Acting 101 Ch. 10-12: Denouement

That brought Steff up short. Then she snorted, "Well, I am glad you two can still proceed to, um, proceed," but there was a soft compassion in her voice that she appeared to think that I needed.

I smiled in thanks, but told her, "Um, Steff, the thing is I don't think we... well, I know that I didn't realize how glad I was going to be when you, uh, removed yourself from the picture." I squeezed Meredith's hands in mine. Steff looked confused.

"Stephanie... Steff," said Meredith tentatively. "When you told each of us, it really did catch us both off guard that our first thoughts were about how ready we each were to be 'us'," she said, indicating me and herself, "instead of only... 'us'," she said firmly, indicating all three of us.

We all kind of fell silent, as Steff processed what we were saying. Meredith and I leaned in toward each other, more in need of support than affection.

Steff's eyes narrowed, then widened. Then they narrowed again at me. "You, me, out back. Now!" she said sternly, and marched toward the back yard of the house. I exchanged a glance with Meredith, but followed her.

Please don't be mad or insulted. Please don't be mad or insulted.

She closed the back door behind me as I exited, then rounded on me. "What the fuck are you up to, Scott?" she demanded. Before I could say anything, she went on, "Are you trying to tell me you are about to fall in love with Meredith or some shit?"

"Fallen," I said firmly. "And I'm ashamed that I didn't do anything about it before now."

"And why didn't you?" she demanded.

"Look in the mirror, Steff," I snapped, but the tartness in my voice was directed at myself.

"Wait, because you didn't want to hurt me?"

I should have just agreed, because it was true, but I was still processing my own feelings and so I kept talking. "A little. And I think, in Meredith's case, it was entirely that. But for me..." I took a deep breath. "Stephanie Chisholm, you have got to be one of the world's great lays. And I will be forever ashamed that I let that fact blind me to the greatest relationship of my life, blossoming right there and then."

We stared at each other for a moment, then her eyes hardened again. "I already told you before, and I mean it more now, if you hurt her, I'll cut your balls off."

"If I hurt her, I'll deserve it."

Then she threw her arms around me and hugged me tight. I hugged her back. Then she kissed me lightly on the cheek and released me. We stepped back inside.

Meredith was mixing Martinis quietly, clearly trying not to look back toward where we had been talking. She wordlessly handed us each one, cocking an eyebrow at Steff.

Steff took a very large sip of gin. "Meredith, I would tell Scott to go on home so you and I could talk, but somehow I don't think he is going anywhere tonight." She smirked at both of us. "Scott, go watch Lawrence of Arabia or some shit in the theater room, would you?"

I beat a retreat without demur, because I usually know what is good for me. I saw that they actually had Lawrence, and in a puckish fit of humor, I started watching it. It is a really good movie, and I hadn't ever seen it before. It is also about three hundred hours long, so it wasn't like I was going finish it and have to fond anything else... And yet I was very nearly at the end before Meredith finally slipped into the dark room and seated herself in the recliner next to mine.

"We have her blessing," whispered Meredith. I realized she was actually trying to not disturb the end of the movie.

It was a good movie, and I appreciated this marvelous woman's considerate nature, but O'Toole could wait. I paused it instantly and tossed the remote aside. "It took that long to get her blessing?"

"Good Lord, no!" laughed Meredith, reaching out for my hand. "It seems that you did all the hard lifting there. I did need to convince her that I was as in love with you as you seem to be with me..."

"Are," I said. "Are in love with you, not seems to be."

She smiled at me by the light of the paused movie. "After that, we just talked about lots of things. Honestly, since you came along, our conversations had faded more than a bit. I suspect that was my feelings getting the way."

"I'm sorry if I did that!" I exclaimed, worried.

She just squeezed my hand. "As I said, we caught up. We also talked about Alan for a surprisingly long time. She has it bad for that boy." Meredith looked at me sidelong, "I think you are expected to act at least a little jealous. I hope you have fun with that." We chuckled.

