down. "I think you should lose the tank top though."

"Really?"

"Dude..." he said, gesturing into the living room. Half a dozen guys stood around, shirtless. "The competition."

I took his meaning and pulled the shirt off. "Fine."

"There we go," he grinned. "You can stash your stuff over there," he added, pointing to a large coat rack with some cabinets below it. "Alright, so dinner is at eight, drinks are in the lounge, dancing is downstairs."

"Cool man, thanks," I said.

"Oh, forgot these," said Dean, pointing to his arm. A green silicone band was stretched around his wrist. He reached into a bowl near the door and grabbed another, quickly putting it on me. "Green is available," he continued before grabbing a pair of red bands. "Red is taken." He handed them to Adam and Chrissy. "Taken, right?"

Chrissy nodded, then flashed me a grin with a glance at my band.

We made our way into the large house, my anxiety at baring my skin quickly evaporating as I took in the view of other guests. The predicted handful of admittedly attractive sorority sisters wearing predictably less piqued my attention.

Chrissy got a glass of champagne, Adam and I got short, wide glasses of some drink called an Old Fashioned. I wasn't sure what was old fashioned about it, but aside from the initial burn, the drink was sweet and delicious. The three of us stuck more or less together, mingling around the house as it continued to fill.

Dinner was truly fantastic. As promised, Dean's crew of people cooking and serving equaled any fine restaurant. Guests spilled out of the dining room once it was full, and just sat on couches or free horizontal surfaces around the house. The small filet steaks and trio of jumbo prawns were the perfect portion of food. Enough to soak up some alcohol, but not enough to make you full and tired.

We fetched more drinks after eating. As the Old Fashioned's started working their way into my bloodstream, I began to allow myself some longer stares at the female population of the house. More than once I had to deep breathe my way out of a developing boner that would have certainly become an issue in my tight shorts.

After the free beverages had us comfortably buzzed, we trotted down the stairs to the basement. While not a pounding rave by any means, the frat had set up a DJ booth with some impressive lights. We all got into a groove to the thankfully not ear-splitting music.

The three of us danced in a loose triangle, quickly releasing weeks worth of pent-up school pressure. I grabbed Chrissy and slung her into a dramatic dip at one point, then followed by doing the same thing to Adam. We laughed and surrendered to having fun and goofing around as the music drove us.

I began to become thankful for my minimal outfit as the temperature rose. Adam and Chrissy eventually wallflowered themselves to sit and cool off, while the dance floor continued to fill with people trending toward the less clothes ensembles. I was eventually shoulder to shoulder with a good assortment of partygoers, and lots of exposed skin.

I grabbed us more drinks from the downstairs bar, this time in plastic cups. The music continued to pulse, the swirling lights illuminated the people and bare flesh around us.

Damn, I feel good... my brain managed to assert. I started to become more aware of the other people around us, everyone seemed to be moving in and out of small groups, dancing and sometimes a bit more.

Adam and Chrissy came back out, reinstating our threesome as we hopped and grooved. The music was perfect for maintaining the energy brewing, the heat and light and movement. A few times, a random girl here or there would notice my bracelet and sidle up to dance. The first occurrence was a little unnerving, but I eventually just went with it and had fun.

Adam and Chrissy stayed more or less near me as we danced. A cute vaguely Latin girl with dark brown hair and pretty eyes had been my de facto partner for a few minutes and I was getting the sense my friends were sizing her up. After another drink each, our now-foursome ended up switching dance partners a few times as our inhibitions had apparently started to waver. Adam looked pained and nervous with her as Chrissy and I cut loose, but eventually began to smile. More drinks showed up, and we dealt with them appropriately.

At one point I was dancing with my eyes closed, just feeling the beat of the music and the energy in the room. When I finally opened them, I locked my gaze with someone approaching me. The painfully hot blonde girl from my psychology class last term had spied me from across the room and beelined. She was definitely in the 'my sexiest underwear is my outfit' camp. I realized Chrissy and Adam weren't near me any longer.

"I didn't know you'd be here," said blondie. "And ohmigod, didn't know how jacked you were under those hoodies!"

"Just here dancing, having a good time," I said, my mostly-coherent brain managed to make out.

"I like your jammies," she said in a sickeningly cute baby voice. She'd already started dancing with me and put a hand on my sweaty chest.

Our eyes wandered to each other's green bracelets.

"So do you want to dance with me, Theo?" she asked with a smile.

"Would love to--"

"Aurora," she reminded me.

"Aurora. Right!"

She glanced again at my wrist again.

"Didn't you tell me you had a girlfriend?"

The question pulled at me, but I rallied my newly-adult sensibilities and shut down the cascade of thoughts.

"We broke up," I said matter of factly. It hit me that I'd never actually said the words out loud.

"Well I'm sorry, but I'm glad you came tonight. Cute Calvins, by the way." Aurora ran her fingers down the side of my waist and over the silky fabric.

"Your outfit is..." I glanced down at her lacy bra, the cleavage barely contained by the inadequate material, "nice."

She grinned and we continued to groove.

Time began to feel a bit less linear as the fog of music, lights, and alcohol saturated the frat basement. Aurora and I stayed together, only pausing to get another cup of punch. Eventually our dancing became more touching as the beat continued. I could feel the heat every time our skin met, creating extra warm spots on my body. At one point she was in front of me facing away, her tight rear end pushing against my midsection. I could feel the additional blood flow making my skimpy underwear tighter, I'm sure she felt it too. After a few minutes she became less restrained with grinding her ass forcefully against my growing cock. A small part of me thought to pull away, but the other part grabbed her hips and responded in kind.

Aurora finally spun back around and pressed her body against me, her face alarmingly close to mine. I stared down at her chest, the glitter on her barely contained cleavage was reflecting the rainbow of lights in little twinkles. We were still moving together, and my hands were on her hips again.

I glanced around for Adam and Chrissy, they weren't anywhere close by. When I turned my head back, Aurora kissed me. I could immediately taste champagne and her watermelon lip gloss. I closed my eyes well after she had, still a little taken aback as I noticed her subtle pink eye shadow. When I finally let my lids droop and surrendered to what was happening, I began to ride the wave of comfortable affection, the ego boosting idea that someone was attracted to me.

I parted my lips to find her tongue waiting. We kissed deeply, bodies still together and swaying with the music. My hands wandered behind her back to the top of her lacy boyshorts. Her hands were on my back, gently rubbing like she was encouraging me to continue. The small part of my brain not already swept up couldn't find a reason not to.

We pulled apart after a few minutes of making out, my cock now barely fitting in the confines of my stretchy trunks. She grinned at me as we continued to hold each other. I was glad for the low light in the basement and the fact that we were certainly not the only couple engaging in a little dirty dancing.

"That was nice," she said into my ear. "I was thinking --"

"What's up, romance bitches!" a voice boomed over the speakers, immediately cutting out the music.

We looked toward the booth to see Dean, standing there in a pool of light holding a microphone.

The crowd cheered in response. "Thanks everyone for coming to our humble gathering to party for the sexiest of holidays, the be all, end all celebration of loooooove," he groaned into the mic.

A few girls on the other side of the dance floor whooped and staggered to keep themselves upright.

"That's what I'm talkin' about!" he yelled. "Now I've been wandering around, checking out everyone's pajamas both sexy," he continued, glancing roughly in our direction, "and not."

I followed his gaze to the far wall where Chrissy and Adam sat at a table with a group of others who'd gone cozy instead.

"There's more steak, more booze, and more dancing. Let's goooooo!"

The crowd cheered again and I gently pulled myself away from Aurora's arms. She stayed rooted to the spot until the noise died down.

"I think I've had enough dancing for tonight," she said, still smiling at me. "Do you think you could walk me home?"

"Oh, yeah, of course," I said. "I think I'm about partied out too."

She took my hand, but let me lead us toward the stairs. Adam and Chrissy intercepted us from their spot on the perimeter.

"I'm gonna walk Aurora back to her house," I said, "you guys cool?"

"Other than being not sexy," said Chrissy, feigning irritation, "we're cool."

"I think you're plenty sexy," my tipsy brain offered. Like I wasn't controlling my own body, I leaned down far enough to peck her on the cheek.

Adam grinned like an idiot.

"You too buddy," I said in a goofy voice. "You heard Dean, free dancing and booze -- take advantage!"

I waved with my free hand and continued toward the stairs. Adam was giving me a secretive thumbs-up and Chrissy was smiling with an eerie similarity to my mom.

