The Rock
9 Adoption
I HOPED FOR IT but I didn’t dare expect it. Teams were posted in front of the Coaches’ office when Whitney and I got in to work out at six-thirty. We ran before we got to school, but it was the first morning that we didn’t get to shower together in a long time.
I’d made varsity.
What a dream. Coach Mitchell moved me up to varsity for the last games of the season and the championships, but I was a gimmick to him. I knew that Coach Hancock wouldn’t have put me on that team if he didn’t want me to play. I joined Lionel, Josh, Carl, Doug, Derek, Barry, Bert, Rich, George, Del, Tom, and Steve. There was room for two more players on the team when we moved to the last weeks of the season. It was a cinch I’d be wearing number thirteen. Ha ha.
“So, are we agreed that everyone should get in?” Rose asked. I never realized what a natural leader she was. It was always Brenda who had been the glue that held our group together in elementary school. Then it was Cassie who ascended to leadership of our class after the great debate. But it was Rose who kept people organized and focused when the clan was together. Everyone voted yes.
“I feel a little bad that we just make them a part of the clan without some… I dunno… guidance or mentoring or something,” I said. “I mean, if my numbers are correct, this brings us to 38 in the clan. That’s a fifty percent gain in our membership. If we just say ‘you’re a part now’ and don’t do anything to really integrate them, what good will it be?” There was a lot of head-nodding.
“What if we adopted them?” Doug asked. “I mean, we’re organized into roughly four casas. And that’s another subject we should discuss. We need to have a way to refer to each casa. But there’s Carl, Louise, and Brenda; me, Doreen, and Rhiannon; Lionel, Sugar, Lamar, and Renee; you and everybody else.” That got a little bit of a laugh.
“Wait,” Josh said. “Not to be picky, but neither Geoff nor I are part of a casa. I don’t think that means we aren’t included, just that we aren’t part of one of yours and we haven’t established our own. Maybe someday.”
“Besides,” I said, “I really don’t know if we can support another member in our casa. There’s already thirteen of us.”
“The rest of us could absorb more, though, if they want to be in our casa,” Louise said. “I really liked those four kids we went out with. It’s not like they’d necessarily become even compañera to us. They have each other for that. But we could still be hearthmates.”
“If it wasn’t strictly up to us to do this, I guess I’m okay with it,” I said. “Check with each one and give them the option of one of your three casa or of being a cousin in the clan without a casa. Geoff and Josh, could you kind of be special friends with the ones who elect not to join a house?”
“Yes, Patrón,” Geoff said. I sighed.
“What is this patrón stuff all about? George started it the other night and now you are all doing it,” I said.
“It’s Portugese. The patrón is the leader,” Rose said. “He’s the head of the clan.”
“I don’t remember electing anyone to head the clan,” I said.
“Brian. Friend,” Josh said softly. Everyone turned their attention to him. “I don’t think it’s an elected position. You can hire managers and elect presidents, but a leader is the one who leads.” He looked at each of the others gathered at our table. There were a lot of nods. “It’s not who we say you are; it’s who you are.”
“But…”
“Don’t protest, Brian,” Rose said. “Even that would show your leadership and we’d do whatever you said.” I let that sink in. It felt like a lot of responsibility. At the same time, I’d always felt responsible for this group. They were my… my clan.
“Could we minimize the use of the term?” I asked. “We really don’t need titles unless we’re talking about a relationship, like compañera or hearthmate. It would make me more comfortable.” There were a lot of nods again. Whitney put a hand on my shoulder.
“We’ve got to go.” I stood and ate the rest of my pizza slice as we carried our trays to the conveyor belt and left.
With workouts at five-thirty in the morning, school, college classes, and basketball, my day was more than twelve hours from the time I left in the morning till the time I got home at night. Mixed into that, I was spending the extra time between arriving at IUSB and my first class studying and preparing my recipes for the Saturday taping. If a girlfriend showed up in the evening, we were studying until we were too exhausted to do anything in bed. Even Jennifer and Courtney were low-key that week. Most of my casa showed up Thursday evening to help get things ready for the party on Saturday. We weren’t going to be able to do much on Friday night because of the football game. Saturday morning, I’d be taping, though pretty much the whole clan intended to be at my house finishing the prep work for Saturday night.
