ASL2: Chapter 41 "The Ping-Pong Bets"

-- CHAPTER 41: The Ping-Pong Bets --

****

-- SATURDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2008 --

With my feet dropping to the driveway concrete every now and again for balance, I drove my motorcycle at low speed past the cars parked in the long Atherton driveway and came to a stop at the far end close to the garden gate. Careful to make sure the Triumph wasn’t blocking anyone’s walking access, I doffed my helmet and glanced around.

There were two very pretty girls I didn’t recognize checking me out. Well, one of them was checking me out. The other was staring at the motorcycle. Still, I flashed them both a smile and then dismounted the bike. Setting my helmet down, I unzipped my jacket as I walked over to the gate, held it open for the girls like a gentleman, and offered a polite, “After you, ladies…”

The one that had been checking me out smiled and batted her eyelashes at me while replying, “Why thank you, kind sir.”

The other one grabbed her friend’s hand and just tugged her through the gate.

I smiled and followed after them. The girls took a quick left turn and headed for the pool area where there was already a small crowd around the patio tables there, although nobody was in the pool itself. It was about sixty-two degrees outside, too cold for Cali natives to get wet.

Kady Jacobsen’s mom, Aunt Polly, was in that group by the tables, but her dad was manning the barbecue. I headed straight for him and extended my hand out for a shake. “Hey Uncle Frank! Merry Christmas! Long time no see.”

The older man gave me a lopsided grin and stuck out his bear paw, squeezing my hand a little too hard just for the fun of it. “Ben! Just the man I was hoping to see. You can take over because this old man needs to take a piss. My bladder control isn’t what it used to be.”

“Too much information, man. You could’ve just asked me to cover for you without the details.”

“Why thank you, kind sir. Happy to take you up on that. I’ll check back in on you in about three hours.”

I snorted and nodded. “Sure, no problem. What have you got so far?”

“Uh, brats need at least ten more minutes. Chicken is already on the top rack. Veggie burgers should be fine. Don’t start on the real burgers until like noon otherwise they’ll dry out too fast because nobody’s eating ‘em. Especially with this crowd. I think the fact that all those girls lack a Y-chromosome has something to do with their lack of appreciation for red meat.”

“I got plenty of meat for them where it really matters.”

Uncle Frank barked a loud guffaw and then clapped my back. “Shit, Ben! You nearly made me wet myself. I warned you about bladder control. Anyway, thanks for coming. I’ll see you later.”

“No sweat. See you later.”

With a final nod, the older man headed inside. I set my motorcycle jacket on a nearby chair and then started getting myself organized at the grill.

I was still looking downward when a voice called, “Hey, Ben? Think fast!”

I glanced up just in time to see a silver bullet flying at me. I half-ducked, half-blocked, and managed to snag the beer can out of the air. At least it had been tossed underhand. Kady Jacobsen grinned at me from ten feet away and folded her arms across her chest.

I sighed and set the can down, complaining, “Well now I have to let this sit so it doesn’t explode when I pop the tab.”

Kady shrugged, reached into the ice chest next to her, and came back with another can. She popped the tab on this one herself and then walked it over to me. “Glad you could make it. How long has it been since I saw you?”

“Uhhh, Fourth of July barbecue?”

“Riiight.” Kady smirked and shook her head wryly. “You know Yara might be up for a repeat if you’re interested. She wouldn’t shut up about the shit you and Dawn did to her until like, August.”

I glanced across to the patio area and spotted the pretty brunette chatting with Ricki and Emily. Saffron was next to them chatting with Lynne and Bert. Bringing my attention back to Kady, I replied, “I think she was honestly having more fun with Dawn that night, and I’m flying solo today.”

Kady frowned. “Trouble in paradise? Why didn’t you bring Dawn today?”

“She’s got other stuff going on and I also have to stop in San Bruno on the way back. How’s Noelle?”

“She’s great. She’s… somewhere…” Kady was pointing vaguely with her finger in the direction of the patio but neither of us immediately spotted her longtime girlfriend, Noelle Ronet. When Kady brought her attention back to me, she narrowed her eyes and asked, “How’s BJ?”

“He’s good. Getting big. Talking a LOT.”

“You should’ve brought him.”

I chuckled. “With this crowd? Little man would’ve been the life of the party. ‘Kissy mo’ bettah!’”

“Huh?”

“He’s been on this kick of toddling up to pretty girls and asking them to kiss him. He’s quite successful.”

“Like father, like son.”

I smirked and gestured vaguely eastward. “He’s got a playdate with some preschool classmates.”

Kady nodded and then shifted her weight to the other hip while taking a deep breath, looking contemplative. She didn’t speak for a moment, and when she did her voice had a faraway quality to it. “Has it been anything like you imagined? Parenthood?”

I arched an eyebrow, finding it curious that Kady had asked me that kind of question. “It has its challenges and its rewards. Like I imagined? I mean, I thought I had an idea of what to expect, but the reality has been very different. Not different bad, just different. Why do you ask?”

The pretty redhead sighed. “Noelle’s getting the baby itch. Babysitting April seemed enough for her, but now that April is four going on fourteen, she’s starting to want one of her own.”

