Double Twist
Chapter 174
“Edepol nunc nos tempus est malas peioris fieri.”
(Now’s the time for bad girls to become worse still.)
—Plautus, Miles Gloriosus, 1218
DONNA FOUND CINDY AND ME cuddled up naked and asleep in her bed. Her response was to undress and crawl in with us. Next to Cindy.
“Are you okay, sweetie?” she whispered in Cindy’s ear.
“Um-hum.” Cindy wiggled a little so she could turn and kiss Donna. “It’s a little sore but I really liked it.”
“Jacob is a thoughtful lover.”
“I didn’t really give him time to think,” Cindy giggled. “Better see if he’s okay.”
“I’m fine, lovers,” I whispered. “I’m a little overwhelmed by the love and energy of this girl, but I’m fine.”
“Good. Then maybe you can get up and help me get birthday dinner ready for Desi.”
“Oh, my gosh. We’re celebrating today?”
“Why wait until next weekend when she’ll be in the chaos of dress rehearsals and getting ready to perform? Her birthday is Tuesday and it’s almost impossible to see her in the evenings,” Donna said.
“Well, let’s try to make tonight special then,” I said. “You awake enough to help, Piper?”
“Yeah. When can we make love again?”
“Better see how you’re walking before we decide that,” I laughed.
Cindy was walking a little gingerly. Beca noticed right away.
“Cindy, do you need some loving care of your private parts?” she whispered as we stood at the sink washing vegetables for the salad. “I have some soothing cream I could apply for you.”
“Oh, I already got creamed,” Cindy giggled. I couldn’t believe how relaxed my girlfriends were about sharing their sex lives. But I suppose Cindy had been in bed with Beca and me when we were satisfying each other and we’d both had our tongues in Cindy’s vagina. When it came down to it, I guess we don’t have many secrets from each other. It was interesting, though, that Cindy hadn’t told anyone we’d had anal sex. She was just letting it be assumed we’d had vaginal sex. That would make for interesting revelations eventually. “Maybe you could… um… you know…”
“Make love to you later?” Beca supplied. Cindy blushed and nodded.
“Will you make love to me tonight, Beca?”
“Oh, yeah.”
“Happy birthday, Desiree! We love you!” we all shouted when she finally got home.
“Oh! Thank you! I’m so tired. I look a wreck. How can you love me?”
Girlfriend in distress! The pod went into action. Desi was swept along in a sea of girls to be showered, massaged, and pampered. When she came out of the bedroom in a big fluffy robe, we fed her from the five different souffles we had prepared. Beca made Desi’s favorite carrot cake with lemon cream cheese frosting. And I finally got to hold my girlfriend in my lap as she ate her birthday cake.
“You seem unusually stressed by this show,” I said as I petted her hair and held her close. “What’s the problem, love?”
“It’s our new director. Or the play. I don’t know which. For the past three years we’ve done almost exclusively musicals or interesting experimental things. This director dove right in with Shakespeare! And it’s like we all have to prove ourselves all over again. After all the work we’ve done with bits from Twelfth Night the past two years, I still didn’t get cast as Olivia. There’s not a chance I’d be cast as Viola with these tits. I was lucky to get the part of Maria, Olivia’s gentlewoman. Not that it isn’t a fun part. She’s one of the best of Shakespeare’s bawdy women. But Henderson seems to be blaming me for anything that happens. Malvolio forgets a line and suddenly it’s because I miscued him. It’s frustrating!”
Desi finally got the story off her chest and we were all sympathetic.
“It’s probably good practice for you,” Donna said. “Next year, you’ll have a new director, teachers, competition for parts, and philosophy of performance to deal with. Don’t let a new director get you down, honey. Look at it as a head start on dealing with a new environment.”
“Yeah. I’m just venting. But you know what Henderson said to me today?” Desi said. It was obvious she wasn’t quite through venting. “He called me aside when I was painting the dungeon set and had a bandana around my head and paint on my nose. He looked at me and sniffed. ‘I don’t know why the National School of the Arts would be interested in you,’ he said. ‘Try not to ruin the performance for anyone else when their theater director attends the show.’ I couldn’t believe he was singling me out as the possible cause of ruining the performance for others. And when was anyone going to let me know Ava Parrish was coming to the show? Why is she coming? Maybe they do have an interest in someone else.”