We decided it was just too cold, rainy, and windy to have a fire. We had a gas fireplace in the family room and agreed that would be enough to declare us all present at the hearth. I focused my time Thursday night baking. I made pies and cookies. We had to eat one pumpkin pie with whipped cream as a break. The girls frosted cookies, cleaned the house from top to bottom—including my room and the upstairs bathroom—and decorated.
Decorations. There was a subtle difference in the decorations this year. We’d had a Halloween party almost every year with typical cobwebs, gross things hidden in the candy bowl, hay bales outside, and jack-o-lanterns. We’d reached some kind of consensus that this year the party wouldn’t be about Halloween. It was about our clan. With Moms’ and Dad’s permission, the gang cleared all the furniture out of the family room. Instead, everyone brought pillows and cushions. It was a lot like the New Year’s Eve parties at Hannah’s house used to be. If this worked, maybe we could have a clan party for New Year’s Eve, too. That gave me a little pang.
I’d kissed all my girlfriends goodnight, washed up the last of the baking dishes, and went in to kiss Jen and Court.
“G’night, love,” Jen yawned. She barely had the energy to give me a kiss.
“Goodnight, Brian,” Courtney whispered. She kissed me with more enthusiasm, then rolled over to cuddle up to Jen. They were both asleep while I was watching. God, I loved those girls. I dragged myself upstairs and brushed my teeth. I dumped all my clothes in the hamper and headed for bed.
I thought I’d kissed all my girlfriends goodnight. There was definitely one in my bed. I pulled back the covers to get in.
“Cassie?” I whispered. She was lying there naked. In my bed.
“Brian, my compañera. Uh… if it’s too difficult, I’ll leave. But, can I give you permission to sleep naked with me and to hold and touch me in any way except penetration? Would it be okay?”
“Cassie, I promised…”
“You promised not to do anything against my will and not to encourage me to go against either my religion or my father’s wishes. No one forced me into this bed. You didn’t even know I’d be here, so you couldn’t encourage my behavior. You did not promise my father to enforce his wishes on me. So, will you please come to bed and make love to me except with no penetration? Please, Brian?”
I crawled into the bed and took Cassie in my arms. There was no way to answer her except with my kisses and they showed plenty of intent. Cassie melted against me, her blossoming breasts pressed against my chest and her pussy hair rubbed against my cock. I petted her bare back and ran my hands across her bottom. She moaned into my mouth. Or perhaps that was my moan.
Cassie had filled out in the past few months—slightly larger breasts and shapelier legs—but she could still be described as coltish. If Brenda was an early bloomer, then Cassie was most definitely a late bloomer. Part of that, of course, had been the conservative nature of her home, but physically, she was still becoming the woman she would be. Her body was filled with the promise of beauty—pure, simple, uncomplicated beauty. And she was in my arms and responding to my touch.
“I might not last until you touch me, Brian. I was pretty keyed up already when you came up and I’d been playing with myself. If you just kiss me… and hold me against you… and touch my breasts… I think… I’ll… Ohhh!” I think Cassie was trying to tell me she was about to come. She practically smothered me with kisses, frantically seeking my lips and then my eyes, my cheeks and then my nose. I managed to hold off my own orgasm, pushing back a little so my cock wasn’t so tightly rubbing against her tummy.
“Cassie, you are so sweet and loving and excitable. So pretty. So much my compañera. You know that I love you, don’t you?”
“I do know, Brian. Did you know that I love you, too? I’ve loved you since the day you took my hand at Brenda’s party. Sometimes I empathize with Robyn. It is so hard to love you so much and know that we will never walk down a church aisle and be husband and wife.” Shit! What can I say? She was right. I would never abandon the rest of my cónyuge to get married. To anyone. I squeezed her more tightly to me.
“We could have a fire celebration. Even invite your parents like Samantha did.”
“I could never do that to them,” she sighed. “There are some things that are just bred into a person. I will have a husband and I will love him, forsaking all others.” She kissed me so soulfully that I could feel the yearning in her. I could also feel the increased contact with my cock as she rubbed against me. “May I touch you, Brian? May I watch you climax and feel you in my hand?” I nodded. She moved back slightly and I rolled to my back. She touched me tentatively and I tried not to jerk but it still jumped a little. “Has a life of its own, doesn’t it?” she giggled.
“Cass, with your delicate little hands wrapped around me, I’m not going to last long. Are you sure you want to do this?”
