One Prince The Future

"Too much Sister on the brain?" Kate smirked. "I didn't plant any thoughts."

"I'm not sure what I've got on my brain," I told her. "I'm not even sure I have one. But by your leave, I'm going to bed."

"See you in the morning," the others echoed and I headed off to bed.

* * * * *

[Wednesday 7/5]

I rolled out of bed earlier than usual... before six, anyway. I'd had a restless night and woken up from a strange dream with a raging hardon, which I chose to attribute to needing to piss. I wasn't about to get back to sleep, so I went ahead and made a pot of coffee, along with some toast, and just sat in the semi-dark kitchen, brooding. Well, thinking anyway, until Kate came in.

"You're up early," she told me. "I'm not even going to ask why." She went and got a cup of coffee and came to the kitchen table and sat with me.

"Don't let her bother you," she went on quietly. "She's got a great attitude and the smarts to back it up. Just be the revered Big Brother and it'll work out."

"The voice of experience?" I asked, maybe a bit sarcastically.

"Actually, yes," she answered. "Kind of how I felt about Tom growing up. It'll all work out. We see them off at breakfast and you put your head back in your classes. Just like I'm going to do. And Marsha, and Mike. Did you want to go up north between terms?"

I hadn't really decided anything, to be honest. But as a two week break from school, it could be good.

"Do you know if Steve and Tom will be there?" I asked. Not that it was going to make much of a difference.

"I'm not sure. If they are, it'll make for tight quarters. Unless you and Mike sleep with Marsha and me," she told me. "If they're not, then you and Mike take their room and everything's proper. You know..." she paused for a moment, "if Jim and Sarah and Matt and Jeannie are there, we could get the whole gang together. Plus we still want to spend some time with Lisa, Theresa and Marianne."

"Oh, God..." I moaned and put my head in my hands, albeit with a dramatic flair. "I'm dead..."

Kate laughed and told me, "I don't think so. Although, there are probably some myths that need dispelling." That's about the point where Mike walked in.

"What's the matter with him?" he asked as he poured a cup.

"He is contemplating his future," Kate told him brightly. "Do you want to set up a tent on the beach and pretend to sleep in it?"

Mike was mulling that one over when the fourth musketeer joined us.

"There better be some of that left," Marsha told us as she stumbled in, looking definitely wiped out.

"What happened to you?" I asked as Mike and Kate tried to stifle their laughter.

"I don't know..." Marsha told me with sarcasm dripping from her voice. "Somebodies conspired to do me in last night."

"Whaaat?..." Kate drawled through her smile. "You don't like incessant cumming?"

"Bitch..." was all Marsha mumbled as she sugared her coffee.

"Gee, I don't know..." Mike had to put in. "I feel marvelously refreshed this morning."

"Prick," was Marsha's other mumbled response.

"Apparently, sleeping alone has its advantages," I ventured.

"Quit while you're ahead," Marsha told me. "Or you'll get a lot more practice at it."

"Uh-oh... grumpy morning," I came back. "How may I serve thee, Princess?"

Marsha was obviously considering a scathing retort when Mike pointed out, "c'mon, guys... we've got to get ready to meet the others for breakfast."

There was some indistinct mumbling from Marsha who pretty much sucked down her cup and started another.

"I'm going to grab a quick shower," I told them. "I'll be in my room when you're ready." I headed off to make good on exactly that. I actually managed to get in and out before anyone else joined me.

* * * * *

"I don't have a problem lending you the tent, but Luke might," Dad told me at breakfast. "Apparently he and Bob liked it last year. We'll need the Jeep until the boat's on the beach. I told Luke he can take the boat down, if he wants to and he gets some help. If Matt's up with Jim, he could swing over and help. They don't need to wait on you and me."

"Okay, well I'm pretty sure the Terneys have a bunch of camping equipment we can borrow," I told him, intending to keep up the subterfuge. "If Steve and Tom aren't there, Mike and I can use their room. If they are, we can use a tent. We're going to try to drive up, after Finals. End of the summer fling and all that. Even if Tom and Steve aren't there, I'm sure Don will let me take his boat over to Kangaroo Lake for some waterskiing," I told him. We'd finished up a big Golden Bear breakfast -- I loved their buckwheat pancakes and sausage -- and my family was getting ready to leave.

Overall, Mom and Dad seemed quite happy with how college life was turning out for me, and for Marsha, Kate and Mike as well. And the happier they were, the happier we'd be. Mary caught me on the side as we headed for the parking lot.