“That’s wonderful, Desi! My love, Livy, Rachel, and I all had special tests with recruiters and Cindy and I had to go to DC to audition before an acceptance committee. It’s part of the process. Just wait until someone comes to watch Brittany dance or she has to prepare an audition in DC!” I looked up and saw Brittany’s head come up and her mouth open. I don’t think she’d thought about any kind of special audition.
“We’re just going to make sure you are as prepared for your performances and auditions as Jacob and I are for our races or Jacob and Cindy are for their concerts,” Nanette said. “You are beautiful and talented. And unlike most of the popular actresses I hear about, you have that bonus something.”
“I can sing?”
“Yes, that. But you have a brain, too. That seems to be a missing ingredient among entertainers if you read the tabloids,” Nanette laughed.
“Who reads the tabloids?” I asked. Nanette slowly raised her hand and wiggled her fingers.
“It’s just for fun,” she complained. We all got a good laugh out of it and insisted that from now on she needed to leave her trashy reading out where the rest of us could enjoy it.
“I know you probably have a fantasy of ravishing Jacob this evening, but would you sleep with me tonight, sweetheart?” Nanette asked Desi. I was surprised but okay with that. In a couple of weeks, Desi and I would have a whole weekend together out in DC.
“You want me?” Desi asked. Nanette was not often bold in singling someone out for a night except Brittany.
“I feel like we don’t share nearly enough time together and that you need some gentle loving care tonight, not mindless sex. Not that I object to that, too, but I have magic fingers and would like to press them into every muscle in your body to make sure you are completely relaxed.”
I felt Desi shudder in my arms as she thought about a massage from Nanette.
“Yes,” she whispered.
“This is it,” Livy said as she slid beneath the sheet beside me. “I’m headed to Blacksburg tomorrow.”
“I hate to think of you making that drive all alone,” I said as I drew her into my arms.
“I won’t be alone,” Livy said. “Sophie is taking a few days off to drive with me and fly home. Isn’t that a great bonus for me? Two days with that sleek Latina dancer for company in the car? And in bed.”
“I think you’ll both enjoy that as much as I would,” I laughed. Livy’s tall athletic body had worked its magic on mine with the first touch of our lips. I wondered if that was why I was attracted to Lacie. She, too, was tall and athletic. I needed to talk to her about her testing and controlling the aptitude scores. After cross country season was over.
“I want to enjoy you now, love,” she whispered as we stroked and petted each other. “Take me around the world. If I’m a little sore and stretched when I get to Blacksburg, I’m sure they’ll understand.”
Desi’s eighteenth birthday was Tuesday and the two of us sat with Beca, Cindy, and Brittany at lunch to open our letters together. I’d been hauling mine around in my back pocket for over a week and it was kind of bent and wrinkled.
Congratulations, Jacob Thomas Hopkins!
You have attained your majority with all the rights and privileges that pertain. With rights and privileges, like the right to vote, come responsibilities. Between your eighteenth and twenty-first birthdays you are required to complete two years of National Service. You must report for basic training on or before your nineteenth birthday. The information booklet enclosed will give you details of the process and options you have.
You will also find the ten-minute survey form requesting your planned service start date (SSD) and schedule for your aptitude testing. This form must be returned no later than October 31, 2021. You must report to a Service Testing Center for aptitude testing no later than November 16, 2021. These small tasks will enable you to more successfully plan your National Service.
Should you have any questions regarding the procedure or these forms, feel free to call the Service Counseling Center. We have counselors ready to assist you and make your National Service two of the best years of your life.
Once again, congratulations!
National Service Board
P.S. It is hereby advised that you schedule your NSAT at the Capital Testing Center in Washington, DC. As this is specialized testing, please schedule your appointment in advance.
“That’s new. Em’s, Livy’s, and Rachel’s letters just told them to report to the testing center nearest to them,” I said.
“We have no idea what Joan’s letter said,” Beca giggled. “She burned it.”
“Mine has the same P.S., so apparently they are expecting me,” Desi sighed.
“I think I’d better call Dr. D before we schedule to make sure our timing is okay. She’ll smooth things over with the school if we have to miss a day of classes,” I said.