“Tell me what to do, Brian. Tell me so I’ll know what pleases you. So I’ll know what pleases men.”
“Don’t grip too hard. It’s much better if your hand is sliding on it than pulling the skin up and down. Here. Here’s a little oil.”
“You like it slippery.”
“Think about it.”
“Oh, my. I’m going to want some more attention, too. But you first.” Cassie knelt beside me stroking my cock. I reached up to touch her breasts and she smiled at me. “We’ve shared so much over the years, Brian,” she whispered. “Thank you for sharing this with me.” That was about all it took. She stroked down my cock and my juices came up. They spattered against her chin, her breasts, my chest, and over her hands. Cassie was panting with excitement as she watched my offering ejected from my cock.
“Cassie! That was so wonderful. Careful. Easy now. It gets really sensitive after I come. You can hold it, but just hold. No more stroking,” I gasped. “Please.” I really didn’t want her to let go. Even as sensitive as my cock was, I wanted to remember the feeling of her hands on me. I had a feeling, this wasn’t going to be repeated. At least, not much. I didn’t think. Hell.
“Your stuff is everywhere!” she laughed. “We have to be careful where it goes. I’m not like, on anything.”
Oh holy fucking shit! Cassie wasn’t protected! I scrambled out of bed and ran to the bathroom.
“Don’t touch anything!” I yelled at her. I ran hot water and squirted disinfectant soap on a washcloth then ran back to her. I could see a streak of my come running into her pubic hair. I attacked that first and then worked my way up her body, scrubbing the come off her with the soapy cloth. I finished with her hands and then pulled her toward the shower. I pushed her ahead of me into the hot water and she squealed.
“Brian! Stop! I have to go pee and the water is too hot.” I reached around her to turn the temp down and kept her under the water.
“Not until your hands are scrubbed and we’re sure there are no more sperm on you. If you really have to go, just do it where you’re standing. Cassie, it’s dangerous. Any sperm near your vagina are dangerous. If you have them on your hands when you wipe, that could be as bad as me coming in your pussy. Wash, Cassie, wash.” I was crying. No. Not like Hannah. Please don’t be like Hannah.
“Brian. Brian,” she whispered. “My compañera. It’s okay. I understand, but none got near me. Let’s wash you off, too, so you can hold me, okay? Don’t cry, Brian. If God gave me a virgin birth, I’d carry your child proudly. And if that was His will, no pills or condoms would prevent it. I’m sorry I frightened you. I’m sorry, Brian.” She washed me with the anti-bacterial soap. If it kills bacteria, it should kill sperm, right? To make sure, I stepped in front of her and turned the temperature of the water up as high as I could stand it to rinse the soap off. We got out of the shower and I found clean towels for us. I didn’t hand the towel to Cassie, I carefully dried her, silently worshiping her body as I touched it with the towel.
“I’m so sorry, Cassie. I should have thought about that before I ever crawled in bed. It was irresponsible of me.”
“Um… I really do have to pee. Are you going to watch or something?”
“Oh no! I’m sorry. I’ll give you your privacy.”
“Stop, Brian! You just showered me and dried me so lovingly. I want you here while I do it if you’re okay with that.”
“You do? Why?”
“Because maybe then you’d let me watch you?” she asked. “I’ve only seen pictures and you, Brian. I feel really… blind.” While she was talking to me she sat on the toilet and tinkled. Then she grabbed a little toilet paper and blotted herself dry. “See? That’s all there is to girl-pee. How does a boy do it?” The little minx was acting like she was eight, but still there was a glimmer of hope that I’d show her. She was playing a game but really wanted to find out as well. I decided to play along.
“Well, it’s a lot more complicated for guys,” I said.
“Really? I always thought it was easier. Boys can pee anywhere. At least that’s what they say.”
“That’s the problem. Not that they pee anywhere, but they pee everywhere. Take like now. I’m standing in front of the toilet with the lid up. I’ve got my hands in my towel drying my hair. It’s not like a girl. I have to be pointed. Um… you could do that for me since my hands are busy.”
“Point it?”
“Mmmhmm. Just take hold gently and make sure it’s pointed toward the bowl. Don’t let me splash outside. My roommates hate it if there’s pee on the floor.” Cassie gingerly took hold of my cock and pointed it at the bowl.