I chuckled. “Has she been comparing notes with Lynne?”

“Yes, actually. And now Lynne said she’s gone off her birth control and wants to come back from this Hawaii trip pregnant.”

“I know.”

“So Noelle’s been all, ‘What do you think? Huh?’ I told her we’re not even married yet. So then she’s all, ‘Well, when are we getting married?’ So then I’m all, ‘Dude, do we really have to get married?’ And she’s all, ‘Well if you’re saying we need to get married before having a baby together then…’” Kady’s voice trailed off as she sighed. “I’m not ready for parenthood.”

“Nobody ever really is. You kinda just do it.”

“What a glowing recommendation,” Kady deadpanned.

I shrugged. “Same shit I tell Bert when he has the same doubts. At some point you just take the plunge. If you wait until you feel ‘ready’, you never will be. I can honestly say though that I have absolutely NO regrets about BJ. I love being his father.”

Kady nodded sagely. She then flashed me a smirk as she teased, “Speaking of fathers, you know Noelle did mention the possibility of you being the one to knock her up.”

I blinked. “I… uhhh…”

“I told her I wouldn’t want that, though, just so we’re clear,” Kady added immediately. “I mean, I totally know the three of us would enjoy the baby-making process. Would probably take many, many sessions over the course of a few months. And I think it’s been WAY too long since I felt your cock up my dyke cunt. And… and I’m getting distracted. Ugh. Anyways… At the end of the day, I know you’d want to be a parent to your child. And don’t take this personally, but I’d want any kid I had with Noelle to just be mine and hers and nobody else’s, y’know?”

I raised both hands. “Totally understand. And you’re right: I would want to be a parent to any of my children.”

“Don’t expect Ben to just start making baby mamas all over the Bay Area. Got it.” Kady smirked.

“You know I still haven’t forgiven you for that one phone call you made telling me Noelle was pregnant.”

Kady barked out a laugh so quick and so loud that had she been drinking, I’m sure that beer would’ve snorted out of her nostrils. “Yeah… that was a good one.”

I rolled my eyes. And just then, another cute redhead walked up to us.

“Hey guys! Whatcha talking about?” Paige Jacobsen asked brightly on her way straight to me for a big hug.

“Hey, Red. Merry Christmas,” I greeted while extending an arm and then wrapping up the petite young woman against my side. “Babies. Kady and Noelle’s babies, actually.”

“Really?” Paige exclaimed in surprise.

I arched an eyebrow. “You didn’t know she and Noelle were talking about this stuff? I would’ve assumed Kady would ask her own cousin for parenting advice before me.”

“Oh, she totally has,” Paige confirmed. “I just didn’t realize you were serious enough to start asking other people like Ben.”

Kady gestured back towards the patio, which was mostly filled with lesbians. “Not like there are a lot of other parents to ask in THIS crowd.”

Paige giggled and looked up at me. “Speaking of parenthood, where’s your little one?”

“Not coming. Playdate with classmates.”

“Aww. April will be so disappointed.”

“Next time. Besides, Gabrielle is here, right?” I asked, referring to the daughter of Paige’s boyfriend, Everett.

“Of course. They’re running around somewhere, although I’m sure they’d rather be running around with BJ running after them.” Paige grinned. “Great, now I’m imagining them being like eighteen or something with a sixteen-year-old BJ running after them.”

I made a face. “I’m not sure I’m ready to think about BJ at that age. ‘Kissy mo’ bettah’ would have a completely different meaning.”

Kady snorted and repeated, “Like father, like son.”

Paige looked confused. But before I could reply, Uncle Frank came lumbering back to the grill.

“Alright boy,” he stated brusquely. “Why don’t you run off and have fun?”

I gestured at the grill. “I thought you wanted me to man the barbecue?”

He just shooed me off dismissively. “You haven’t even touched the grill this whole time. The girls here will keep distracting you. Now scram before you burn everything.” His words were gruff, but there was a twinkle in his eyes.

Paige was already hanging onto one elbow, and Kady now looped her arms around my other one. The pair of beautiful redheads immediately started leading me off towards the crowd.

“Hey girls!” Kady called out ahead of us. “Who wants one of Ben’s famous backrubs?”

****

“Slow down, Ben, slow down,” Kady groaned gutturally. “It’s been a long time since I had anything as big as you back there.”

“Nothing as big as him has been back there since the LAST time you let him do this to you,” Noelle commented dryly.

“Fuckity-FUCK. Is that all of it?”

Noelle giggled. “He’s only halfway. Here, I’ll squirt some more lube on him.”

“Why am I letting him do this again?”

“Because you were drunk and you literally bet him your ass you’d beat him at a game of ping-pong.”

“I would’ve won if I hadn’t been so drunk.”

“Pssht. You play better when you’re drunk.” Noelle giggled again. “If you ask me, I think you lost on purpose.”

“Bad fucking idea… Holy shhhIIIIIIITTTT!!!”

Kady’s voice had shot up in both volume and pitch as I applied a little more pressure and smoothly slid the remaining four inches of my dick into her super-tight asshole.

