Harem House Extra: Lori's Green Light

((Just a little extra scene prequel to the Harem House series, the conversation that might just have started it all. Enjoy!)) 

Selene stood in her bedroom, looking at herself in the standing mirror she had angled from the corner next to her closet. It was taller than she was. Her five foot three inches, to its six feet, let her see herself no matter what heels she wore.

Someone long ago painted the antique wooden frame white, but age chipped away and faded the paint. Still, it was one of her favorite thrift store finds. She still planned to repaint it and paint on winding decorative floral vines with blooming flowers. She’d had the mirror since her freshman year. Somehow, Selene hadn’t found the time in her three years of college. One day, she told herself, she’d get the paint and brushes and do the work.

Selene told herself that it was never the right time for many of her desires, and it was never essential that she get what she wanted. If it happened to her, then great! Yet, taking the initiative, especially today, was always an insurmountable task. She may as well climb Mount Everest. It sounded easier than fulfilling her desires despite the number of corpses frozen on the mountainside.

She was not a climber. Two decades of dance sculpted her body for ballet, not rock walls, and she hadn’t dressed for climbing either. She wore a black t-shirt with a band logo across it, which fell over a long black skirt. Over it, she wore an open zip-up hoody, and under everything, Selene hid her calf-high black boots that added an inch to her natural height. Her pale skin contrasted the black clothes, as did her rose-blushed cheeks and long blonde hair. She kept it back in a single braid that fell to her butt.

She ditched the sweater. It was early October, and the weather was still too warm. It was only four o’clock now, and she had no plans to step outside.

Her sister, Katerine, watched some period drama while working on her homework in the living room. Selene heard the pretentious British accents through the closed door. She decided to stay in her room with its anime and band posters. She turned on her laptop at her desk across from her bed and started Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. The films were her usual background noise choice. She sat cross-legged on her bed to start her homework.

Bilbo’s birthday party was underway when she got a message.

Lori: Hey, you around?

Selene: Yeah. What’s up?

Lori: I thought I’d check in since I haven’t heard from you or anyone else in a while.

Selene read the message and zoned out, staring at it. Lori wasn’t getting in touch for Selene’s sake.

She sighed, unsure what to say to Lori. No one she left behind knew what to say to her. That was doubly true for friends of her ex. Following her dreams and moving across the country? They were her friends and supported her in that. Breaking her boyfriend of three years’ heart to do it because he was on the fast track here and she didn’t want to do long distance? That was where she lost Selene. Arthur didn’t deserve to have his heart broken. Arthur deserved a girl who didn’t abandon him.

Selene: Yeah, sorry. This semester’s been busy. Kat’s been on me about my grades, so I’m trying to try. Y’know?

Lori: Yeah, I get it. I’ve been pretty busy, too.

Selene: Yeah.

Lori: How’s Arthur?

There it was. Selene and Lori were friends, but Selene had always been better friends with Arthur. They had one primary interest in common: theater. Over the years, she’d introduced him to anime, music, and geek culture. He’d exposed her to musical theater, old movies, and almost all the theater people on campus. Selene was also the most likely out of his friends to monitor Arthur since she and her sister lived in the same apartment complex across the parking lot.

Selene wanted to say he was okay, going on dates, getting laid, and wasn’t brokenhearted. Any friend would catch the lie, though. He seldom spent time with anyone outside his job and classes in the last month. The few times Selene had hung out with him, she’d had to force the issue. She worried for him, but he appeared in better spirits this week than at the start of the semester. Nothing compared to the lows she’d witnessed when he and Lori broke up the previous semester. It broke her heart to think of him as broken.

Selene: His grades are fine, as always. Lol.

She decided a joke was the best way to deflect.

Lori: Can you FaceTime me? It’ll be easier than typing.

Selene wasn’t sure she agreed. Typing allowed her to erase and retype and not show everyone what she was thinking on her face. FaceTime, however, would hasten the conversation.

Selene: Ok. One sec.

Selene cleaned herself up, paused the movie, set up her phone, opened the app, and made the call. Lori answered on the first ring. Lori’s surroundings were her car interior. She was sitting in the driver’s seat, parked somewhere. Selene’s backdrop was the postered wall beside her bed.

“Hey!” Lori said excitedly. “It’s so good to see you!”