“Does it just start then?”
“Well, it’s already started but it has a lot farther to go to get out than with a girl. Just wait for it.” I did have to pee but, of course, having Cassie holding my cock wasn’t really helping. If I got hard again, I’d never pee. I relaxed and felt it make the trip down the tubes from wherever and finally a stream came out my cock. Cassie jerked when it started but managed to keep it pointed in the bowl. “And then give it a little shake to make sure it’s all out,” I directed. We laughed and she even grabbed a bit of toilet paper to blot it dry.
We went back to bed and I held Cassie. Of course, having her naked body next to mine was going to make me hard all night, but I wasn’t going to go spraying semen around again.
“Cassie? Why did you want to do this with me instead of with Josh?”
“I think I’m falling in love with Josh.”
“You only think?”
“I know I’m in love with you, and it’s starting to feel that way with Josh. Like it’s growing.”
“So why not share this with your new love?”
“That might spoil it all. Brian, Josh is… experienced. That’s okay. I know he really loved Denise. Sometimes when we’re together we just cry a little over her.” There was a lump in my throat, too. “I don’t want to have intercourse yet. Not until I know I’m with the man I’ll spend my life with. And that doesn’t mean that I’ll wait until my wedding night. When I’m sure Josh is the one, all the barriers will come down. But when we’re dating and getting to know each other, I want to know how things work so I don’t accidentally do something that gets misinterpreted. Explicit permission only goes so far when you’ve reached our level. I know for a fact that we girls can give off a vibe that can be interpreted as a go-ahead. I want every step of our relationship to be deliberate. I don’t want Josh to think I’m ready for something I’m not—and I don’t want him to think I’m not ready for something I am. I just don’t want to be ignorant about what I’m suggesting.”
“I guess that makes sense. It just seems that you’d want to do this with the love of your life.”
“I am. Oh, it’s not that Josh is second place. It’s that I know you are always going to care for me and love me and protect me no matter who my life mate is.” She kissed me and I understood—at least a little.
“You are right. I’ll always love you and I’ll always protect you if I can. I’ve figured out that I can’t be everyplace and I can’t watch everyone that I love. But I’ll be for you whatever you need me to be.”
“Like right now?” she said. “Just talking about all this romantic stuff makes me all wet. I can feel it on my leg. But I’m wondering how I can tell you that I’d like you to touch me there.”
“Cassie, may I touch you between your legs and show you with my fingers how much I love you?”
“Yes, Brian. Please show me with your fingers.”
We all went to the game Friday night, but we were all too tired from the week to go to the dance. Rose, Liz, and Samantha all rode home with me after the game. Everybody had overnight bags. When we got home, Jennifer and Courtney were already upstairs. Whitney got there a few minutes later and we fixed a snack and took it to my room. We’d lost the game and it was a pretty low-key night. I realized that the girls with me were all the local girls in my casa that I’d gone all the way with—my cónyuge. It had been a near thing with Cassie Thursday night and Friday morning, but we stuck to no penetration and I kept my cock in a condom whenever we were playing. We all flopped down on the foam mattresses cuddling together randomly.
“My cónyuge,” I said. “We all use condoms when we make love except Rose and me, right?”
“For now, it’s the rule,” Samantha said. “Maybe not always.”
“Wait! Are you implying that I have sex with you, Brian? You’ve always been so rigid about never telling what goes on with a girl you date. And you’re just announcing that I have sex with you?” Liz exclaimed. “I can’t believe you’d wreck my reputation like that.” She was sobbing. What the hell?
“Liz. Liz, honey, I’m sorry. Oh shit! What can I do? I’m so sorry.” I didn’t know what to do. This was so out of the blue.
“Well,” she sobbed, “since you’ve made such a big deal out of just telling everyone what a slut I am, I think you should put one of those condoms on and put your dick in me while you finish the thought you started.” The girls all started laughing and I felt a hand on my cock making sure I was good and hard. I’d been had. “That way we won’t waste a bunch of time just talking when we could be screwing and talking at the same time.”
“Liz, sometimes you give me heart failure.”
“Yeah, but usually, it’s when your cock is in me and I’ve just come.” I couldn’t see who was doing the manipulating, but a condom was being rolled onto my cock. “And since I’m ‘lubricious,’ you know that my pussy is all wet and waiting for you. So just lie back while my hearthmates point your cock at it and I settle down.” Oh, my God! Liz settled back onto my cock and sank until I was all in.