“I’m never going to get one of those letters, am I?” Cindy said. She cocked her head, puzzled. “I mean, if we go to Washington right after my birthday and I volunteer a year early, I’ll already be in service on my eighteenth birthday.”
“You and me, too,” Brittany said. “It sounds like the plan is for all of us to start the same day in July. My eighteenth birthday isn’t until mid-August. I’ll be in basic training.”
“You know, this whole service thing needs an information page that describes what kind of training we go through and when,” Beca said. “I’m tired of the angst and insecurity of not having information. If you can change something with the commission, Jacob, get them to be more transparent. There’s no reason for them to build up all these false uncertainties. Someone has the information. It needs to get out to us before we go in for the NSAT.”
“I searched for information on basic training when Rachel left,” Brittany said. “You were all in DC for the I’ve read the manual taping and your audition. It was really hard that morning when we said goodbye to Rachel and you weren’t here, Jacob. But there are tons of forums and chat rooms out there. The problem is none of them seem to know what they’re talking about. One post actually said the first thing that happens at basic training is you get your head shaved. I think we’d have heard about it if Emily or Joan or Livy or Rachel got their heads shaved.”
“So, it’s not just getting good information,” Beca continued. “It’s getting rid of crappy info. I got a meme on my Facebook timeline with a picture of that guy who blew himself up at the border last year. It made it sound like this happened yesterday and we needed to keep the brave men and women in the National Service in our prayers.”
“I wonder if Ray’s AI can help in hunting down and removing that kind of crap,” I said. “I should call him, too. We’re due for another conversation.”
“Dr. Donahue, thank you for taking my call,” I said.
“Anytime, Jacob. Happy birthday.”
“Thank you. That’s what I’m calling about. My induction letter suggested strongly that I test at the Capital Testing Center. That was my intent anyway after our discussions. Desiree Whitcomb just turned eighteen, as well. We planned to come to Washington on Friday the twelfth for testing and to spend the weekend just doing some sightseeing. I wanted to check to make sure there was no problem with that,” I said.
“No. No problem,” she said. “I’m just checking my calendar. Will Cindy be with you?”
“No. This is a trip Desi and I will make alone.”
“Of course. A momentous occasion. How about coming in Thursday morning instead? We have a commission meeting that afternoon and I’d like to put you on the schedule. You can take the test at your scheduled time on Friday. That way, the commission will pay for your airfare and two nights’ hotel. It will cut your expenses some.”
“That’s very kind of you. Is there anything I should prepare for the commission meeting?”
“Yes. I know this will be a challenge, but the first draft of the reform act and outline of the new manual are ready. If you could read them and prepare to comment, that would be appreciated.” I groaned inwardly. It could take all my spare time between now and when we arrived to read that massive tome again.
“Can you send me a copy?” I asked.
“On its way. How about if I arrange for you to have that entire week off school so you can get extra reading time in?” she asked.
“I think that would help. Thank you.”
Wednesday afternoon, I stayed behind after Mr. Richards’s constitutional government class even though I intended to lead the 10k team on their last long run before state finals and then continue for a full ten miles on my own. It was hard, but I wasn’t letting my training slack off. I needed to stay in shape even with no races for over a month.
“How can I help you, Jacob?” Mr. Richards asked.
“I’m not sure how to approach this,” I said. “I’ll start by just showing you what I received today.” I handed him my tablet with the draft of the new law on it. “I’ve also received a detailed outline of the new manual. Thank God it’s only an outline. It’s almost 200 pages long. I was thinking this might make for some interesting discussion material for our class.”
“It would, indeed. I wouldn’t normally get into specifics about the National Service until second semester, but we’ve already shown how timeliness is affecting our class schedule. I’ll look at the syllabus and see where we could fit it in,” he said.
“About timeliness…” I said. “I have a meeting with the commission in two weeks and will be expected to comment on this.”
“Oh,” Richards said. “Do you need time off to read and comment?”
“I haven’t gotten confirmation yet, but I believe I’ll be off the whole week of the eighth,” I said.
“I’m not seeing any notations on this PDF that it has restricted permission or secret access. Is it permissible to distribute to our class?”
“Like you said, they didn’t say not to.”