We made our way toward the front door to leave. Dean was somehow there before us and tried valiantly to get us to stay. When I finally managed to convince him that I'd had enough of the evening, he clapped me on the back while not too subtly glancing at Aurora.

"Nice work, man," he said under his breath with a crass smile.

I flashed him a look and he was gone. I found the cubby where I'd stashed my sweats and began to pull them on. Aurora stood there, a mildly disappointed look on her face as I began to dress.

"Aren't you gonna put your stuff on?" I asked, still appreciative of her outfit.

"Oh, I came like this. Don't worry about it, it's not far."

"Ohmigosh no," I said, "you'll freeze! Here." I stripped off my sweats and hoodie again and offered them. Aurora looked at me like I'd thrown a suit jacket over a puddle so she wouldn't have to step in it.

"What a gentleman," she said, pulling on my too-long pants, then shirt. She pulled the neck up to her nose and took a long sniff. "Mhmm, you smell good..." she cooed. "Come on, we have to hurry now so you don't catch cold."

I kept my shoes, which looked admittedly ridiculous with just my high-end underwear, but I was glad my feet were at least warm. The icy air as we strolled down the front walk braced my skin and gave me goosebumps in less than a minute. The cold had a remarkably sobering effect as we continued though, it felt like the Old Fashioned fog was slowly lifting the longer we were outside.

We made it to a large house probably only four blocks away and she pulled me up the steps toward the door.

"Come inside, you'll need your sweats."

The foyer of the sorority house was much nicer than Pi Kappa Gamma, and smelled of flowers. I sniffed and enjoyed the warmth of the inside air. I shivered as my body began to acclimate to the new temperature.

"Poor baby," she said, rubbing her hands on my shoulders, "you're just freezing, aren't you? Come up to my room, I'll change out of these and you can have them back. Unless I can keep them..."

"I uh, think I'll probably need 'em for the walk back to my dorm," I said with an awkward grin. I followed her toward the steps, appreciating the view from behind even in my baggy sweatpants.

Think I'm getting some signals here.

I wondered briefly if we'd be walking in on a roommate. I knew Dean had to share a room, even as chapter president. Aurora's space was small, but had only one bed and smelled nice too. A string of twinkling lights hung above the bed and down the headboard wall.

"Close the door so I can change?" she asked, walking inside.

I stood in the doorway, nervously glancing between her and the hall.

"Oh, just come in," she said.

I stepped inside and shut the door behind me. Aurora raised an eyebrow in my direction before pulling the hoodie up and over her head. Her blonde hair fell back down around her shoulders as she tossed the top aside. My sweatpants followed in short order.

She stared at me staring at her, back in only her pajamas. I could feel my trunks getting too small again.

"Do you think I'm pretty, Theo?"

"Uh, yeah. Of course I do. I think you're -- amazing."

"Oh, good," she said playfully, "I hoped I wasn't reading the signals wrong."

Uh huh.

"Make yourself comfortable for a minute, I'll go pop these in the wash."

"Uh, what? I mean, I don't need you to--"

"Don't worry about it, it'll just take a few minutes. Come on, sit down." She gestured to the bed and quickly disappeared with my clothes.

I sat, willing my growing erection to calm down. Apparently I was going to be here for however long my laundry took. She appeared back a moment later, closing the door behind her.

"Doesn't seem fair that I have one more piece of clothing on than you. Don't wanna make you feel uncomfortable, all exposed in my bedroom."

I couldn't even fathom how to respond.

Shit, I left my tank top at the frat house.

Aurora reached behind her back and unclasped the lacy bra. The straps came forward but she crossed her arms under the cups.

"Is it okay if I take this off?" she asked quietly.

"Uh huh," I mumbled. My head was nodding on its own.

She moved her arms and shrugged off the delicate garment. It fluttered to the floor and her large breasts swung free. Her areolas were large and pink, dotted with small only slightly darker pink nipples.

I stared unabashedly as she walked slowly toward me. I instinctively spread my knees apart as I sat on her bed, she sidled up and stood between them. She gazed down at me, my face now only inches away from her magnificent tits.

"That's better," she said, "now we're even."

I surrendered to the urge and reached up to touch her. I cupped a hand under each globe of flesh, slowly bringing one to my mouth. I tongued around one of her nipples, appreciating the sharp sigh from above me.

This is happening, I thought with the small part of my consciousness not focused on the beautiful set of breasts in my face.

I kissed around her warm, smooth mounds, traveling down into the valley between them before switching to the other side. Aurora had put her hands on my shoulders and was gently rubbing up and down my neck.

I bathed her chest in attention for a few minutes. My cock had grown to full size and was already poking out the top of the wide silver waistband. She couldn't see from her place above me, but I didn't care at that point. I finally pulled away from her ample chest and stood to kiss her.

With our stomachs together, she immediately felt my extra exposure and cooed into my mouth while we made out. I felt her hand between us, tugging at my head and upper shaft.

"You're very hard," she said seductively between kisses. "Do you want me, Theo? I'm giving you my permission."

"Yes," my mouth hissed. "I want you."

I could feel a tiny bit of shrinking brainpower awkwardly forcing up a conversation with my mom. This was probably going to be one of those mistakes, something I did to understand what I don't want.

Here's to mistakes.

In a hot minute the scant remainder of our clothes were off and Aurora had crawled onto her bed, leading against a stack of pillows. I admired her lean body, the small landing strip of blonde hair on her pubic mound. I grinned lustily at her and hopped on the bed, crawling between her legs.

I lunged at her for another round of kisses, our tongues wrestling between open lips. My cock had flopped onto her smooth stomach while we made out. She gently pushed me up to stare down between us.

"God, you're big... oh Theo, where have you been hiding all this time?"

I smiled at the ego boost and dove back in, lavishing attention on her neck. With one hand, I snaked down her side and over her thighs before finding home. With a finger, I slowly traced the length of her wet, hot opening before dipping inside. She gasped as I pushed in, working her natural lubricant around with my digits.

"Ooohh," she squeaked out, a higher, more nasal pitch than her natural voice.

I plunged straight in a few more times, getting an identical 'ooohh' for each. I paused for a moment.

My finger isn't that fucking amazing...

I pulled my finger out and worked my thumb into her gash for some of her slippery juice. With an almost pinching motion, I slid two digits back inside her warm tunnel and found her clit with my thumb. A few more high pitched moans escaped her lips, until I started a slow kind of grasping motion. Aurora's sounds changed, her squeaks replaced with low, husky moans.

I swiped across her fleshy button again and the noise repeated. I glanced at her face, her eyes were peeled open and starting at me. I grinned and began kissing her neck again, slowly descending down her collarbones and chest before taking in a mouthful of tit.

"Oh my fucking God," she said breathily, "where did you..."

I continued my slow but insistent fingering while I alternated between sucking at her hard nipples. It wasn't long before her chest began to heave a bit raggedly and high-pitched moans traded places with deep, halting breaths.

"Oh, fuck yesss!" she repeated as her body began to tense. "Don't stop, just like that, oh, yes..."

The verbal encouragement increased in volume as I strummed at her clit. After a few more strokes her thighs clamped down on my hand and I stopped moving, and released the nipple I'd been tonguing.

"Oooohhh!!" she groaned. "Fuuucck..."

I held myself above her as her orgasm subsided, genuinely appreciating the look of pleasure and release on her beautiful face.

Aurora's eyes finally peeled back open and took me in above her.

"I've never... holy shit. You made me cum in like a minute. How did you fucking do that?" she added with a smile.

God, I almost wish I could tell her.

"What can I say?"

She reached up and took my face in her hands and pulled me down for a kiss. My chest pressed against her large tits, now warm and glistening with her exertion.

"Would you please fuck me now? I wanna feel that big cock inside me."

"Yes, ma'am," I said, my big cock painfully hard.

"In the side table," she said breathily, pointing to a small drawer.

I flashed her a confused look but crawled over. Inside the small drawer were a handful of square plastic wrappers.

Oh, right.

I tore open the condom wrapper and knelt on the bed between her legs. I was grateful for the hungry stare she gave me as I unrolled it down the length of my shaft. Tossing the wrapper aside, I allowed a full top to bottom look at her body.

"You're really fucking hot," my mouth offered.

Aurora squealed in appreciation as I scooted up between her legs, my swollen head at her entrance. With a nod from her, I pushed inside. Her face temporarily registered surprise as I slid into her folds.

"Oh fuck..." she cooed, "so big..."

I paused for a moment, but she quickly tutted back.

"Don't stop..."

I began slowly thrusting into Aurora's willing pussy, the condom dulling a bit of the sensation but not overly so. I bumped the end of her tunnel a few times, only three quarters of my shaft enveloped.