“Hey!” Selene waved to the camera. “How’s the coast?”

Lori laughed. “Windy. But the medical program is everything I’d hoped.”

“Good. Good.” Selene nodded sagely. She looked at Lori to gauge why the FaceTime was necessary and how she was doing.

Lori looked fine and normal. She could have been more tan, but Lori had pale caucasian skin that was either porcelain white or lobster red. Any hint of healthy skin tone was likely the result of a sunburn from last summer that eventually peeled off.

Lori was the opposite of Selene in most ways. Where Selene had the lithe build of a ballerina, Lori was curvier, which Arthur often expressed as his preference. Where Selene’s hair was long and blonde, Lori’s was ebony black, and she’d cut it into a short, curly updo. Selene had piercings in her nose, ears, and eyebrows, and Lori had none. Selene wore black, and Lori wore a red top that couldn’t hide her impressive bust even if it tried.

Lori was, in Selene’s opinion, the perfect woman in that she embodied Arthur’s taste in women. At least, according to Arthur. He was loyal to her too. Selene had seen it plenty of times. Arthur only had eyes for Lori. He was blind to anyone else’s feminine wiles and the perfect respectable gentleman to everyone else. He never even glanced at anyone but Lori. It was sweet, mildly infuriating, and absolutely crushing to Selene’s insecurities. Not that she wanted Arthur to cheat on Lori with her, but it might have been nice to confirm she could attract someone other than her disappointing ex-boyfriend.

“So what’s up?” Selene asked. “Why the face-to-face?”

“I wanted to ask you for a favor.” Lori answered. “And… I wanted to do it over FaceTime, so you’d see I was serious and not… hacked or something.”

“Okay…” Selene hesitated and stared at the screen, trying to anticipate the incoming request before it arrived. It obviously involved Arthur, but she couldn’t predict what Lori would say next.

Lori readied herself as if readying to reveal something shocking. “I want you to fuck Arthur.”

Selene stared at her.

“Hello? Did you freeze?” Lori shook her phone.

“No I’m here, I’m uh… I’m sorry.” Selene took a deep breath. “What?”

“He’s moping, right?” Lori asked.

Selene admitted it. “I mean, yeah.” Arthur was cheerier the last time she saw him. Though, that might have been a fluke. Otherwise, he’d been Eeyor to her Tigger.

Lori stopped shaking her phone and began what sounded like a prepared speech. “He needs someone to help him get over me and move on. You’re his friend, right? And I know you want to fuck him.”

“Lori… I never–”

“No, I know you never made a move on him or anything, but I… I’ve seen the way you look at him. You like him. You care about him, and he turns you on. I’m surprised you haven’t already fucked him.” Lori said.

Selene sighed. “I would never hurt you like that.”

“It wouldn’t be hurting me. It’d help Arthur.” Lori said. “This is me giving you the green light. If you want him, you have my full blessing to start a relationship with Arthur - to be his girlfriend, his friend with benefits, whatever.”

Selene was silent.

“I’m serious.” Lori said.

“Are you?” Selene asked. “Are you sure?”

“I’m sure, and I’m one hundred percent serious.” Lori said. “Plus… you two might be compatible sexually.”

Selene shook her head. “I’m not his type. He’s into girls like you, remember? He’d be more into my sister than me. He’s still hung up on you. There’s no way he’d jump into dating me if I offered to be his girlfriend or something. It’d ruin our friendship and scare him.”

Lori wanted to be honest. “Maybe.” She said. “So don’t be his girlfriend if you don’t want to. You can be his friend. A friend with benefits might help him move on, and you’ll have a head start on any competition when he’s ready.”

Selene considered that for a moment. “What’d you mean sexually compatible?”

“Because he’s everything you wish Dave was in the bedroom.” Lori said. “He’s dominating, creative, and if you talk to him, he’ll go out of his way to play out your fantasies with you. No matter how deranged your porn is.” She lowered her voice substantially. “That’s what he did with me.”

They were both blushing. Selene turned her face from the camera.

“You’re saying you and he…” Selene’s sentence fell away.

“Experimented.” Lori confirmed. “And it was amazing.”

Selene coughed.

Lori pressed onward. “Come on. How many times did you complain about Dave’s lack of assertiveness? And you remember our fifty shades conversation?”