“Hmm. For safety’s sake, please give me the contact information for your adviser on the commission,” he said. “I think we’ll distribute this in class tomorrow. Thank you for thinking of it.”
Wednesday night during our study session, I introduced the pod to the bill and the manual. Everyone wanted to get a look at it.
“I personally don’t think the National Service should be any more or less regulated than normal life,” Beca said. “Granted, there is basic training to get through. And you don’t necessarily have a choice about what job you get assigned. From that point on, it should be just like going to work anyplace else. You have a job. You work eight hours a day. You go home at night. National Service is just a job you contract for two years to do. Nothing else.” I could hear Joan’s influence in what Beca was saying. Joan had lucked out in her placement in Chicago, largely through her father’s influence on her testing.
“And we should have the option of applying for a different job or position if that one doesn’t suit us,” Brittany said. “I like animals. I might even have an aptitude for dealing with them. But if I was assigned as a zookeeper, cleaning up elephant shit, I’d want the option of transferring out after a year at most.”
“Which makes me think there are certain jobs that should automatically be short-term with an expected transfer unless the volunteer specifically wants to stay in that job,” Donna said.
“Or there simply isn’t another job the volunteer could do,” Nanette added. “You know there are some people who would be at the top of their career if they were shoveling elephant shit. Probably worked themselves up from monkey shit.”
“Is that a promotion?” I asked, laughing.
“The thing is,” Donna continued, “that most people can put up with anything for three months. It’s the problem of being assigned to a single task for two years that depresses most of the students I talk to.”
“I’d have to agree,” Emily said. “If I’d been assigned to Salina right out of NSO training, I’d have been a wreck. By the time I got there, I only had eleven months of service left. I just kept saying, ‘I can stand this for eleven months. Ten months. Nine more months.’ Ultimately, it wasn’t the job that I minded. I loved driving my big rig. I didn’t have a family to get home to at night, so they were free to send me a thousand miles because I could make the trip there and back in a week.”
“It’s not having a family to come home to at night that’s a problem for me,” Sophie said. “Even when I was dancing in New York, it was terribly lonely. We tended to rehearse for hours longer than required just so we’d have something to do.”
“I think that was what they were hoping for with some of the initial policies that split people up and didn’t let them maintain a residence with their families. They hoped kids would work extra hours just to keep from being bored,” I ventured.
“And it’s harder to get in trouble as an individual than as a group,” Donna admitted. “Nearly all our instances of vandalism, drunkenness, and even theft are committed by groups rather than individuals. They seem to think there’s safety in numbers. Someone to share the blame rather than being individually responsible.”
I emailed the files to everyone in the pod, including Livy, Rachel, and Joan. I thought about it and decided to mail a copy to Remas, too, just in case she hadn’t received one.
“Jacob?” Cindy said, perching on my knee. She leaned in to give me a kiss. “I know it’s a study night and we should be working or practicing, but would you… you know… make love to me? Again?” I pulled her tight against me to kiss and led her by the hand up to my room upstairs. She immediately started pulling her clothes off. I steadied her hand and she let me unfasten her bra as we kissed.
“Tell me what you’d like, Piper,” I whispered.
“The same,” she said in her soft voice. “Desi and Livy both told me I’d enjoy butt play. They played with me back there and I always came like mad. But I didn’t know I’d… you know… like being fucked there. I know we have a lot left to explore and you probably want to put your penis in my vagina. That’s what they’re made for. But… Do you mind just doing the other for now?”
“If you like it, I don’t mind at all,” I said. “Desi and Livy both enjoy it on an occasional basis but they don’t want it all the time. When you don’t want that, you need to be sure I know. Okay?”
“Yeah. Like I’m ever going to get tired of you pumping your cock in my butt. But I’ll keep it in mind. I know I’ll want it in my pussy soon. Just not yet.”
I ate Cindy first and made sure she was very lubed up before I approached her butt with my cock. She had a moment of panic when I crawled between her legs and swabbed my cock head through her juices. But I pushed her legs back and slid down to the offered hole. It was nice that in this position I could look in her eyes, kiss her as I sank my cock into her murky depths, and feel her pussy juices running down her crack to cover my cock each time I stroked in and out.
We didn’t get any more studying done that night before I had to take her home.
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