"Just, be careful..." she whispered, "so fucking deep."

The encouragement was barely necessary as I continued to thrust. After a few moments I picked up the pace, trying to devote enough brainpower to controlling the depth of my plunges. My increasing tempo began to elicit her tiny moans again. I glanced down between us and admired her large breasts, now swaying gently in time with our sex. I accidentally went for a full stroke and bumped across cervix again, this time making her squeal.

"Dammit..." she cursed. "Can I be on top? You're just too..."

I nodded and pulled out, trading her places on the bed. Aurora quickly mounted me, holding my tool upright with one hand as she slowly descended. I felt her engorged lips part around me again, bringing back the delicious warmth and pressure.

"Oh, there we go," she mewled, using her hips to control the movement. She pressed down against me and began to move her hips, still half of my shaft exposed.

I watched in lust as her lips stretched around my hardness. Her slow but sensuous movements were just as stimulating as when I'd been driving, and I got the added benefit of watching her body above me.

"Is this okay? You like watching me ride you instead?"

"Yeah, really good," I breathed, already beginning to feel the pressure building inside me.

Aurora began to move her hips with a little more speed and amplitude as the expression on my face likely told her where I was. She grinned down at me as she bounced.

"Fuck yes, I'm 'unna cum soon... just like that," I moaned.

She slowly lowered her chest to mine, still thrusting her hips. I thought she might kiss me again, but she dipped her head and whispered in my ear.

"Cum for me, Theo. Cum so hard..."

"Fuuuck!" I grunted, feeling my core beginning to spasm. "Cumming!"

The violent contractions made my whole body spasm as my juice rocketed up my shaft. One hot spurt, then another... I focused my eyes on the twinkling lights above us, my eyes still somehow open. After another hot jet, my view began to fade. I began to panic as the blackness covered my vision. I thought I felt one more good spurt before I faded out.

As my senses returned, the confusion mounted. Aurora was still on top of me, almost feverishly bouncing on my cock. She had sat upright and I watched as her heavy breasts flopped wildly on her chest.

"You're gonna make me cum again Theo," she moaned, "oh, yes, oh... yes, ohhhh, yess!"

Her high-pitched squeals only added to the dissonance in my brain. Ten more seconds passed and she bucked wildly on top of me before going rigid. I held still and waited for her climax to finish. She finally fell forward and hugged her body to mine, I wrapped my arms over her back and let her enjoy the afterglow.

What the fuck...

A terrifying thought entered my mind, that maybe the ability to swap bodies was somehow centered on me. What if whoever I was nearest was the unwilling participant?

"Theo baby, are you there?"

"Oh, sorry," I said, getting momentarily pulled back to the current situation.

"I said, can you stay tonight? I think I could use some snuggles after all that drinking and dancing. Your sweats are all wet in the wash right now anyway..."

"Yeah," I stuttered out, "that'd be nice."

Am I gonna have to tell Aurora that she's gonna wake up in my body tomorrow morning? Shit, shit, shit, shit.

I forced a few more cycles of thought power to double-confirm that we did not in fact cum at the same time. I distinctly remembered my own orgasm, fading to the blackness, then coming back -- before Aurora came again. The realization hit me a second later.

Lily.

I could feel the adrenaline actively pumping through my bloodstream now, pushing my thoughts in myriad directions.

We had to have cum at the same time. Maybe the guy from her Insta who saves puppies? If she got to cum, at least he wasn't selfish. That's good, right? But she could be home in her bed alone, just relieving a little stress.

For some reason I hoped that was the case instead. My swirling ideas came to a screeching halt as it finally hit me.

Lily is gonna wake up as me tomorrow, wherever I happen to be. Fuck.

The adrenaline felt like it had nearly pushed away most of my alcohol-induced fog.

I needed to leave.

"On second thought, I should probably get home tonight."

"Oh no," Aurora whined, throwing an arm over my chest. "You said you'd stay... pleeeease?" She kissed my cheek and pulled me even closer.

Dammit.

I worked through the variables in my head. I was still kinda drunk, and the energy consumed by the switch was quickly threatening to put me to sleep. Getting back to the dorm either mostly naked, or trying to wear wet clothes wasn't a great idea. Would I even be able to make it? Being a jerk to this admittedly sweet and pretty girl that had brought me home, also not great.

As I lay there, it seemed to be increasingly likely that Lily would wake up in my body, right here. I knew she could handle it, mentally and emotionally. We'd woken up as each other nearly a year ago with no warning... and did fine. Ish. I just needed to prepare her.

Aurora had just stretched and kissed my neck when my mouth blurted out the admittedly sketchy plan.

"Hey, uh -- I'll stay, but I need to text my roommate real quick. He was pretty drunk and I wanna make sure he got home okay."

"Go for it," said Aurora, snuggling down under her comforter. "Go toss that thing and come hold me."

I sat up and stared at the full condom clinging to my half-flaccid cock. I stood and grabbed my phone from the dresser, unsurprisingly finding a text from Lily already waiting for me.

So that just happened.

I took a deep breath and responded.

Can't call right now, will send details.

I walked over to the desk and pulled the condom off, tying the end in a knot before dropping it in the wastebasket. I grabbed a few tissues and cleaned the remaining milky residue off my shaft.

I plopped down into the chair and typed out a direct, definitely not sugar-coated summary of my evening, where I was, and what had just happened.

I stared at the block of text before sending it. I briefly considered going back on my promise and just trying to make a break for it.

Could I push through the oncoming wave of exhaustion and run fast enough to keep my body temperature up? No.

We were adults, and I knew Lily could deal with this, even if she didn't like it. I had a bitter thought that it would do nothing but confirm the choice she'd made for us, but decided it didn't really matter at this point. Water under the bridge.

With a held breath, I hit send.

I waited for the response bubbles to appear, beginning to expect some kind of chewing out for getting drunk and hooking up with a near-stranger. When the bubbles finally began to pulse, the message followed almost instantly.

Okay.

My mouth sagged open as I looked at the single word on the screen. The bubbles started again after a moment.

You'll need to take Zoey to school, then mom has treatment at 10. We can talk tomorrow and switch back.

More bubbles.

I'm alone, by the way.

I sighed loudly and put the phone down. It took a moment of convincing as I felt the alcohol start to reassert itself, but I finally crawled back into Aurora's bed. She eagerly came to me, laying one of her large breasts on my chest and resting one smooth leg on my thighs. I wrapped an arm under her neck and held her to me as the exhaustion quickly overtook us.

* * *

I took a deep breath as I woke. The floral smell in Lily's bedroom was a little different than the sorority house, but still nice. As I opened my eyes and stared around her room, it hit me that aside from the nice smell, nothing about the situation I'd just woke up in could be any more different from where I'd fallen asleep.

It had been months since I'd been in her body. The familiar weight of my breasts, the softness of my skin against the sheets... it was like no time had passed. I hugged my arms across my chest and opened my eyes.

Here I am again.

The pleasant sensation waking up in her beautiful form quickly evaporated. I thought about Lily, four hours away and in a strange bed with a strange girl. Images from the previous evening curiously didn't have any of the expected booze-induced soft focus to them. Aurora and I made out at the Valentine's party and went back to her room to fuck. All the memories of our dalliance were sparklingly clear, and raw.

God, I hope I didn't drink enough to give her a hangover too.

I got out of bed and dressed. Figuring that morning taxi duty probably didn't warrant a lot of effort, I pulled on some sweats and a hoodie. The clock said I had only about twenty minutes before Zoey needed to leave for school. I grabbed Lily's phone and went downstairs.

I wasn't prepared to see her mom. She wasn't wearing the wig her daughters had picked out yet, and simply had a thin beanie on her hairless head. That wouldn't have been so bad, but the woman that had unwittingly become a second mother to me looked like a shadow of herself. All her facial features had sunken in, her high cheekbones visible just below the dark bags under her eyes. Even her skin had a sickly tint to it. She looked... dying.

"Hi sweetie," she said, clutching a mug of coffee. "You're up late today. Still good to take your sister to school before my chemo?"

"Yeah," I said, fighting to keep my emotion back. I walked around the table and held her head against my stomach.

"Another bad night?" she asked. "You haven't had one in a while."

Bad nights... I almost accidentally asked for some kind of clarification. She's not doing good. I wouldn't be either.

I sighed and squeezed her. "I think so," I croaked out.

"Go make sure Zoey is up, you guys need to leave soon."

"Okay. Any coffee left?"

"Since when do you drink coffee?"

Oh, crap.