Selene remembered Lori’s many critiques and angry hatred directed at the film and books. The fantasy, as depicted in books, porn, and more mainstream media, aroused Selene to no end. Lori confessed the same, though she had nothing nice to say regarding specific books, films, etc.

“Yeah, I remember.” Selene nodded.

“Arthur’s why I know how to do it in real life.” Lori said. “He’s everything you ever wished Dave was.”

Lori knew Selene preferred her men on the dominant side. Selene complained about Dave whenever the subject arose. Meanwhile, Lori only commented positively on Arthur’s size, stamina, and hotness. It was infuriating.

They’d also discussed porn before, and both knew the other preferred bondage porn. They’d never discussed it in terms of Arthur, but Selene realized that was what Lori was saying. Arthur was into kinks Selene only fantasized about, and Lori was giving her permission to pursue it. She had to admit, it sounded tempting.

Arthur was the man in her fantasies. He was 6’4”, the perfect height, and ripped without being bulky. He looked like a brunette Captain America. She’d seen him shirtless before a few times and seen him changing backstage down to his underwear once. Each line of his body resembled cuts in stone. He was chiseled and handsome. The idea of him standing over her, dominating her in the bedroom, and making her his personal slut was a fantasy she’d masturbated to more than once. Imagining him doing the same to Lori while Selene watched was an even more frequent fantasy. Not that she ever confessed it to Lori.

Lori broke the heated silence. “Go offer to be his friend with benefits and let him teach you everything he knows about BDSM. Maybe one day you’ll both thank me.”

“Why are you doing this?” Selene asked. “Why me? And why your ex?”

Lori frowned and then sighed. “I want him to be happy. I hurt him, and you know I didn’t want to, but I had to make my choice. The med program here is amazing, and if breaking Arthur’s heart means I can save lives one day, then I had to do it.”

Selene was silent.

“But that doesn’t mean I want him to be heartbroken and unhappy forever.” Lori said. “I might have misread things. You’re his friend, but I’ve seen how you look at him. You love him. At the very least, you want to fuck him. I think if I can’t be with him, I want him to be with someone who cares about him. Someone like you.”

Selene frowned but nodded. She didn’t trust herself not to say something stupid.

Lori grinned a faint smile at Selene. She was right. It was weird and awkward, but Lori knew Selene would never make a move without encouragement. This was her green light.

“Do you still love him?” Selene asked. “That’s why you’re doing this, right? To… what, assuage your guilt?”

“Maybe.” Lori answered. “I know I still care about him. It’s tough to just stop loving someone.” She admitted. “But I’m done crying over it. I made my decision. I need to move on. So does he.”

Selene didn’t understand how Lori was so cold and clinical, but she supposed teachers encouraged that trait in doctors and surgeons.

“Have you moved on and found someone else?” Selene asked.

Lori laughed. “I’ve moved on to myself. I’m in my focusing-on-me phase. And so yeah, maybe I’m trying to encourage you to help myself feel better about leaving him. Is that a bad thing? Is it wrong if it helps everyone involved, including you?”

Selene didn’t have an answer, so she didn’t give one. Lori’s motivations aside, she was right. This would help Arthur. That was enough, right? Selene’s desire didn’t make her a terrible person.

Selene swallowed but nodded. “I’ll do it.”

Lori relaxed. “Good.” She said. “I have to go. I only have a few minutes to eat before my study group. Tell me how it goes?”

“Sure.” Selene nodded.

“Talk to you soon!” Lori ended the call.

Selene stared at her phone for a minute before getting up and getting ready. She didn’t know if she could do this but didn’t want to waste time. If Selene gave herself time, she’d talk herself out of it. She would convince herself that Arthur deserved someone better, hotter, and more his taste. Selene had to do it tonight or lose her momentum and confidence.

She messaged him.

Selene: U eating in the cafeteria tonight?

She gave it a minute, but there was no response. Arthur hadn’t seen it. She glanced at the time and sighed. It was 4:30. Arthur was still at work until 5, if she remembered his schedule correctly, and he had notoriously poor cell reception in the office.

Selene put her phone down and distracted herself by talking to Kat until she heard back. He’d message her soon, and she’d invite him to chat over dinner. With any luck, she could convince him to let her buy pizza. They could dine at his place, and maybe… just maybe, he’d say yes to what she had in mind.