"You're going to keep that thing between us, between us, right?" she asked in a low voice.

"What thing?" I asked with as much faux-innocence as I could manage.

"Good answer," she smiled. "And you're still the luckiest man on this planet."

"I'm glad you see me as a man," I told her.

"Oh, I definitely do," she answered, giving my ass a surreptitious squeeze, out of sight.

"And you're definitely becoming a woman," I told her. "I truly wish you well on that journey."

"Maybe we can talk about it later," she told me as we reached the cars. "Right now I need to see if I can snooze for six hours. If Luke's snoring doesn't keep me awake."

I laughed and gave her a hug, and Mom, too. A handshake for Luke and a manly hug for Dad, and they were in the car and on their way.

"Damn," I muttered as I watched them drive away. "Class in three hours."

"One," Kate pointed out. "And I need to stop at the house first."

* * * * *

[Saturday 8/19]

Finals were over for Summer by August 18th and we had planned to leave bright and early on Saturday to head up north. All four of us had gotten serious about finishing the term strong, so we fell into our almost habitual study-like-hell Sunday night through Thursday night, and fuck-our-brains-out Friday and Saturday. In what would seem like a weird twist later, Kate and I spent more time together, as lovers and otherwise, and Mike and Marsha spent more time together. It wasn't to the exclusion of the others, but the balance just seemed to tip that way.

The week of Finals, the girls were unlucky enough to have their periods, so we'd stayed away from anything physical. Even though they were done by Saturday, the night before the ten hour plus stops drive up, we decided not to fuck. Just keep it to gentle petting and such. We also decided we'd take the girls' Buick and leave my Corvair behind. We would also spell each other driving so we could go straight through. This wasn't hunting season where I'd have to stop and get my gear. As a result, we were up and getting ready around five o'clock in the morning.

There'd been some coordinating phone calls and such, with the result that we found out Steve wasn't going to be able to make it, except for Labor Day weekend. We agreed that Mike and I would take Steve and Tom's room, and when Tom was in, he'd use the guest bedroom. We found out Don would be trailering the horses over, with Tom's help, for the two weeks before Labor Day. Otherwise, they'd be at their usual boarding barn. Don said he'd get his boat out of storage and have it there for us, and iterated that I had permission to use it, like before.

We didn't commit to any heavy work, but did tell them we'd help with improving Don's fire pit and some minor stuff my Dad wanted done. The girls waited until we were on the road to tell me they'd called Lisa, Theresa and Marianne to tell them we were coming.

"You guys don't understand," I sort of complained as we drove. "If you get those three going, there won't be enough penises to go around. You think Jeannie's a dynamo? You have no idea..."

"Mm-hmm..." Kate smiled. "But we're going to find out..."

"Plus," I added, going for the guilt angle, "Suzy's going to be up there, too. It won't be fair to her."

"You're right," Marsha nodded. "We forgot about Suzy from Bay House. We'll have to get her number and call her."

"I meant the other Suzy... my cousin," I bitched. "And if you add Suzy Morgan -- Bay House Suzy -- you'll probably kill both me and Mike."

"So we need what?" Kate asked. "Another five penises?"

"We could try a local basketball team," Marsha suggested. I'm pretty sure she was joking.

"We could swing by the marina and see who's around," Kate suggested. I hoped she was joking.

"Okay, so actually, we've got ten women and four men," Marsha pointed out. "We're only one penis short for doubling up."

"Ten?" I was trying to figure out where they got ten.

"Yeah," Marsha told me. "Me, Kate, Mom, your cousin Suzy, Sarah, Jeannie, Lisa, Theresa, Marianne and Suzy from Bay House."

"Oy!..." I'd forgotten about Natalie.

"And we'll have you, Mike, Matt and Jim for penises," she went on. "So we're one short. I don't think Tom will be interested in joining our shenanigans, and I'm pretty sure Luke and Bob are off-limits."

"Yeah, they are," I told her rather emphatically. "Legal only. Period."

"Okay, then if we drop Sarah, Jeannie, Matt and Jim," she mused as I drove, "then we could do a three on one with me, Kate, Lisa, Theresa, Marianne and Suzy... did you say Morgan?... with you and Mike."

"Yeah, then we could rotate it with me, Marsha, Mom and your cousin Suzy for a two on one," Kate added.

"Yeah, and then we could switch back to the three on one, and keep rotating like that," Marsha decided. "That could work."

"Mike!" I finally called over the seat. "You're being awfully quiet... help a guy out here!"