“But… I can never talk when we’re like this, love. What got into you tonight?”
“Right now, you.”
“We know you have something to say to us, darling,” Rose said beside me. “But your cónyuge also have something to say. We wanted you to know that we all love each other and we are all happy to share your love. That doesn’t mean that we necessarily want to eat each other—in all instances—but that we’re comfortable all being with you at once, even when one of us is intimately engaged…”
“Fucking!” Liz interjected.
“… when one of us is fucking you,” Rose concluded. “Brian, you have to tell us when we’re too much at one time, but we love spending the night with you. Our parents have all acknowledged that we are going to do it whether they agree or not and surprisingly are all pretty okay with it. My sister isn’t, but she’s at Carnegie Mellon and doesn’t get a say anymore.” She laughed. I’d only met her sister a few times and one of those she was complaining to her parents that they never let her do anything that Rose got to do. “Anyway, we are rotating in and out of here like a carousel. We don’t want to have to draw up a schedule that says that if Jennifer, or Jennifer and Courtney are sleeping with you, Whitney can’t crawl in, too.”
“You know, it’s really beautiful to see you and Liz making love,” Whitney said. “Maybe we laugh a little about Liz’s sex drive, but watching you is beautiful. And, not that she’d ever need any help, but if she did, I’d be willing. I’d suck her nipples or tickle your balls.”
“Oh, Whitney, that’s so hot,” Liz moaned. “And I wouldn’t complain if you were kissing Brian while his cock is up inside me making me feel so good I can’t describe it.” I moaned, too. Liz was working up and down on me and Samantha had rolled over so that her breast was in my left hand. She was nibbling at my arm and side.
“We’ll probably get carried away sometimes,” Jennifer said. “I mean if I’m in Liz’s position—a little later tonight, I hope—and Rose is sitting on your mouth, chances are that Rose and I will kiss or touch each other, even though she and I aren’t lovers. We’re just sharing a wonderful experience with our cónyuge.”
Liz reached her peak and brought me with her, partly because Courtney was sucking on my right nipple and it just connected to my balls.
“Now what was it you wanted to say about everyone but you and me using condoms?” Rose asked.
After Liz collapsed on me, I just held her as we caught our breath. I kissed Liz deeply and when she started to roll off, I held her in place.
“We don’t cuddle together enough, Red,” I said. “Stay here and lie on me while I talk. Okay?”
“Mmm.” She snuggled her face into my neck. “I was afraid you’d want to move on right away.”
“I never want to rush through something with any of you,” I said.
“So, what did you want to talk to us about?” Courtney asked.
“Well, I wanted to make sure you are all using some kind of birth control.”
“Of course,” Rose said. “You’d never get in me without a condom otherwise.” All the others agreed. “What brought this on?”
I had to tell them about my encounter with Cassie last night. How it had scared me and how dangerous it had been for all of us to play as much as we did without protection.
“Lover,” Samantha whispered, loud enough for all of us to hear. “We’re all still sensitive about what happened to Hannah. I still love her with all my heart, even though I don’t understand why she won’t talk to us. But don’t ever be afraid to make love to us. Sometime soon, we’re going to set a new standard of when to use a condom. But even if we are not using one, we will either be safe or we’ll be trying to get pregnant. And if anyone is paranoid about getting pregnant and doesn’t believe the pills or whatever are enough, then she’ll continue to use a condom, too.”
“I just don’t want any of you hurt. Especially by my carelessness,” I sighed. I squeezed Liz. I felt someone pulling the used condom off my cock and washing me. I dozed off.
I don’t think I made love to all my ladies that night, but it wouldn’t have been for lack of trying. We slept piled on top of one another and woke when one or more wanted attention. I was happy and sated when I went to work in the morning. Filming was a breeze.
The house was chaos when I got home at two.
Every member of the clan who could get there was there. I’d just stepped in the door when a little redhead jumped into my arms and planted a soul-searing kiss on my lips.
“I’m so sad I couldn’t join the cónyuge last night,” Elaine said as she continued to pepper my face with kisses. “We had a wet tech this morning at eight o’clock. I’m just glad it went well so I could leave at noon. I think I set a new land speed record getting here.”