"Meanwhile," I said, with a mock put-upon attitude, "the two of you left me in here for all of World War One."

"Please. You are a man with a giant screen television, a remote, a recliner, and no chores to do. I do believe that you were fine in here."

Then she leaned over and kissed me. I kissed her back.

And we went to bed.

I woke before Meredith. I even woke before the egregiously early alarm we had set. Meredith has to rise early to get to work, given how far out as she lives. I rolled onto my side and gazed at her. Her face was delicate and, as always, beautiful in repose. Her hair spread out on the pillow around her face. She was naked, of course, as was I, and the sheets had worked their way down on one side to almost expose a single, glorious breast. I considered tugging the covers down more to enjoy the vista, but I looked at the clock and realized there really was a good bit of time before the alarm.

I slid my hand slowly under the sheet until it hovered below her belly. Carefully, I lowered it until my fingertips just brushed the soft skin where her legs came together. Meredith did not immediately wake at my touch, and I let my fingers slide down between her thighs, just barely brushing the surface of her flesh. Her legs spread just a bit in unconscious response, giving my hand room to maneuver. I trailed my middle finger up and down the crease, caressing her in feather-light fashion. I kept it up, dragging my fingertips up and down, over and over until I began to sense moisture leaking from her.

She still was not awake, but she was beginning to move a little, and that movement became more sinuous as I let my fingertip slide inside her. I kept moving it around, exploring her, but staying away from her clitoris. I wasn't quite ready to wake her.

But my cock was soon aching to be included. As slowly as I could, I rose up and moved over her to kneel between her legs, which had slowly splayed wider and wider apart. My penis hung down over her as I looked down on her lovely chest, then up at her beautiful visage. I slid lower, just letting my tip brush against her nether lips. I dragged it up and down, letting it bathe in her dripping juices, before I took a breath and began to slide my cock inside her, as slowly as my need would allow.

At last, her eyes slid open a little. Her initially confused smile broadened and her eyes slid shut again while her hands wrapped around my back, pulling me against her. Once I was fully embedded inside her, I simply rested, enjoying the moment. I then kissed her, and I felt her Kegel muscles clench around me, hard.

My body would not let me stay still, and I began to thrust languidly. The sensation of my shaft escaping, then penetrating again the woman I loved was electric. Her hands began to slide up my back to finally run through my already wildly messy hair. And we kissed again, tongues probing each other eagerly, as eagerly as my cock plunged into her. Her eyes still remained closed as she let her arms splay out beside her. I pushed myself up on my arms so I could stare down at her, drinking in the vision of her closed-eyed face and her bosom swaying against the motion of my thrusts. She bit her lower lip and I sensed her body tensing beneath me. My own orgasm was rising, but I knew I had to hold on to make sure she was fully satisfied. It was an effort to support myself on only one arm while I continued to plunge into her but I did so, letting my freed hand move to caress a breast and tease mercilessly at her nipple.

Meredith gasped in response and began clenching eagerly around my now fast-moving penis. I smiled and circled the nipple with a fingertip. All at once, I felt a thunderous wave of passion rip through Meredith beneath me, followed by more that were just as strong. Her mouth flew open in a nearly silent gasp, but her eyes still remained closed as I felt wave after wave of orgasm explode through her body. My own explosion answered her body's call and I groaned madly as my semen rushed wildly into her. My hips bucked uncontrollably before freezing in place with my cock as deep inside her as I could physically reach.

At last, Meredith's eyes shot open and she smiled at me. I grinned back down at her and let myself collapse atop her, our mouths meeting. We wanted to kiss again, but both of us were struggling too hard just to get enough oxygen to keep our brains functioning. Instead, we just panted against each other's face.

Finally, Meredith looked over at the clock. "You have got to sleep in your dorm during the week," she gasped with a chuckle. "I need more sleep than this, if I want get any work done at the office."