"Uh, had it a few times at school. Just felt like a coffee morning," I added, hoping I sold it.

She smiled. "It is indeed. Yeah, there's some left in the pot. I'll pour you a to-go mug."

I trotted up the stairs and found Zoey finishing her hair and makeup.

"You almost ready?"

"Yeah," she said flatly.

The expression on her face confirmed neither of the Whitlock sisters were coping well with their new reality. I totally understood.

The ride to the high school was quiet. Normally animated Zoey said almost nothing, just staring out the side window. It was a bit strange driving up to the building we'd left only months before, a whole slew of images and emotions bubbling up as I pulled into the parking lot.

"Have an okay day Z, I'll pick you up this afternoon."

She gave me a silent wave and left.

I wish I could help.

I sat in the parking lot and texted Lily.

In the car, can talk now.

The phone rang seconds later.

"G'morning," came my own voice over the speaker, sounding surprisingly even.

"Hey you," I said, wishing I'd had another minute before this conversation started. "Are you..."

"On the way to Econ."

"Oh, right," I said, glancing at the clock.

Are we gonna talk about where you woke up?

"It's kinda nice to be back here," she said, "even if it's... like this."

I guess not.

"Chrissy really misses you," I said, "I guess you guys talk though."

"Yeah. So... if you don't mind doing mom's appointment later, she's usually pretty out of it when she gets home. We could prob              ably have time to -- you know, switch back."

"Okay, that works, I..."

I flashed back to seeing her mom in the kitchen this morning. The idea popped into my head and I just blurted it out.

"Lily, what if I," I gulped, hoping I could actually pull it off, "what if I gave you a break?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like, stay a while. As me. Maybe the rest of the week. Let me deal with taxi duty and stuff. You can tell me about your classes here. We've done this."

I heard her suck in a breath over the phone. I was prepared for her to quickly shoot it down.

"Really? You'd do that?"

"Absolutely."

"Why?" she said, her voice dropping low on the other end of the line. "After everything..."

My brain formed the words and spit them out before I could even think them through. Hearing her voice say my words only made it feel more true.

"Because you're still my best friend."

She sniffed over the phone, but didn't respond for a moment.

"I don't know what to... thank you, Theo. Are you really sure about this?"

We exchanged the details of our classes as I sat there in the high school parking lot. Lily sent the address where I'd take her mom later that morning. She confirmed that Zoey hadn't been dealing with anything very well, and that Lily herself had been fighting a lot of painful emotions. If it hadn't been for the almost immediate transition to school back home, it would have been even worse for her. We finally agreed that we had enough to go on and that as always, we were ready to text quick details back and forth if needed.

"Oh by the way, I already screwed up this morning," I said. "Your mom thinks you like regular coffee now."

"Eww, gross," she said. "I guess it's a small price to pay. Thank you again for this. I --"

I knew the sentence she'd cut off was simply a habit, and I wanted to echo it back.

I love you too.

"Talk soon, bye." I ended the call and started her car.

* * *

As the week at Lily's house wore on, I struggled. While I had the small, selfish inner voice that kept telling me it wasn't my family, not my life... I couldn't make myself believe it. I'd spent weeks in this house and more time besides. I truly loved the Whitlocks for both the interactions they'd given me as their daughter's boyfriend, and of course, as Lily herself.

Jeff, the normally confident and even-keeled anchor of their family was a wreck. His baggy eyes and grim expression were in some ways almost worse than his wife's. I could tell it pained him every time he had to go to work and leave his girls alone in this house that seemed much less cheerful than it had only months ago.

I spent a lot of time during the day with Lily's mom. Grimly determined to not burden her family any more than necessary, it struck me how the way she spoke and her attitude really hadn't changed. She was still warm and caring and doled out mom advice.

Even though Lily had told me, I wasn't prepared for the aftermath of her mom's chemotherapy treatment. The doctor's office looked rather like any other as we sat there, the infusion dripping into a semi-permanent port on her arm. Within an hour of the poisonous chemicals entering her bloodstream though, she'd get sick. The second day I had to pull the car over before we even got home so she could throw up. After the nausea passed, she'd just go to bed, often in pain great enough to force her into the fetal position. I stayed in their bedroom one afternoon and just rubbed her back until she fell to sleep.

Zoey seemed to be emotionally impacted more than her parents. She'd snap at me over nothing one moment, then get weepy and withdrawn the next. I certainly couldn't be angry with her, she was old enough to understand the likely future of her family. One morning I'd dropped her off at school, already in a dour state of mind myself. I'd called out the window after that she'd forgotten her backpack and she unleashed a torrent of vitriol at me for somehow embarrassing her. When I picked her up that afternoon, she had flipped to the other side of the feelings coin.

"I'm sorry about this morning," she said as she climbed into the car.

"It's okay Z," I said. "We're all..."

"Yeah. But you just seem to have it all together. You haven't even cried since they told us."

I pulled the car away and started toward home.

"Not in front of you," I said quietly.

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"Nothin' to be sorry about." I glanced over toward the passenger seat to see tears beginning to roll down her cheeks.

"I just can't imagine," she began to sob, "if she's not here. Like when I graduate, or get married, or..."

"I know," I said, my eyes misting up too. I felt the heartache for Lily pressing at my chest, all the same milestones and experiences she'd never get to share with her mom.

"Zoey," I managed to croak out, forcing myself to concentrate on the road, "listen -- whatever happens, you will always have me. We will always have each other. No matter what. Okay?"

She lunged across the armrest and hugged around my chest. I released one white-knuckled hand from the steering wheel and laid it on her back.

"This just isn't fair," she sniffed.

"No, it's not," I said, my tears dripping into her hair.

* * *

By the end of that week, I'd ridden the roller coaster of emotions with the Whitlock family. I'd gone through three bouts of therapy with Mom, and hugged out at least twice that many breakdown episodes with Zoey. I'd attended all of Lily's classes virtually, as we'd discussed. I wondered if she didn't want to bother with filling me in on her new friends, or perhaps one of them in particular.

Thursday had been a good day, the oncologist had switched to a different drug that had less side effects, and I could tell immediately that Mom felt better afterward. More good news came that evening when we got a call from the office that her latest blood tests showed positive results. I might have read into that a bit, the actual phrase was 'responding well to treatment'. The nurse from the clinic said there was still a long way to go and they wouldn't have any real inkling for another month or so. I of course texted Lily the news immediately.

After dropping Zoey off at school on Friday, I made my way home. Mom didn't have an appointment, and said she felt well enough to meet some friends for lunch that day. I helped her style the wig that ended up looking more or less close to her real hair. She gave me a long hug on the way out.

With the house to myself for a couple of hours, Lily and I had decided over text that it would be an opportune time to switch back. I waited for her to get back from my Econ class and called her on FaceTime.

The current version of her face filled the screen as the call connected. She smiled widely at me, the wall above my dorm bed in the frame behind her.

"Hey there!"

"Hi," I said warmly. "How was your week?"

"God Theo, thank you so much for this. I didn't know how bad I needed to disconnect for a few days."

"You're welcome. I'm glad it helped. You sure you want to switch back? I could go another week, no problem."

"No, I need to get back. Good to hear about Mom's treatment though. I don't wanna let myself get excited, but..."

"Yeah, I know," I said darkly.

We left that subject alone, changing to chat idly about each of our swapped classes for a few minutes.

"Oh, and I think I convinced Zoey to go take her driver's test."

"Ohmigod, that's great! She was studying for it over Christmas break, but then..."

"Yeah. So did I miss anything at Oakmont? Any good gossip?"

"Not really," she said, looking thoughtful. "Adam is still kinda gross, but I am looking forward to GTA tonight," she added with a smile. "I'm sorry you've just mostly sat home all week."

"No biggie. It's nice talking to you like this," I went on. It feels like we're --"

"Yeah," she cut in, "like... being mature."

"That's it," I giggled. "You're right. I'm proud of us too. I'm sorry I didn't get to meet any of your new friends though."

"New friends?" she said quietly.

"Oh, you know... Jakedog?"

Lily smirked and raised an eyebrow at me over the camera.

"Been Insta-stalking much?"

"Maybe," I grinned back. "He is pretty cute. And honestly, does he actually rescue puppies?"

"Well, yeah. That is kind of adorable, right?"

I wondered if or how this conversation would have happened had we been occupying our own bodies.

"So are you two, you know..."

"I've only seen him outside school a couple of times," she said without any defensiveness. "And no, nothing's happened," she added, probably seeing the curious look on my face.

"No judgement," I said. "I obviously, uh... can't say anything on that front."