“Oh, my cónyuge, how I love you!” I said. “You could have taken a little more time. You need to drive safely. The party doesn’t start until seven.”
“What do you call this?” She waved at the people bustling in and out of the kitchen. I looked in the family room with her legs still wrapped around my waist. People were hanging different colored crepe paper. Lionel had been pressed into service to reach the ceiling for the streamers. None of it was typical orange and black Halloween paper.
“Um… preparations?” I asked.
“Speaking of which, I’ve been assigned the task of preparing you. Come on, lover. You need a shower.” On the way to the stairs, I passed Mom. She looked at me with a vaguely bemused expression on her face.
“Brian, you are eighteen years old,” Mom said.
“Yes, Mom.”
“We’ve decided you don’t need a chaperone, even with the younger generation in attendance. You don’t, do you?” she asked.
“We’ll be responsible, if that’s what you mean. What about their parents, though? Are they okay with them coming to an unchaperoned party?” I asked.
“Parents’ meeting. If it hadn’t been for the Cortales and Davis families and Professor McCall, we’d never have sold it. We promised there would be no alcohol or drugs and that it would not devolve into an orgy. We were right, weren’t we?”
“Yes, Mom. We have rules about ages and we’re not going to screw up any of our adopted cousins. We won’t let you down.”
“I know you won’t, honeybunch,” Mom said patting my cheek. “Dad and Anna and I are checking into the Holiday Inn. You know, the new one with the swimming pool?”
“That sounds great, Mom. And a lot more fun than watching over us. Um… Could you guys come into the family room for a minute, though?” I asked.
“Okay.” Mom went back to the bedroom to get Dad and Anna. Elaine sprinted up the stairs to bring the half dozen people who were working up there down and I circulated through the kitchen to bring everyone there into the family room. Man, it was really going to be crowded tonight when we added thirteen more. I whistled for attention and everyone got quiet immediately.
“Guys,” I started. One of the girls booed. “Okay, cousins and hearthmates,” I started over. There was some clapping. “I just made a commitment to my parents. Marilyn-Mom, Anna-Mom, and Hayden-Dad are leaving the house to us tonight. I want them to know that you all agree to the promise I made that there will be no drugs, no alcohol, and no orgy tonight.”
“No orgy?” Brenda complained.
“Come on, now. All of us here are seventeen or older. George is seventeen and Mary’s seventeenth birthday is today. All the others who are coming are fifteen. I want to know that everyone is onboard. We will treat our friends with respect and our adopted cousins with love and kindness within the rules we’ve all agreed to. I want that pledge to my parents from everybody.”
“Yes,” they all responded. Some added ‘Yes, Patrón.’
“Thank you, cousins. I knew you were all with me on this, but I wanted Moms and Dad to hear it from you directly. Carry on!” There was a bustle as everyone headed back to their tasks and several people added things like ‘Thank you, Moms!’ and ‘Have fun tonight, parents!’ I hugged Mom and Anna and then hugged Dad, too. “I don’t know where I’ll be when you guys take off, so I wanted to make sure we all said that before you go.”
“Brian, you make us proud,” Dad said. “The respect your friends—cousins—give you and us is moving.”
“It’s pretty easy when we’re all in agreement,” I said. “Someday we’re probably going to have a big argument and then we’ll have to figure out how to handle it.”
“Get the fundamentals of how to handle an argument down soon, Brian,” Anna said. “If I were you, I’d make an appointment to see George’s parents soon. They probably understand your group dynamic better than any of the other parents. He’s really smart and she is the most gentle and caring counselor I’ve ever met.”
“Thanks, Anna. Um… I’m being called so I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”
Elaine was standing on the stairs motioning to me. I joined her and pretty soon we were naked in the shower together, even though there were five girls and a guy outside the bathroom door working on stuff in my study area. Elaine didn’t let that stop her. We thoroughly washed each other with soap and water and for good measure with our tongues. It was a pretty noisy shower. Once we were dry and she’d shaved me, we went to get dressed. I didn’t even think about walking naked through my room, even though Rose was sitting there with Josh, Sugar, Rhiannon, Louise, and Liz. They all looked up and applauded us. Elaine blushed right down to her bare butt.
“Uh… Don’t mind us. We’re just getting dressed.”
