The Agreement
2 Agreement
I WAS GOING CRAZY. It sounded great. Every guy wants to look at a table of eight or ten gorgeous girls and think they are all his girlfriends. Hell, it made my dick hard. But how was Carl going to feel about me kissing Brenda? Or me about him kissing Hannah. Rhiannon and Doug had been pretty much together since sixth grade. Were they really going to just break up to be part of a group… whatever the hell we called ourselves? The only people I knew that even approached having more than one partner was Jennifer and Courtney who wanted to share me. How were they going to feel about sharing me with eleven other girls and sharing with five other guys?
I asked Mom and she said I could call Jennifer and talk for fifteen minutes. Jennifer wasn’t there, so I called Courtney. They were both there. I explained the gist of what was going on and told them they started it.
“I want to move to your school,” Courtney said. “I can’t believe you’re going to try to do this. So, if Jennifer and I agree to fuck each other, you’re okay with it?”
“God, Court! I just sprang a boner. First of all, we can’t govern you guys. None of us are with you. And second of all, just the thought of you going down on each other makes me want to eat both of you.”
“Bri!” Jennifer squealed. “Have you ever done that? What’s it like?”
“We can’t talk about that right now. The thing is, I’ve got to come up with the rules. Help me!”
“Okay. You’ve already stated one. Call it explicit consent. The next one you said when we were talking to Kevin, Barbara, and Leslie. They were so cute. You said we always had to treat each other with the same courtesy and respect. Of course, you said that if you kissed me for a minute you have to kiss Jennifer for a minute, too. That doesn’t really work. First of all, none of us want to think that if we kiss you we have to kiss all the other boys. And girls. But treating each other with courtesy and respect is important.”
“And the part about not being jealous, too,” Jennifer added. I was scribbling things down. My pen ran out of ink and I had to open every kitchen drawer to find another. This was so annoying. We talked for our fifteen minutes and they made kissy noises on the phone and I hung up. I went to my room.
This was the toughest homework I had for the day. I’d devoured my advanced chemistry reading during study hall. The reading for history wasn’t due until Friday and I sort of plowed through my geometry problems. Then there was just this. What were the rules for a group… whatever? I made the rules as simple as possible, partly because I had to write it out eighteen times. I put two copies in an envelope to Jennifer and Courtney and used all the rest of my envelopes to make one for each person in our group.
“Can I kiss you today?” Candace asked when she sat at our table. She took a chair next to me and Whitney claimed the other side.
“No. Not today. I want everyone to understand and agree to the rules before we break the moratorium on kissing.”
“God, you’re good. ‘Moratorium.’ It just makes me so hot.” She leaned into toward me and whispered, “I mean that, Brian. It’s the same rule I gave you when we made out after the Fair. Not until I say so. You really are making me hot.” It was hard to concentrate after that.
I told everyone they needed to read the rules and come to lunch tomorrow and be prepared to ask questions and make amendments.
“Is the group closed?” Lionel asked. I wasn’t sure and looked around. There were mostly shrugged shoulders.
“What’s up, Lionel?”
“I don’t know if you’ve all met Denise officially,” Lionel said. “I just met her Tuesday. She transferred in from Potawatomi High. Denise, this is our group of friends.” Lionel introduced her around. She was a cute black girl who was thin and nicely built. I was glad Lionel invited her to our table. “I’d like to invite Denise to at least take a look at our agreement and see if she’d like to join,” Lionel finished.
“That sounds good to me. Denise?” I said. “Would you like to read our rules for group dating?”
“You mean you all would be okay having a black girl in your group?”
“Honey, what do you think I am?” Sugar huffed, putting her hands on her hips.
“You date the white boys, too?” Denise whispered to Sugar. We could all hear it, though, and started to laugh.
“You prejudiced, bitch?” Sugar demanded.
“No. I just never heard of it going that way before. In my hood it’s just white bitches with black brothers. You’d date me, Brian? I mean if we liked each other.” I thought of Angela and smiled.
“Denise, I’d love to take you out and get to know you better. I think we’re all going to the game Friday night and the dance after. I hope you’ll join us.”
“Gimme the damned paper.”
“If we don’t sign this does it mean we can’t hang with y’all?” Jackson asked.
“Hell no. This is only our dating rules, Jackson. Has nothing to do with who we hang out with. You hung out with us when Hannah and I were dating, and even did chicken fights with her. That’s just part of being friends.”