She laughed brightly. "Indeed."

I watched her face morph into an almost nervous awkwardness.

"What is it?"

"God, I can't believe I'm telling you this, but I don't wanna PMS Chrissy you."

"Huh?"

Lily took a deep breath and glanced away from the camera for a moment before looking back.

"That girl that took you back to the sorority house..." She took a deep breath and sighed it out. "We kinda had sex the morning after you and I switched."

I nearly dropped the phone in shock. "Holy shitballs, Lily! What?"

"When I came to that morning, she had my dick in her mouth. Theo, I got woken up with a blowjob! I have to say, as a guy, not a bad way to start the day."

I belly laughed, struggling to keep the phone steady. I finally calmed down, appreciating the adorably guilty look on her face.

"I dunno if I'd call getting a blowjob sex, but..."

Her eyebrows furrowed on the small screen.

"No..." I said slowly.

"Well, she was really good at it, swallowed and everything... if felt kinda rude not to reciprocate."

"So you..."

"I was in your body, still all horny and stuff. And God, she was hot. So yup, we had sex. Fucked." She paused and let it sink in. "You didn't even bother to text me her name. I can't believe I don't even know her name."

"Aurora."

"Aurora," she giggled, "like the Disney princess?"

"Huh?"

"Sleeping Beauty, dork. Princess Aurora."

I laughed, trying to remember if I'd seen the movie as a kid.

"I mean, the resemblance is there. Hot blonde... I mean I guess she did wake me up with a kiss." She chuckled crassly through the phone.

"Jesus, you're horrible..."

"She's the girl from your psych class last term, right?"

"Yup," I giggled. "I'm still having a hard time wrapping my brain around this."

I'm talking with my ex-girlfriend about us having sex with the same random person.

I wouldn't have ever thought this was an event I'd have to file away in my relationship mistakes folder, but here we were.

"It's a good thing she was gorgeous, because ohmigod, the porn moaning!" She laughed brightly into the phone. "But you must have done something right to earn a morning blowjob."

"Well, I think I may have ruined her for frat guys the night before. With credit to you, of course."

Lily chuckled again.

I joined in, laughing even more at the absurdity of what was happening. "Oh, yes, oh yes, ohhh yesss!" I copied Aurora's signature phrase, almost parroting it perfectly with Lily's voice.

"That's it!"

We laughed together for a good ten or fifteen seconds before sharing a sigh.

"I'd convinced myself that I'd never do the walk of shame," she said. "So that was interesting."

"Wasn't the walk of shame," I said, grinning. "You're a dude right now, it was the stride of pride!"

He laughter stopped and she flashed me an appropriate glare. I giggled again and waited for her face to crack.

"So, we should probably... do the switching," she said finally.

"Okay," I answered. "Your mom's at lunch, so we have a bit. How do we wanna do this, like just... change to audio and say when we're getting close?"

"Or do you wanna stay on video?" she blurted out. "You know, but only if you want."

"Video is fine with me," I said, grinning at her. "Should we get... undressed?"

She only nodded back. We set the phones down and stripped out of our clothing. Lily put the phone at the opposite end of my dorm bed, tilted just right to face her. I got a brief eyeful of my own firm ass as she spun around and leaned against the headboard on the opposite side. I gazed at the lean, now more muscled body reclining on the screen.

Lily's room didn't have anywhere to rest the phone, so I just held it. With a demure grin, I pivoted it down enough to include my breasts in the frame. I watched as her eyes cast an appreciative look.

"So we just... go for it?" she asked.

"Yup."

I snaked a hand between my legs, my pussy already beginning to radiate heat as I watched her cock growing on the screen. Her hand idly stroked up and down her lengthening shaft, as my own fingers traced around my outer lips. I gasped as my finger slid across my clit.

"Ooh..." I cooed, provoking a reaction on the other end of the call.

Lily's cock was quickly at its full nine inches, the swollen head slightly darker than the shaft. I'd seen a point-of-view perspective of my own jack off sessions before, but watching my body with Lily slowly stroking her large piece of meat... the sight was incredibly erotic. My currently-female hormones appreciated everything about it, including the rest of her muscular body.

My increasingly moist cunt was now taking three fingers, my lips spreading around the digits I plunged between my legs. I alternated every few dips inside with a rub against my clit, sending wonderful little shockwaves around my body.

I fought the urge to talk to her, to tell her how she was helping this. It didn't seem appropriate now, especially after the conversation we'd just had. Still, the perhaps academic emotional detachment we'd cultivated didn't stop me from wishing this wasn't happening on opposite ends of a phone call.

I began to rub at my fleshy pleasure button more frequently as I watched Lily taking longer, more enthusiastic strokes up and down her cock. I nearly caved on my silence when she took a deliberate look at the camera, her arousal telegraphed clearly across the call.

"I'm getting close," she said after another moment. "You almost there?"

"Uh huh," I breathed, now abandoning my insides and just rubbing my clit with my index and middle fingers.

Lily slowed her stroking just a bit. "Tell me when you're ready..." she said between halting breaths.

I sped the ministrations on my nub, pausing only to gather a little more natural lubrication from my gash. Another twenty seconds and I had begun the inevitable.

"Almost..." I panted. "You can go now."

Lily's hand sped up, taking longer, full strokes again. I watched the look in her eyes and knew our timing was right.

"Almost," she said, the need in her voice clear. "Gonna cum..."

"Me too," I mewled, "oh, shit..."

Our tempos increased together to a frenzied pace. Her sounds ramped up and played through the tiny speaker on the phone, just as I watched her cock erupt a ropey jet of cum up onto her chest.

I felt the warmth and tingles begin to radiate from my core outward through my tummy and rest of my body. The overwhelming drive and pleasure pushed everything else from my mind as my orgasm peaked, then quickly relaxed to black. My eyes drooped closed as I faded out.

"Theo," I registered hearing as my senses returned. "Theeeeo..."

"I'm still here," I said dreamily, opening my eyes. "Just a minute."

"Nice view of my ceiling," said Lily.

I had of course dropped the phone I was holding. I fished around with my hand and found it next to me on the comforter. I picked it up and found her adorable smile looking back at me.

"Good job us," I giggled. "First time we've done that on purpose. You know, not in the same place. Together," I added, like that was somehow necessary to clarify.

"Yeah," she laughed. "I kinda liked doing it the other way better."

"Me too."

We gazed at each other for a few minutes in silence.

"Thank you again for this week," she said finally. "I needed a break."

"I'm happy to do it again," I said, knowing it was true. "Maybe we could even plan it next time."

She giggled. "Yeah, that'd probably be better. Bye, Theo."

"Bye." I ended the call and sighed. I tried to reason out in my head where that left us, but ended that train of thought even more confused than when I'd started

* * *

I woke up Saturday morning, back in my body, back in my dorm room. Adam was snoring loudly and the game controllers were still on the floor next to the chairs where they'd left them. I inhaled the definitely 'locker room' trending smell and smiled to myself. A week ago I would have assumed I'd likely never trade places with Lily again, but I was beginning to understand the universe mostly didn't care what we assumed.

I'd also assumed that I'd spend a good portion of the weekend doing homework. As I logged on to my class portal, I found that she'd done literally every assignment, including a couple for the next week that professors had released early. I chuckled to myself at her eternal competitiveness. I'd done almost none of her work, but had given myself a pass with the emotional exhaustion I'd reached after most of a week at her house.

I ran into Aurora at the dining hall Sunday evening. She was with some friends and didn't actively accost me when we spotted each other, but she got up and was friendly. I was honestly a little relieved when she didn't try and kiss me or even anything more than a nice brush on my forearm. Apparently neither Lily or I had given her the impression that I wanted anything more than a casual... thing.

Lily and I talked more often after our accidental reconnection. We would more regularly call, sharing funny stories from school, news about her mom, or sometimes just nothing at all. It was about a week after we'd switched back she told me that she and Jake had shared a kiss, but after which she made it clear to him she wasn't looking for a relationship. He was apparently sweet about it and said something about slow is fine.

I didn't want to admit it, but seeing the collection of pixels on my phone screen that made up her face, the artificially-transmitted sound of her voice played through a tiny speaker... our calls quickly became the best parts of my week.

As February turned over to March, the familiar pressure of finals loomed. But for me, the real looming event was the start of Spring Track. I'd been working out nonstop since the new year, but the idea of earning my scholarship with athletic performance hung around my neck like an anchor.