“I laid your clothes out on the bed,” Rose said. Wow, how nice. I noticed she’d laid out my red casa pants and short robe. I guess I might as well start calling it a gi, even though the robe was a little long for that. It helped hide my crotch and since Rose hadn’t laid out underwear, I figured I wasn’t supposed to wear any. Elaine had a red gi as well and she dressed me fully before she put her own robe and pants on. I glanced over and saw that both Rose and Liz were in red gis and that the others had similar outfits in different colors. Sugar was in yellow. Rhiannon was in blue. Louise was in green. Josh looked like an actual martial artist since his gi was white. It didn’t take me long to figure out that we’d chosen house colors.
“Are we going to overwhelm our adoptees with our uniforms?” I asked the room as I tied Elaine’s red belt.
“They are thrilled,” Louise said. “When we presented white gis to the fearsome foursome, they went nuts. They don’t know about the belts, though. Anyway, everyone will have their gis on tonight. Not just us.”
“That’s great. I feel like I’ve been so out of it the past couple of weeks now that basketball practice has started. I don’t have time for anything our clan is doing.” Rose and Whitney got up and came to kiss me.
“A great man once said, ‘I have twenty-two boyfriends and girlfriends, so I never have to stand alone,’” Rose said. Oh man! I’d said that to Allen before he and Betts got married. Doreen was the only one in the clan who heard me.
“I don’t know how great that guy was, but he’s still thankful for each and every one of you.”
Hannah, Sarah, Renee, Lamar, and Sora were the only ones missing from our clan that night. Thirty-three of us sat in the family room on the cushions and pillows, leaning against each other and talking. There was plenty of food. People had been cooking all day and it hadn’t been me!
“Okay, you people. This is an adoption ritual. We usually do these things naked, but you’re still new,” Rose said. There were a couple gasps from the newbies. “I’m kidding you. So far there has never been a naked ritual with the whole clan in attendance. I can’t speak for every casa, though.” We all laughed. “By the way, Rhiannon has turned a recorder on because in a way, this is a really significant event for us. It’s part of our oral history. We’re going to tell you about our clan and why we’re here. It’s going to take a while, but it’s something everyone needs to hear. We all have our agreement. We know the origins of that, and nothing we say is going to contradict it. This is all about the formation of a clan and various casa. Tonight, some of you will become adopted cousins. But in the morning, we drop the ‘adopted’ term. You will be, in every way, a part of our clan.”
It was fascinating for me to listen. The six who had been in my room earlier each had a part in telling about how the clan was organized and who was in each casa. Elaine also talked about the cousins who were away from the hearth tonight and why. Rhiannon explained the organization of casa. Josh talked about being a cousin without a casa and how that was fine because one day he might decide to form his own house. Louise talked about what the terms within a casa meant—hearthmate, compañera, novia, cónyuge. She assumed that other terms would also be added eventually.
Liz—very bravely, I thought—talked about what it meant to be an amiga. That got into how being committed didn’t necessarily mean being exclusive. She was circumspect, but she let us all know that she was cónyuge to me—long-term, committed—but she was amiga to Doug—lovingly attracted and intimate. They weren’t mutually exclusive. She did not mention anyone else who was in that kind of relationship. Finally, Sugar explained the names and colors of the casa. This was all new to me and I knew that the rest of my friends had been working hard to establish what we were all about.
Casa del Fuego, my group, had the house color red. Casa del Agua—Doug, Rhiannon, and Doreen—had the color blue. Casa del Sol—Lionel, Sugar, Lamar, and Renee—were yellow. And Casa de la Tierra—Carl, Brenda, and Louise were green. She explained that cousins without a casa wore white, an all-purpose color that demonstrated that we were not with anyone in particular. She also pointed out that within a casa, those in a committed, long-term, intimate relationship, wore a gi of the house color. They were cónyuge with one or more people within the casa. Most houses had a secondary color to indicate a novia. And compañera of any household wore white or pastels. She pointed at Nikki and Cassie as examples. She also pointed out, however, that Nikki and Cassie wore belts of the house color.
I was amazed. When did they worked all this out? I glanced at Carl and he was looking a little amazed as well, so I had a feeling it was something the girls had worked out. It was pretty cool.