"I'm just sitting here speechless," he told me. "Astounded. Flabbergasted. Discombobulated."

"Enough with the fancy word cop-out," I told him. "You're acting like you've never met an Estrogen Steamroller."

"I haven't, Mark," he told me. "Not in their class, anyway. I thought my sister was rather, um... direct. She doesn't hold a candle to these two."

"Well, thank you!" Marsha told him with a smile. "For that, Good Sir, we just may spare your life."

"Ladies," I pointed out, "we're only going to have two weeks... or a little over... for this Bacchanal. How about we don't go too overboard? I really am hoping to get in some waterskiing and lounging around au naturel... If anything happens with anybody who isn't you, it will be very short term. Unless you're angling to get laid by someone else, in which case it's up to you to make the arrangements. I don't have anything to say about it, yay or nay."

"Actually, you do," Marsha informed me. "Your opinion counts more than anybody else's, including our parents'. You and Mike are our de facto family, now, and that commitment needs to be honored."

"Okay, I'm saying it wrong," I realized. "If either or both of you were to meet some guy you wanted to boff, I would have to have a really strong reason to object. Otherwise, the Neanderthal stays in his cave and waits for his women to come back happy."

"Damn!" Kate breathed. "Can you get any more perfect?"

"I'm not perfect, and you know it," I had to point out. "I'm trying to figure out what, how and who I have to be to keep our very special life together going. In a way, I'm lucky Mike and Suzy broke me in as far as the jealousy stuff goes. It's a lot easier now, with some experience under my belt, to trust that your commitment is as strong as mine, and therefore I don't need to feel threatened by outsiders."

"Glad to be of service," Mike piped up from the back seat. "You should know, though, that I'm starting to slide into the same position. I got lucky when you, Mark, decided to share in an already existing and intense pair of relationships. And I always felt like I was the 'outsider' as you put it, with no claim to the emotional bond you three were sharing. But I have to admit, over this term... I'm really falling for Marsha and Kate, too, and I sure as hell don't want that to mess up anything."

That surprised me. I mean, I should have seen it coming, but I hadn't really thought about it. Mike had slipped into our lives so seamlessly, there hadn't been any issue. Or at least, from my side. I was being quiet and thinking about it when Marsha told him her view, and gave me more to think about.

"Honestly, Mike, I'm in about the same place. Your temperament and acceptance is a lot like Mark's, and similar senses of humor, and honor... you're really easy to feel close to."

"Ditto," Kate spoke up. "There's times I forget you two are actually different people. You just fit so well with me and Marsha, it's like you've always been part of us."

I was starting to feel like there was some kind of Fate in operation here.

"Mike, have you ever read Proposition 31?" If he had, it was going to simplify what I wanted to say.

"No, just The Harrad Experiment. Why?"

"Because it deals with a group marriage situation, and it's kind of like what we've got here. It's really weird, and... I'm kind of seeing you as another member of our polyamory group. I mean, we aren't married married, but you get the point."

"Yeah, I think so," he told me seriously. "Guess I ought to read it, huh?"

"Yes," Marsha, Kate and I all said at the same time. "There's a copy up at the cottage," I added. "I'll find it for you."

"Hey, Mike..." Kate addressed him. "You've pulled pillow duty."

"Uh, okay," he agreed. Kate turned to stretch across the back seat and put her head in Mike's lap. Mike, in turn, had put a pillow against the door so he could lean against it.

"Before you get too comfortable back there," Marsha told them, "would you hand up a pillow for me?"

Kate did and Marsha put it against her door, snuggled into it and told me, "wake me when it's my turn to drive."

I put my attention back on the road and everybody else snoozed.

* * * * *

We drove in roughly two hour segments, then stopped for gas and a bathroom break before switching drivers. I took the first segment, Marsha took the second, then Mike and Kate. I was driving the last segment when we rolled into Jacksonport about five o'clock in the afternoon. We stopped long enough to gas up and buy some brats in case nobody else had -- unlikely -- then drove up to my folks' place first.

We rolled in to find Natalie with Mom and Aunt Barbara, Mary, Luke, Suzy and Bob.

"Greetings, intrepid adventurers in search of Truth, Knowledge and a good dance band!" Natalie called over to us as we got out. "Your lives have been arranged." I was hoping she meant the sleeping arrangements and not something more.

"The Terneys' has been prepared for your invasion," Mom told me with a smile. "Matt is already over at Jim's. He said he'd try to catch up with you tomorrow. Your father and Uncle John will be coming up next weekend and staying through Labor Day."