I shared my bordering-on-neurotic thoughts with Lily one evening after studying, she sympathized and talked me down. I knew it was hard for her, the opportunity I was pursuing was no longer in her sights. She also laid on me that her mom had recently taken a turn. One of the bouts of radiation therapy had made her so sick that she had to be admitted to the hospital. They were able to get her stabilized after a day and she got to come home the next, but her oncologist determined they really shouldn't let her continue with that part of the treatment regimen. I listened in silence as she laid out the details, forcing myself to be strong and tell her that it was only a setback, not a sentence.

I was racked with guilt the next day, allowing myself to get excited about the upcoming season and some possibility of doing even marginally well as a collegiate athlete. In the 'be my own cheerleader' column, I'd joined a pre-season running group with a number of other people from the team. Our group runs were amazing and energizing. After a week, I'd shaved fifteen seconds off my average training pace.

I largely credited Dean with my more balanced workout plan, now knowing it was at least in part responsible for my improvement. One such early-March day at the gym, we'd just finished a particularly brutal leg workout. Dean said that we should probably make that my last leg day, given the season starting soon and transition to the track coach's routine, whatever that was going to be.

My legs were still shaking from the set of squats we'd just finished when he flashed me an excited smile.

"So," he said, raising an eyebrow at me. "I meant to hit you up at the Valentine's party, but my parents hadn't got their shit together."

"For... what?" I interrupted, taking a swig of Gatorade.

"Spring Break, dude. The last couple years they've rented this bitchin' house in Daytona. It's legit off the hook."

I stared at him, wondering what this had to do with me.

"They finally got it all worked out. You're coming," he said matter-of-factly, seeing the look on my face. "You don't have plans already, do you?"

"Oh my God, Daytona as in Daytona Beach... like Florida?"

"Yeah man! Spring Break Capital of the country! Are you in?"

My thoughts swirled. I couldn't think of a compelling dissenting argument.

"Why not? I'm in."

"Dude, sweeeet. It's amazing, for real."

I quickly pivoted to the realities of taking a weeklong trip to the beach.

"Uh... what's the outlay, cash-wise?"

"Zero. My parents are like stupid rich. I think they write the whole thing off as a donation to the frat. Team building or some bullshit..."

"Ohmigod, are you kidding? Like... free free?"

"Free as in beer! It's so awesome, I've done it for three years now. We get this amazing McMansion right on the beach, it's seriously off the hook. I kinda just invite people I think are cool. I hope you can come, I know it's sorta short notice now."

"I'm so in," I said, quickly surrendering to the idea of temporarily getting away from the cold and responsibility.

"Awesome. Oh, and it can be a plus-one kind of thing, if you want. Maybe invite that cute blonde you went home with from the party?" He flashed a shit-eating grin and punched me on the shoulder.

"Yeah, I think that was a one-time thing," I said with as much confidence as I could muster.

"Maybe an invite to Daytona could help with that?"

I was a hundred percent sure it could. In less than a second though, my brain changed directions.

"Could I invite Lily instead?"

"Your ex?"

I immediately flashed on my week spent as her, now nearly a month ago. I knew things still weren't great at home, with nothing good or hopeful in sight. She deserved to cut loose more than anyone. I considered telling Dean an abbreviated version of her last few months, but immediately shut it down. She didn't deserve to be a sob story.

"She could just really use a vacation," I said instead.

"Hey, whatever floats your boat. Send me all your deets and I'll get it worked out. It's gonna be awesome, I promise."

As soon as I'd showered and made my way out of the gym, I called her.

"You'll never believe what just happened..." I said into the phone.

I took a moment and told her about Dean's offer.

"Seriously, completely free?" she asked. "I mean, I --"

"Yes. You need this Lil', just say yes. It won't be weird or anything, just a chance to relax."

"God, that does sound amazing, but my mom..."

"Zoey got her license last week and will be home for Spring Break anyway, it's perfect. Don't you wanna go?"

A few seconds of silence inflated as I held the phone to my ear.

"More than anything."

"Fan-freakin-tastic! I'll tell them you're good to go."

"Theo?" she said quietly. "Thank you."

* * *

I made it through the remainder of dead week feeling like I'd crammed enough. I breezed through my finals with time to spare on each test. By Thursday morning of that last week of Winter term, I was mentally checked out and ready to leave the next day. Adam and Chrissy were bummed that I was leaving them behind, but heartily encouraged me to go to Florida and have a great time without them.

Sitting at lunch that day, I got a text from the head track coach that they were having an impromptu meeting that afternoon to start the season. I scarfed the rest of my food and made my way to the stadium, fondly recalling the moment months earlier when I'd been in the exact same spot.

The coach stood in the first level of the stands above us, the nearly hundred or so athletes watching from the track.

"Welcome to Oakmont Track!" he called down. "I hope you've all enjoyed your slack time, because it's almost over. I've seen some of you in the gym, which is great, and others I recognize from cross country. For everyone else, stuff is about to get real!"

The assembled crowd cheered, mostly at his enthusiasm.

"Now I know next week is Spring Break, which I encourage you to enjoy. But... if you can get some conditioning in, it'll make the following week better on all of us."

"And I would also encourage everyone who may be hoping to... cut loose," he emphasized with air quotes, "go easy, okay? Stay hydrated, eat balanced meals, and use sunscreen. Lemme tell you, sweating in a tank top through a ten-K with a wicked sunburn is no fun."

Much of the assembled team shared a conspiratorial look, like the coach had some ability to see our plans.

"That's it. Have a good time, hope your finals kept all of you passing classes, see you a week from Monday."

* * *

I hopped out of bed the next morning with Christmas-level energy. I stuffed everything I'd brought to college that was even close to beach-appropriate into a duffel bag and hopped in the elevator to catch my ride. Dean had arranged every detail of the travel plans. I shared a pre-ordered Uber to the airport with two other people I hadn't met, or perhaps had but didn't remember from the Valentine's party. Sara was definitely a sorority girl, but seemed nice enough. Aiden was a Junior civic engineering major, so the two of us clicked pretty fast. They weren't a couple, but seemed to know each other and were trading looks like they might entertain the idea.

The flight to Daytona Beach wasn't bad. Everything was on time, and we found a rather muscled guy holding a sign with my name on it just outside the airport, waiting with a white Range Rover. He promptly loaded our bags and whisked us eastward toward the ocean.

We watched in awe as we crossed some kind of inland bay, out to another spit of land not more than half a mile wide. We turned to the south on the road closest to the ocean. High rise hotels and condo buildings separated us from our view of the Atlantic just beyond.

As the driver slowed, we held our collective breath when the house came into view. Decidedly modern, I guessed it had to be at least five or six thousand square feet. Different levels of the house jutted out at different places, each lined with full-height windows and numerous cantilevered balconies. We pulled into the circular driveway and were efficiently disembarked. We stood there, each with our luggage and shared wide smiles.

"Dudes, you made it!" Dean greeted us at the doorway, already in shorts, drink in hand. "Get changed and come out to the pool. Party's already started!"

Just as he left, I heard another vehicle in the driveway. I turned to see another expensive SUV pull up. Raising an eyebrow at the beautiful girl that got out to fetch her suitcase from the trunk, I quickly did a double take. A head of slightly-shorter, streaming honey blonde hair was somehow attached to Lily. She came back with her suitcase and smiled widely at me as the car pulled away.

I sucked in a breath and stared at her. "Ohmigod, what did you do?"

"Just a little hairdo change for vacation, nothing special. Do you like it?"

I pushed my jaw back up and nodded dumbly. "Well, yeah. I mean... wow. But why?"

"Something different. I've heard blondes have more fun, maybe I wanna see if it's true."

I laughed, thinking she was talking about a specific blonde we may have known in a carnally similar fashion.

"Alright, who are you and what have you done with Lily?"

"Be nice!" she tutted. "I'm allowed to change my hair if I want."

"Of course," I said, reaching out to touch her cheek. "I'm not trying to give you a bad time, it just surprised me, that's all."

Lily grinned and looked away for a second. "Well, this is gonna blow your mind then."

She took the bottom of her shirt and slowly pulled it upward. A curved silver bar pierced the top edge of her belly button. Each end was adorned with a small green gemstone.

"Who... are you?" I said, my eyes going wide. I glanced between her now-sparkly tummy and her pretty eyes several times. A wide grin had stretched across my face, hers followed. I touched the new jewelry with my fingertip.

"I've been kinda wanting to for a while. Good timing, huh?"

"How's that?"

"Beach, swimsuits... opportunity to show it off. Oh, shit--" she said, an irritated look spreading across her face.

"What?"

"I forgot to bring a swimsuit."

"I'm sure you can get one tomorrow."

"Yeah, I'm sure I can. I just can't believe I forgot it."