I apologized insincerely and she laughed. "In the meantime, eat your pineapple. Lots of pineapple." I looked at her with a grin. "All this making love is wonderful," she told me, "but I haven't sucked that beautiful cock in weeks. I am going to make up for that Friday." My swiftly softening penis, still inside Meredith, twitched briefly at that promise.

"It will have to be late Friday," I said. "We have the improv competition, and you need to come watch that anyway."

"You really want me to come to it?"

"I am counting on it," I grinned.

I saw Steff briefly the next morning before I left. She smirked at the bowl of pineapple I was chowing down on. It was yet another new kind of weird, since each of them had always each made themselves scarce whenever I slept over with the other, but this time it was weirdly, um, normal. We made a quick agreement that as far as the rest of the world was concerned, nothing had changed. We were still what we had always claimed: Just good friends.

Of course, we had our first day of Acting 102 that afternoon. As always, I sat right behind Steff in the theater. I even gave her a quick neck rub right before class started. Tony and Kimmie sat right next to Steff.

It turned out we had a new professor. In fact, she told us that she was the original instructor for 101, but she had taken a semester sabbatical to produce and direct a short play that she had written. She was quite excited at how well it had been received, and used the story to remind us of the importance in the theater business of being able to shake off failures. Her previous effort had apparently been a colossal failure....

Class went smoothly, and when it was over, Tony suggested we stay behind and do a little practice before Friday's start of the winter theater sports series. Because I am such a rules follower, I stopped the professor and asked permission for us to stay behind. I explained what the four of us were doing, and she was surprised. "You are competing this Friday?" she asked. "I guess I will see you there, then!"

"See us there?" asked Kimie, a little nervously. "Wait, are you a judge or something?"

"No," said our professor slowly, "I have a team myself. We took the fall off to do my play."

Swell.

Friday came. I went to my dorm after class to pack a small bag of clothes, and change into what I hoped was a good improv outfit of jeans, dress shirt, and a casual, knit tie, trying to look like I'd fit in on Whose Line Is It Anyway. I threw my kit into the Tesla and headed to the theater.

When I got there, I slipped inside and headed straight to the tech office, rather than into the main room. I blabbed on with the lighting guy, asking if they were allowed to help with lighting cues or things like that. They were not.

From the office, I could see the main room, and I hung out while I waited for everyone else in our party to arrive. At last, I saw them gather around the small table that we had reserved for our guests. Alan stood and Meredith and Steff sat there. Tony, and Kimmie orbited them nervously, probably worrying about where I was. Tony seemed perplexed by Alan's presence, and a little stunned by Meredith, the miserable horn dog.

Perfect.

I wandered into the room and waved. While I was still a ways away, I waved again and called, "Hey, babe!"

Tony's ears perked up at my endearment, and his eyes shot to Steff, who was waving back. A triumphant look shot across Tony's face, as if he was shouting, 'I knew it!'

I walked over to the table, smiled lovingly, leaned down, and kissed Meredith deeply on the lips. She raised a hand to stroke my jaw as she kissed me back, even gracing me with a bit of tongue. We kissed much longer than was strictly appropriate in a public place, surrounded by strangers, but damn it felt good to hide nothing.

When we finally came up for air, I looked blandly at Tony. His jaw was basically unhinged, and Kimmie actually sat down at a nearby table. "You guys have met my lady, right?" I asked simply. "Oh, hey Alan! I hope you have fun tonight," I added, turning so that Steff could see my face and Alan could not. I waggled my eyebrows at her and she gave me the stink eye... followed by a speculative shrug.

I was gratified to see that Alan was every bit as floored as Tony and Kimmie. That would hopefully be sufficient to ensure he stopped worrying about Bro Code when it came to me and Steff. I could pretend some jealousy later. In the meantime, if we did well and Steff got that endorphin rush from making a crowd laugh... Alan would likely enjoy this night, um, fully.

Tony looked at me hard. "Uh, dude. Can I talk to you for a minute?"

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And so we come to the end. Thank you for making it through to the finish, and all your kind votes and follows. I hope you enjoyed it. If you did, I have other stories on the site, and more coming.