“Then, I gotta not sign,” Jackson said. “I just know I can’t do this stuff. No jealousy? Man, I about tore Lionel’s arm off in third grade because he looked at a girl I was interested in. I just don’t think I can do it. I don’t understand how you could let me hold your girlfriend’s legs while we were in the pool. It just doesn’t work for me. But I’d die if y’all weren’t my friends anymore.”
“We’re your friends, Jackson,” Rhiannon confirmed. “Dating and friendship aren’t the same. And besides, the rules say we could still date sometimes if you agreed to abide by the terms.”
“I’m out, too,” Derek said. “It’s not that I don’t think I could do this, but I started seeing this girl Lisa over the summer, and we kinda just decided to go steady. She’s not at our school. These rules of behavior are good, though. I’ll try to live with that.”
“What’s this about ‘no penetration’ mean?” Rose asked.
“We’re fourteen and fifteen this year,” I said. “We’re trying a big experiment and even if we’re willing to treat each other equally, that doesn’t mean that just because you fuck one person means you want to fuck everyone at the table. Those things are going to grow and change, but for now, we’re safer saying that as long as we’re together as a group, we don’t go all the way.” I could see the girls all breathe a sigh of relief and I kind of thought the guys were relieved, too.
“That rule supersedes the one about both or all parties consenting. It’s for all our protection. Even if you are hot and heavy and both of you want to plunge in and do it, we don’t go all the way. You have to withdraw from the group to pursue your own relationship if you decide you really can’t handle it otherwise. It’s everyone’s responsibility.”
“That’s going to make it really hard,” Carl said. Rose spit milk out her nose.
“Way to go, Grace,” I laughed. I made a couple changes that we agreed to and on Friday we all signed our agreement.
The Group Dating Agreement
- I will always treat everyone in the group fairly, equally, and with respect.
- I will not be jealous of anything that anyone else does or engages in with anyone else in this group (male or female).
- I will always receive the explicit consent of my partner(s) before engaging in any potentially sexual activity and will respond in compliance with their wishes.
- I will abstain from any sexual penetration while dating the group.
- I will always have the option of declining any advance of any kind from any partner and it will be honored.
- I may date others who have not signed this agreement if they agree to abide by it during our date.
- I may leave this group at any time for any reason and still maintain my friendship and camaraderie with the members of this group.
- We are not a clique. We are just dating each other.
The first test was that night. Candace drove me home after school and to the football game that night.
“Thank you for including me in the group. I don’t know any of the others well, but the guys all seem nice and this is a great idea for dating. I hope you know, though, that I won’t be spending all my time with our dating group.”
“I don’t expect anyone to spend all his or her time with the group,” I said.
“Well, I would if I was a freshman. But I’m a senior and I’ve got a bunch of other friends. I might even get asked on a date I want to accept occasionally. Our rules, though, are pretty much what I’ve always done. Except… well, the ‘no penetration’ thing is new, but I really haven’t done much of that.”
“Candace, you just gave me a hard-on with one sentence.”
“Oh, poor boy. Does thinking of me naked with my legs spread and a hard dick pumping into my tight little pussy give you an erection?”
“Well, that sure as hell didn’t make it better.” We laughed, but the truth was evident in my lap. I readjusted my seatbelt.
“There’ll be the shows, too,” Candace said. “Theater people are… a little more open about showing affection when they are working on a show together. I promise, though, that I’ll abide by the rules, even though I might not be with the rest of you.”
“I think that’s all we’re asking,” I said. “And if you find someone you like and want to… take to another level, you can resign from the dating group and still be our friend.”
“I don’t know about that,” she said, pulling into my driveway. “I do want to know one little thing, though.”
“What’s that?”
“Can I kiss you now?”
The struggle over the armrest was difficult, but we got our mouths together. Oh, hell yes.
“Um… would you like to come in and stay for dinner?” I asked. “Mom and Dad will be home in about an hour and I’m making spaghetti.”
“They wouldn’t mind?”
“You’ve met Mom. Dad is pretty easy-going, too, and I expect to invite each of my girlfriends over for dinner at least once. The guys, too.”
“Can I help cook?”
We had a lot of fun cooking, interspersed with some great kissing. We didn’t go any further than kisses, but some of them left both of us breathless. After we cleaned up dinner dishes and Candace had entertained my parents with funny stories, we headed for the game.