"You're allowed to be disorganized every now and then."

"Thanks," she smiled. "Show me around?"

"I just got here too, let's go check it out."

We made our way inside and she rolled her suitcase next to mine. Dean had just come in for a refill and spied us.

"Lily, hey! Like the hair, very Daytona! You guys can go grab rooms wherever. I think you're the last two, so whatever's left. Hurry up and change, party's already started!" He raised a solo cup in the air and walked toward the rear of the house.

"Pour us drinks and let's go find rooms," said Lily, gesturing to a well-stocked bar Dean had just come from. I complied and followed her.

The first floor had only two bedrooms, both already occupied with luggage. We climbed the wide stone-clad stairs to the next floor and had to poke our head in six more rooms to confirm that they were all in fact, taken. Technically, we only saw five, one had the door locked, which did not prevent us from hearing the occupants' already enthusiastic activities.

We shared a silent grin and climbed another set of stairs to the top floor. The U-shaped hallway provided access to three much-larger suites. The first room had a pair of suitcases on the bed, and my traveling companions Aiden and Sara were just getting settled in the second room. Lily and I shared a knowing glance as we walked to the third, empty suite and went inside.

"Sorry," I said, "I thought there were gonna be enough rooms for everyone. This is awkward..."

She forced a smile. "It'll be fine. This place is huge, and we're adults enjoying a free vacation. Besides," she added, "it's not like we haven't been in the same room before."

I grinned and stared at the polished marble floor. "Only if you're okay with it."

"I think I can handle it, if you can."

"Oh yeah, I'm totally cool," I said, realizing my overcompensation sounded ridiculous. "Should we unpack and go find everyone?"

I strolled across the suite, the floor-to-ceiling windows looked out directly to the ocean, the massive home's pool right below.

"Look at this bathroom!" Lily called.

We spent a few minutes exploring the huge suite and dumping our clothes onto the king size bed.

"You okay if I change?" I called to her from the walk-in closet. "Sorry you don't have a suit." I put on my one and only pair of baggy swimming trunks. I came out and caught her giving me a rather unveiled stare.

I just grinned, and we clinked our plastic cups together and made our way downstairs. The party was indeed already going out on the pool deck. I counted at least a dozen people including us. Sara and Aiden were still in their rooms, or room, I posited.

Everyone was college age, and to put it indelicately, not ugly. We glanced around, trying not to gawk at our new housemates as we strolled outside. The sound system was playing some low, summer-appropriate music and everyone seemed like they'd been imbibing for a few hours already. Lots of smiles, not much clothing, everyone having a good time.

This is gonna be alright, I thought, putting on my 'making friends' smile.

Dean came over and welcomed us again and a few introductions to people nearby. There was another bar on the far side of the pool, which seemed to have its own gathering. Lily and I found lounge chairs not in the direct sun and plopped down. We'd both somehow forgotten to bring sunglasses and sunscreen too.

All manner of fun was being had around us. A couple of girls were dancing idly near one of the speakers, a few guys that looked like swimmers were making rather competitive use of the diving board. Dean seemed to be content to flit between groups, talking and copping a stray feel on a few exposed backs or bikini-covered asses. I couldn't begrudge the guy, none of us would be here without his perhaps self-serving generosity. A gorgeous red head strolled around the pool like she was on the prowl.

I looked over at Lily on the chair next to me, happily sipping her drink. The blonde hair still made me do a double take every few minutes, but I was getting used to it.

"So where's your head at," I said, swallowing the last of my beverage.

"God Theo, this is just what I needed. Thank you again for inviting me. I know you probably could have..." she trailed off.

"I'm glad you're here."

She grinned at me. "Be a love and get us another beverage?"

The afternoon melted into the evening. We mingled around the pool, meeting some of the other guests Dean had invited. Lily knew one of the guys from a fall class, but we quickly got acquainted with most of our other temporary roommates.

The house staff, because of course it had staff, brought out trays of appetizers, sliders, wings, and desserts in tiny cups. We'd already blown by my coach's don't-party-to-much directive and sampled every fattening and delicious food that was laid out.

Despite the sun sinking away behind us, the humidity finally got to me. I jumped in the pool, the initial shock of the cool water immediately refreshing. Ten or so of our housemates were already there, and someone had laid out a line of plastic glasses along one edge of the pool, pre-filled so nobody had to make the arduous trek to the bar.

Everyone laughed and splashed around as the low lights around the perimeter of the vast outdoor area flickered to life. I was lounging against the side of the pool, arms spread out and holding me afloat. Without a swimsuit, Lily appeared content to sit on the edge of the shallow end with her legs in and just watch the shenanigans taking place.

She caught my eye and pantomimed tipping a drink back. I nodded and pushed away, paddling toward the wall of solo cups.

As the sun set, our collective blood alcohol levels rose. Lily and I were simply maintaining a nice buzz, but some of the others were definitely trying to boost the average. Most of us eventually descended into water horseplay and pool games. A rather enthusiastic chicken fight broke out in the shallow end of the pool, which everyone either won, or lost, depending on your point of view. One of the girls who probably shouldn't have been using the diving board came up and out of the water without her top, apparently unconcerned that she was showing off her small but nicely perky tits.

I was in the middle depths of the pool, loosely participating in something like a cross between Marco Polo and water tag. There wasn't much to it other than yelling, then diving under the water and more or less playing grab-ass with whoever you were chasing.

I took a deep breath and dove, lazily swimming along the bottom of the pool. I could hear everyone moving around and splashing above me through the water. Weaving between legs, I misjudged my air supply and surfaced like a rocket. My wet hair had come down into my eyes and the water made everything blurry as I tried to blink it away. I saw the vague shape of someone approaching me. Whoever it was grabbed my shoulders and kissed me.

A brief pang of confusion swept through me, but the nicely tipsy part of my brain just went with it. I wrapped my arms around whoever it was, feeling a nice, soft set of breasts brushing my chest as we started to make out.

After a moment I got to the point where I knew the swelling in my shorts would become an issue. I slowly broke the kiss and pulled away, finally blinking the water out of my eyes.

The improbably attractive red headed girl smiled at me, still very much in my personal space. She was close enough that her wet breasts had now flattened against me.

"Oh, you're not my boyfriend! Sorry about that, hun."

I backed away and out of her grasp. I glanced around the pool and saw Dean and Lily chatting where she'd parked herself, both of them quite obviously watching the scene unfold. Dean had a rather amused look plastered to his face.

"Yo, Theo!" he called, "Meet Candy, Candy, that's Theo."

"Uh... hi," I said awkwardly. I didn't offer my hand, it felt like we'd already gotten introduced. "So do I look like your boyfriend or something?"

"I guess that depends on whether you want the job for the week," she giggled.

"So uh, how do you know Dean?" I said, hoping to redirect the question.

"We dated for a while. Don't hold it against me," she said with a devious grin. "I mean, you can hold other things against me."

My eyes went wide as her hips pushed against me under the water.

"Hey, let's go get some more drinks, huh?" I began to wade toward Lily and Dean. Candy followed.

The four of us made small talk for a few minutes. Candy was a sophomore at a different college, and was of course in the same sorority her mother had joined years earlier.

Candy asked how Lily and I were acquainted, to which I answered simply, "We dated."

"Ooh, two sets of exes... awwwwk-warrrrd!" said Candy, grinning.

I was about to make some kind of clarification when we were all forced to duck out of the way of an incoming cannonball. We didn't make it far enough out of the blast radius to keep the pool water from sloshing into our drinks. I swam to the opposite end of the pool to grab replacements as Candy went to grab a towel.

When I got back, Lily was climbing out.

"I'm kinda tired," she said flatly. "Come up whenever you want."

I stood, rooted to the spot in the pool and watched her walk inside.

"Sorry about that," said Dean, sidling up next to me. "Candy is kind of a handful."

"Don't worry about it."

I knew Lily and I were months past our break, but I got the distinct impression she wasn't thrilled with the direction our vacation had just taken.

What does that mean? my tipsy brain wondered. It quickly got distracted.

"Come on," Dean piped up, "let's go get some beer pong going!"

"Raincheck, promise," I said, heading for the steps. "I'll take winner."

I grabbed a towel from the stack and dried off. I made my way inside and tried to remember which stairway we'd used. I looked in one room and found unfamiliar luggage before finding the room where we'd dumped our stuff. The noise of the shower wafted through the door of the en suite.

"Hey," I called, hoping not to startle her. "It's me."

"Hey."

"You want some company in the shower?" The drinks I'd downed thought it would be funny to ask.