"Don and Tom will be coming in next weekend, also," Natalie told us. "Until then, I've offered Suzy the use of our guestroom to alleviate some of the crowding. We can figure out what will happen after that, before then."

It suddenly registered that Natalie had just set up the perfect arrangement for us, with Suzy joining the four of us up at the Terney's.

"It wouldn't take us long to set up the tent on the beach, if you want, Mom," I offered. "Like for Luke and Bob after Dad and Uncle John come up. And I know we can figure out something for up at the Terneys'. We're going to want to get our stuff up there next, but is there something you want us to do right now? Plus, we didn't know what you were doing about food, so we loaded up on brats on the way."

"We are actually in pretty good shape right now," she told me. "Matt helped Luke and Bob get the grill set up earlier, and the boat down to the beach. Dinner tonight is a catch-as-catch-can stew night and we're making enough to include you. We're planning on serving around seven."

"That sounds awesome," I smiled. She was going to stay out of our way and this was just getting better and better. "I guess we need to go dump our stuff."

"Hold on there a minute!" Aunt Barbara told me as she walked up to us, then grabbed Mike in a hug. "I haven't seen my son all summer and I'm at least getting a hug hello!"

Okay, I'm allowed to stop being stupid sometimes. We quickly devolved into hugs all around. The one I got from Suzy included some subtle hip-grinding which I think she got away with. Introductions officially completed, Mike, Marsha, Kate and I got back in the girls' car to head to the Terneys'. Natalie decided she and Suzy would come help us settle in, then we'd all come back down for dinner. I wasn't sure how Natalie was keeping my mother and aunt enthralled and agreeable, but she was and I hoped she'd keep it up. Apparently, I wasn't the only one who noticed how perfectly this was working out.

"So we've got the four of us and Suzy," Kate commented as we pulled out. "Life just keeps getting better and better."

"Your mother is an excellent, subtle, manipulatrix -- if that's even a word," I told her. "Somehow, she has Mom and Aunt Barbara snowed and I'm damned glad for it."

"We do have to be careful, though," Marsha pointed out. "We want it to look like innocent cooperation, not a Roman Orgy."

"We can be cool," Mike put in. "Just like last summer, we keep the partying here and the proper there. Like, you know they're going to want you to take the Terneys' boat down tomorrow, Mark. And we probably should get some kind of schedule set up, like for the waterskiing. I'm guessing our real sleeping arrangements will be 'that one for fucking, that one for sleeping' or similar. What happens when everybody else shows up, though?"

"That's why I offered the tent," I told him. "When Dad and Uncle John show up, Luke and Bob can move from the basement roll-away beds to the tent. Mary can move to a roll-away while Dad sleeps with Mom and Uncle John gets the front room with Aunt Barbara. Up with us, obviously Don will be with Natalie and we put up a 'guest tent' for Tom and/or Steve to use. Or us. For show, of course. For real, Suzy keeps the guest room, we share the girls' and Steve and Tom get theirs."

We thought we had a pretty good plan of action until we pulled in and Natalie and Suzy came to help us carry in our stuff and we found out Suzy wasn't using the guest bedroom. She was sleeping with Natalie.

"It's really nice not to have to sleep alone," Suzy told me as we carted in the bags. "And I have you to thank for breaking down the walls last summer so it could happen. So far, this is the second best summer vacation I've had. And it soon may be moving to number one."

"Hey, blame them," I told her, pointing towards Marsha and Kate. "They're the one with the awesome Mom and they're the ones that drew me into their wonderful family."

"But you're the one that made it possible to include me and Mike," she countered, "so Thank You, no matter what you think." That sort of ended that bit of conversation.

We got our stuff sorted and in true Terney Adult Resort and Spa mode, we went to hang out, naked, in the pool until it was time to get ready for dinner. Natalie informed me that when it came time to put up appearances, she had a Coleman cabin tent we could put up either in the yard or on the beach, or a couple of surplus hammock tents we could hang. I appreciated that and figured we'd decide on our subterfuge later.

We spent our soak time before dinner mostly talking about college. Suzy wanted to know all about what we were doing and who was doing what, and with what, and to whom. She had just spent her Freshman year at UCLA and had to live on-campus under some fairly strict scrutiny. She bitched loud and long about how frustrated she was with the lack of social life, and how jealous she was of Mike being able to live with the rest of us off-campus and pretty much on our own. She was still going to have to live on-campus her Sophomore year, but it wouldn't be as bad rules wise.