Things were a little awkward at first. We were all out together and there was a little jostling for position when we got to the bleachers. Candace brought me to the game, so she claimed my left side. Whitney claimed the right as ‘fairy queen.’ It wasn’t all boy-girl, boy-girl. Carl and Doug were sandwiched between Brenda and Rhiannon, but I noticed that at halftime, the girls switched places. This would be interesting. Lionel was spending a lot of time courting Denise, but Liz was right with them the entire evening. Hannah, Sugar, and Samantha were having a great time and basically ignoring the sexual tensions in the row in front of them. Rose sat with them behind me and somehow, I ended the evening leaning against her legs with her hands on my shoulders. Candace and Whitney each kept one of my hands busy with theirs.
Things were easier at the dance afterward. Mostly we all danced together in a group when the fast music was playing. Partners changed for every slow song and if they had no male partner and the girls wanted to dance, they danced together and occasionally accepted dances from other guys who asked them. Each dance with an outsider was prefaced by an abbreviated version of the rules. I wasn’t really expecting that.
Our quarterback, Chad, had a rough night of it on the field. He suddenly found out what it was like to be holding the ball without last year’s senior front five there to protect him. He came up to our table with Renee, one of the varsity cheerleaders I knew from last year.
“I’m not trying to pull anything, folks,” Chad said when they got to us. “I just thought that if I brought Renee over as a trade, maybe I’d be able to have a dance with one of our JV cheerleaders.” He was looking at Brenda, but Rose stood up and went to them.
“We’ll be happy to dance, but you both have to abide by the rules.”
“What rules?” Renee asked. She definitely was eying me.
“Number one, you don’t make any moves or passes without getting explicit permission from your partner.”
“Explicit? You mean if I want to put my arm around you to dance I have to ask?”
“Yep. And your hand better not move to my ass unless I’ve told you it’s okay. If I say no, that’s final.”
“Sheesh!”
“What else?” Renee asked. She looked at me. “You have permission to hold my hand, put your arm around me while we dance, and if I kiss you to let your hand slide to my ass. Does that cover everything?”
“As long as you get my permission, too. Rule two is that you treat everyone here in our group with equal fairness and respect.”
“And that you don’t get jealous of anyone if they do something with someone else and not with you.”
“You guys have a lot of rules. Can’t we just dance?” Chad said.
“Yeah. We can do that.”
I did dance with Renee. She had a little respect for me anyway since I made her fiery hoop trick work last fall. She wanted to know if I’d set it up for homecoming again this year and I agreed. We held hands and I had my arm around her while we danced a slow number that kept us pressed tightly together, but we didn’t kiss or fondle anyone’s ass. When I led her back to the table, Chad had switched to Brenda and Candace was explaining the rules to another guy who had approached the table.
“But Candace, we’ve done a lot more than that already.” I didn’t like him.
“Doesn’t make a difference, Joe. These are my boyfriends and girlfriends. It’s the way we roll.”
“Have fun,” he snorted and turned to leave.
“You guys are serious about this, aren’t you?” Renee asked.
“Deadly,” I said.
“I like it. Hey, Stretch,” she said to Lionel. “Want to dance?” Lionel looked up at her a little puzzled.
“Hi, Renee. Uh… I’m kinda paying special attention to Denise and Liz tonight. Maybe we can dance at the next one.” Renee plopped down next to me.
“Wow.” She looked at me just as we heard a scuffle behind us and saw Chad reach for Brenda as she stormed off the dance floor. He grabbed her arm and when he spun her around she slapped him hard in the face. I was on my feet, but Lionel was a step ahead of me.
“You bitch!”
“You agreed to the rules, Chad. Feeling me up was not part of what I agreed to.”
“You’re just a prick tease.”
“And you’re a loser,” Lionel said as he stepped between Chad and Brenda. “As was evidenced by the game tonight. Now that you know you’re a loser, get lost.”
“You only think you and your big brother can protect this little clique,” Chad said. “You want to play ball on the team you better hope you stay healthy.”
“Are you making a threat against my buddy?” I growled next to Chad. Carl and Doug had just stepped up behind Chad from where they’d been dancing. I looked for the rest of the football team, but when I spotted them they were all sitting and Lamar and three others were standing at their table.
“Yeah. What are you going to do about it, prick?”
“Oh, nothing,” I said smiling at him. “I don’t think I’ll have to. The way your front line leaks defenders, I don’t figure you’ll last another game. You might not even make it to the next one if they’re like that in practice.” Chad spun on his heel and came face to face with Carl. Carl was pissed. I grabbed his hand as he raised his fist. “Let it go, Carl,” I said softly. “Chad doesn’t really know who’s on his team and who isn’t anymore.”