"I'm almost done," she answered flatly.

I heard the water turn off. She appeared a few moments later, wrapped in a towel.

"I'm tired, it was a long day traveling. You coming to bed, or going back down to the pool?"

"I think bed," I said, intuiting that was the correct answer.

"You should go wash the chlorine off."

"Yeah," I said, not loving the expression on her face.

I made quick work of showering and came back to find the lights off, and Lily in bed under the covers, facing away from me.

"Are you okay?" I asked quietly, climbing in the other side.

"Fine," she said coolly.

I sighed out a deep breath and stared upward. Dim aquamarine light danced on the ceiling through the large windows from the pool below. I yawned and stretched, realizing getting some sleep instead of beer pong was probably a good choice.

I took a few moments of introspection, thinking about the crazy chain of events over the last year. Most of the high points involved the girl curled up next to me. I wished for so many reasons that her mother had never gotten sick, that everything since Christmas was simply a bad dream that I could just wake up from.

Mom advice quickly came to the rescue, reassuring me that everything was a learning opportunity that probably happened for a reason. I was currently at an all expenses paid vacation with a person I cared deeply for, even if we weren't together. There was no reason we shouldn't enjoy our first solo adulting with all the gusto we could manage. Right?

I stretched again and turned on my side. As my leg moved, I accidentally brushed against Lily's smooth backside. I connected the geometry to the sensations and realized she hadn't put on panties.

Dude, what are you doing?

I felt the goofy pull of whatever was in the plastic solo cups. Whatever reasonable restraint I possessed seemed to be disappearing like those same cups on the side of the pool.

I risked a gentle caress down her back, feeling only her smooth skin.

I scooted a bit closer and rubbed my leg against hers. She didn't react in either possible direction.

At least she didn't push me away.

The soft skin was warm where I touched her, mine was still a little cold from the shower. I risked laying an arm gently over her chest. She inhaled a breath and sighed.

Don't catch feels, that's not what you want right now, a small part of my brain offered.

My resolve fading, I began slowly caressing her soft breasts, pausing to just drag a fingertip over her hardening nipples. Her body began to react, spooning into me closer. My cock quickly went from half-chub to good-to-go and started rubbing against her backside.

God, what's happening... Don't do this to her. Don't do this to yourself.

My base biology had no such reasoning skills or interest in relationship norms. I was in bed with an gorgeous girl who wasn't telling me to stop.

Is this a good idea? the tiny part asked before finally winking out and disappearing.

After a few moments of silently caressing her chest, I reached down with my other hand and grazed her butt, sliding a finger down her smooth cleft of her cheeks. Her legs slowly parted a bit to allow me access. The heat radiating from her slit was already noticeable as I traced the opening with my index finger. Her wetness eased my digit inside as I gently pushed.

A soft moan finally escaped her lips as I brushed against her clit.

Now we're talking.

Still using one hand to gently tease her nipples, I used my other to grab my shaft and line from my spot behind her. She scooted her butt toward me, changing the angle between us. She lifted one leg a little higher to open herself to me.

I rubbed my head up and down her gash, making sure to give her pleasure button a few strokes. Finally pushing, I slid halfway in, savoring her warmth and tightness that I'd desperately missed. I pulled nearly out, then gently pushed my hard tool as far as it would go. I groaned out my content as I held still, balls deep. Her newly-blonde hair smelled of tropical fruit with a touch of sunscreen.

"Good way to end the day," I whispered, my chest pressing into her back. I started slowly thrusting, enjoying the round of her ass against my thighs when I was all the way in. I risked a gentle kiss on the back of her head. After a few more slow plunges, I took her cheek in my hand, hoping she'd turn for a real kiss. As she swiveled toward me, the expression on her face was more prickly than our current activity would suggest was appropriate.

"Theo..." she said quietly, "what are we doing?"

My thrusting was more consistent now, the wet, slick sound of our bodies coming together familiar and comfortable.

"I'm sorry, I just couldn't help it. I..."

"It's okay," she said after a few seconds of awkward silence. "But do you really want this? I'm, I mean we're --"

"We're grown-ass adults," I said, making another gentle plunge into her, "I think we can handle it."

She let out a deep sigh as I bottomed out, turning her head back away from me. I used the arm wrapped over her chest and pulled us tighter together. My hips continued their slow thrusts against her backside, sliding in and out of her warm tunnel.

"Why are you doing this," she whimpered a moment later. "You don't seem to have a problem getting, you know..."

A defensive edge had crept into her voice.

"Getting what?"

"Girls," she said, the emphasis mirroring her insides squeezing my cock. "They just seem to keep falling in your lap."

"What?" I said incredulously. "Falling in my lap?" I stopped thrusting and pulled on her chin to look at me again.

A familiar look had lit up her eyes as she moved her hips away, my cock sliding out of her warm confines. Before I could protest, she'd rolled on her back and spread her legs. I crawled between them and plunged back in.

She moaned out a breath and looked at me again.

"I mean first it's that gorgeous Aurora girl at school with her cute little squeaky voice," she said the last few words in an eerily accurate imitation. "And then tonight, I'm sure you could've taken Candy up here instead of me. Maybe you wanna find out if the carpet matches the drapes?"

I laughed haughtily, now holding myself above her with my arms.

"What did I do here?" I said, growing more agitated. I pulled nearly all the way out and stared at her face, waiting for a response.

"I didn't tell you to stop fucking me!" she barked.

Her words inflamed both my pride and my arousal. I released my weight and plowed into her again. I tried to hide the traitorous satisfaction on my face as her tight warmth took me in.

Both our faces softened as the pleasure we were giving each other worked on our emotions.

"Maybe I'm just a little jealous of how easy it is for you," she said, her lip shaking each time I pushed against her womb.

"It's ten times easier for girls!" I said, glancing down at her beautiful body below me. "You can just walk up to any guy and be all like, hey, let's go have sex, 'kay?"

"It's not like that," she said between breaths.

"You're fucking gorgeous," I said, the tone of my voice not matching the intent of my words. I emphasized my point with a deep thrust. "I bet Jake Dog would love to be here right now."

"Well, he's not, is he?" said Lily, arching an eyebrow at me.

"We're in the Spring Break capital of the world," I said, the sentiment getting slightly pushed off course by the sensations beginning in my balls. I was still able to form the last part of my thought. "Maybe you should go find a few guys and try to prove me wrong!"

My breathing was coming in stuttering breaths now. I glanced down and realized Lily had her finger between us, rubbing her fleshy nub as I continued to piston.

"Maybe I will!" she panted.

My brain railed against her words.

If she wants to go have fun and do stupid shit, why should I be upset? That's what we're supposed to do, right?

Even through the competitive wall we'd been building over the last few minutes and a decent soaking of alcohol, I sensed what was about to happen.

Lily's finger at her clit became more insistent in its motions, her nail just grazing the top of my shaft as I plunged into her willing body.

"Shit, I'm almost there," I said, feeling the pressure quickly approaching the point of no return.

Her eyes went wide as I stared into them.

"Me too," she moaned.

I took three more deep strokes.

"Should I stop?" I said, wondering if my brain could even convince my body at this point. Through some miracle, I held myself still. My throbbing head was just barely parting her engorged lips.

The look on her face was evenly torn between irritation and utter release.

"No," she panted, "keep going, please..."

Her tits were now swaying on her chest, in time with my frenzied thrusts.

"But I'm gonna cum," I managed to make out. "We're gonna..."

Lily's hips began to buck against me.

"Dammit, not now," she cursed under her breath. Her irritation trailed off as she strummed at her clit even faster. "Oh, fuck it..."

I surrendered to the incredible buildup and slammed into her again, then again as my cock began to release a torrent of juice deep inside her body.

I moaned loudly in rhythm with the second, then third powerful jets that were rapidly filling the tiny space left.

I was barely aware of the finger at her clit slowing its ministrations as my vision started to fade. First at the edges, then to blackness.

I came to a moment later. My head was beside hers on the pillow, our bodies still entwined. Her sweaty breasts were flattened between us as I lay on her, and her legs were still locked around my back. I could hear both the low bass of the music from the pool and our slowing breathing.

Finally I let out a long sigh and pulled out. I rolled off and lay next to her, both of us staring at the ceiling.

A new and different kind of confusion and uncertainty had just been tossed in the margarita blender with the knowledge that we'd wake up each other's bodies in a few hours.

I sucked in and sighed out a breath. "Well, this is gonna be interesting."

* * *

"Follow" to get updated when the next chapter (and new stories!) gets released. As always, your comments and feedback are what keep us authors writing.