“Now, there is one other person who needs to speak and greet not only our adopted cousins, but each of us in the clan. That is our patrón. The patrón is the leader of our clan. He doesn’t make all the decisions. He isn’t the president. How can I say this?” Rose said looking at me with so much love I wanted to weep. “He is the glue that holds us together. It is his love for each of us and the knowledge that he would lay down his life to save or protect any member of this clan that makes him our leader, our patrón. He is my cónyuge. Brian.”
They didn’t tell me I had to say anything! Damn it.
“Not only does the patrón not make all the decisions, he’s often in the dark about them until someone tells him he has to speak,” I said. Everybody laughed and Carl and Doug jumped up and gave me a high-five. “Carl here once asked the group if the guys didn’t get any say about who we were going to date. Our beautiful departed girlfriend Denise told him to look around and see if there was anyone else he wanted to ask out. From that point on, we did what we were told. The truth is that when you think about our clan, it isn’t about casa and colors and terms for being a girlfriend instead of a lover. It was all summed up in point eight of the original agreement. ‘We aren’t a clique. We’re just people who want to date each other.’ I think maybe we can change the last line. ‘We aren’t a clique. We just love each other.’ That’s what we’re really about. Love has many facets and it’s different with different people. But it’s not a matter of quantity. Don’t ever use the word ‘more’ when you talk about love. I love you each differently, but I love you all equally. That includes you who are our newly adopted cousins. Welcome to the clan.”
I sat down and Rose gave me a kiss that was a little extreme for being in public. She let me know in no uncertain terms that she loved me.
“Oh, sorry!” she exclaimed. “We promised all the parents no orgy tonight. We have thirteen people who have asked to be adopted into our clan tonight. You were all also invited to join a casa, but some of you have elected not to, which is fine. I’m going to start with you. Josh and Geoff, will you welcome the new cousins who have opted not to join a casa tonight?” The two guys got up and called out four names—Robyn, Leonard, Nancy, and Pam. They pulled a white belt around the waists of each of the four and tied it, then kissed them on the cheek. Even Leonard.
“Remember, the color of our belt is not a degree like martial arts. It simply signifies that we are members of the clan that have not claimed a casa. We are all equal members of the clan,” Josh said. “And we don’t have to get naked,” he added. They all blushed and we laughed. Doug, Doreen, and Rhiannon got up next and welcomed George and Theresa to the clan and to Casa del Agua, tying a blue belt around their white gis. Lionel and Sugar called Rich and Susan next. I think Rich had become the second tallest guy in our clan, but Susan wasn’t more than five-four if that. Lionel and Sugar tied yellow belts around them and welcomed them to the clan and to Casa del Sol. Carl, Brenda, and Louise welcomed the fearsome foursome to Casa de la Tierra with a green belt. I thought that was it, but my whole casa got up and I scrambled to join them to welcome Mary to Casa del Fuego. I guess we got one of the adoptees after all. From that point on, it was a party, though I think I got a friendly kiss from every girl in the clan and a handshake or kiss on the cheek from every guy.
“We have the house to ourselves!” Jennifer said when all our guests had gone. Well, all our guests except the members of our own casa. We used both the upstairs and downstairs bathrooms to get ready and as soon as the girls came into my room, their clothes came off.
“Hey! We have a new hearthmate,” I said. “We should have a little respect and modesty. Nobody has to get naked.”
“Brian, my hearthmate,” Mary said coming up to me. “I’m still a little new at how these outfits work. Will you help me out of my gi?” Well, I guess that answered that question.
“We really don’t require nudity,” I said.
“I know. But I’m seventeen today. I don’t want to start fucking around—I don’t even have a boyfriend. But the reason I asked to join your casa was because I knew I could be free here. Now please, undress me.”
I did as asked and unveiled a very pretty girl. I think I must be hormonally driven. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a naked girl who wasn’t pretty. Mary blushed when I got her top off and it deepened when I removed her pants. She was almost as tall as me with reddish brown hair, what I’d call chestnut if she were a horse. How stupid is that? She immediately set to work removing my clothes as well and I saluted her good looks.
“I’m told we don’t need permission for a kiss if we are sleeping together,” she said a moment before she pressed her lips against mine and her stomach against my cock. It was more than a friendly kiss, but I’d have to say it wasn’t a kiss with intent. Promise. Yeah. That was a kiss with the promise to kiss again. She picked up her clothes and I watched her pert little butt as she walked across the room to fold them on her overnight bag.
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