“Renee!” Chad barked. “Let’s go. I’m leaving.”
“You go, Chad. I’m not done dancing with these guys,” she called. She’d never moved from our table and Brenda was in her arms. “Go use your Pocket Pussy.” Chad turned to go get her, but Jackson, Derek, and an upperclassman I knew as Paul from chemistry last year had joined the other four of us to block the way. Chad didn’t even bother to go back to his table. He headed for the gym doors and left.
The other guys returned to their dates and the dance went on uninterrupted. Lionel and I returned to the table. Brenda was there, still holding onto Renee, but I discovered it was Renee who was crying.
“I’m so sorry, you guys,” she sputtered. “He’s such an asshole. I can’t take it anymore. I hate him.”
“Hey, it wasn’t your fault,” I said.
“Yes, it was. I agreed to come to your table as a piece offering. As in piece of ass. I thought I loved him. I’d do anything for him.”
“You can’t let him walk all over you,” Brenda said.
“I always have. He took my cherry in seventh grade. I thought it was forever. He was the football quarterback and I was the cheerleader girlfriend. He said I’d always be his first and favorite. Then he popped two more cheerleader cherries the next night. I kept telling myself that I was still his first and favorite. We dated and were public about being a couple. But the only time he ever wanted me was when he struck out with someone else. Which wasn’t often. Then it was call good-old-spread-em-anytime Renee. ‘Hey Renee, go screw the freshman geek so I can pop the cheerleaders’ cherries.’ I’m such a whore. I’m sorry.” She finally ran down and Brenda kept holding her while she sobbed.
“That bastard. I can’t believe he’d order his girlfriend to screw someone else,” I said.
“It’s not the first time. And he’s had it out for you ever since that incident with Kirby last spring even though he didn’t know who you were.”
“He was a friend of Kirby?” I found that hard to believe.
“Oh, hell no. Kirby was the lowest kind of pond scum. But he was Chad’s drug connection. I don’t think he’s had a good smoke since Kirby went to jail. Maybe he’s got a new connection, though. He said he was going to get you two so high tonight you wouldn’t even know you’d been fucked. Of course, you probably wouldn’t know anyway. He’s such a pencil dick.” That did it. We looked at each other and everyone at the table busted out laughing. Fortunately, Rose wasn’t drinking anything at the moment. She covered her nose anyway. Brenda stood up and walked around to where Lionel was cuddled with Denise and Liz.
“Lionel. And I guess tonight I need to ask Denise and Liz, too. Anyway. May I have permission to kiss my hero of the night?” Lionel didn’t move, but Denise and Liz grinned and nodded. They moved back.
“Brenda, I really—I mean, really—would like to kiss your pretty lips, but don’t you ever feel like you owe me something for what happened out there. My brother made it clear to me that part of being on the team was to support my teammates. If my friends need me, I get my ass out of the chair and help. And nobody,” he growled fiercely, “messes up my girlfriend. Any of them.”
“It’s not because I owe you, Lionel,” Brenda responded. “It’s because I’m your girlfriend and you really got me revved up out there!” Carl, Samantha, Doug, and Hannah all returned from the dance floor just then. I held my breath a little. Lionel held out his arms and Brenda was in his lap and on his lips in a flash. I could see the sense in staying seated. That foot-and-a-half difference in height must make it hard to kiss standing up. I’ll have to keep that in mind when I kiss Whitney. Shit! Why’d I think of that? The kiss kept going and going. I glanced at Carl and saw his fist rising in the air. Then I saw his grin as he looked at each of us and we raised our fists. Then with a pull downward we all yelled.
“Choo! Choo!”
Brenda about fell off Lionel’s lap and the whole table busted up laughing. Renee looked at us like we were crazy, then Carl turned to her and asked her to dance. At ten, Hannah’s sister Sarah came to the table.
“Ready to go, Sis?”
“Yeah. I’m about asleep.”
“Do you have to go?” Samantha asked.
“I have to get up at four-thirty to deliver papers in the morning,” Hannah said. “I’ve won carrier of the month twice already! I’m going to this cool dude ranch in October.” She turned to me. “Want to ride collections with me tomorrow so I don’t fall asleep, Brian?”
“Sure! That sounds like fun. I’ll tell you all about the dude ranch. I’ve been there four times.”
“I know. Maybe you’ll come, too.”
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