“Bad fucking idea! Fuckity-FUCK! OHHHH… Shit… Ohshit-ohshit-ohshit. Tell me that’s all of it!”

“That’s all of it.”

“Oh bloody fucking HELL…” Gasping and wheezing and covered in a fine sheen of sweat, the beautiful slender redhead with the elfin ears and the amazingly awesome athletic ass let her forearms collapse as she dropped her face down onto the bed. “I can’t believe we’re doing this again.”

“I can’t believe we’re doing this with your parents in the house,” I added with a chuckle. I kept myself relatively still, enjoying the feeling of being balls-deep up Kady Jacobsen’s asshole and also letting her get used to my presence.

“Far out…” Noelle breathed, her blue eyes big as she stared down at the spot where every last inch of my big dick had completely disappeared within her girlfriend’s booty.

I smiled for a moment at the busty girl with loose dirty-blonde hair cascading over her shoulders. She was dressed only in her underwear, with big D-cup boobies looking lush and inviting in a cute bra. But I knew she was fully lesbian, and although she had sampled hetero sex with me once upon a time years ago, I knew better than to expect any repeats. So I focused my attention on Kady once more.

“I think I need another beer,” Kady groaned.

“We can stop if this is uncomfortable.”

“A bet’s a bet.”

“We can still stop.”

“Not on your fucking life. It hurts bad but feels gooood,” Kady groaned, grimacing as she planted her palms flat while keeping her forehead pressed to the mattress. “I just forgot how fucking big you are. I think at Amber’s wedding we’d already been having an orgy for an hour, so I was plenty warmed up instead of jumping straight into this right away.”

“You’re probably right,” I admitted. “You should’ve let me go down on you first.”

“No, I get eaten out every night as it is.”

“Still. It would’ve helped. Here, lemme pull out and I’ll--”

“No! I got this. Besides, you think I want to give up now and embarrass myself in front of an audience?”

I turned and looked over at the other couple only a few feet away from us on the bed. Lynne Arian was buck naked, just like Kady. She was bent over on all fours, just like Kady. And she had a big dick shoved up her slutty asshole, just like Kady.

Perhaps I should explain.

After Kady and Paige brought me over to the rest of the crowd with Kady volunteering my backrub services, I found myself plopped on a lounge chair giving one backrub after another to a succession of girls sitting in front of me for the better part of an hour. Everyone kept their shirts on and with the weather, nobody was in a bikini or anything like that. Bert and Lynne had come over to sit next to me, chatting like the old friends we were. They’d be leaving tomorrow morning for their flight to Kauai and were more than excited about the trip. Lynne was gushing about all the fun activities they had planned, and Bert was obsessing about the minutiae of his itinerary. I advised the happy couple to get used to the idea of “island time” and suggested they take things slow and enjoy themselves.

And of course, I recommended a lot of quality time in their vacation rental bungalow.

To my mild surprise, that innocent little comment got innocent little Lynne off on a big sex tangent. Well, in fairness, I knew Lynne wasn’t actually all that innocent, but it was still a surprise to hear her start to talk so frankly about hers and Bert’s sex life. She’d been drinking a fair bit, but still. Maybe her hormones were going nuts now that she’d gone off her birth control, that biological imperative stuff that June had been talking about.

In any case, Lynne got to talking about how she was always so freaking horny recently, even though she shouldn’t be ovulating quite yet. She talked about greeting Bert after work dressed in sexy lingerie and then mounting him right there by the front door. She talked about waking up in the middle of the night, pulling his pajama pants down and sucking him hard so she could mount him half-asleep. And she talked about how when she got really riled up, she’d lube herself up, park herself on the couch ass-out, and croon for her husband to come violate her slutty asshole the instant he walked through the door.

Well Kady and Noelle had joined us by that point, with Noelle the present recipient of my backrub. Noelle had been verbally agreeing with Lynne about having baby on the brain making her constantly horny, although she understandably didn’t have any personal interest in getting a blunt object shoved up her ass. That said, the conversation dovetailing into discussions about having blunt objects shoved up asses put Kady into a very specific frame of mind: the now very horny redhead started reminiscing about the last time I’d shoved a blunt object up her ass two years ago at Amber’s wedding, and that’s when she decided to bet her ass on a game of ping-pong with me.

I won, obviously.

Lynne wanted to witness Kady pay off the bet. Bert wasn’t exactly about to object.

Once the barbecue had started winding down, the five of us had ended up in Kady’s bedroom. At first, Lynne and Bert were only supposed to watch, but as Noelle and I got Kady ready for the main event, Lynne got it in her head to do the same…

… and now you’re completely caught up.

“Holy fucking shit, Ben…” Kady groaned, still with her forehead on the mattress and her palms planted fat. “Fuck me… Fuck my slutty asshole…”

“That’s my line,” Lynne groaned right next to us. “C’mon, Bert. Fuck my slutty asshole!”

Standing just a few feet away from me, my best buddy focused downward on holding his wife’s hips and slowly but steadily pumping his dick in and out of the petite brunette’s backdoor chute.

I slowly retracted and started to push in to try and match him, but Kady’s cornhole was still quite clamped up and constricting. So I rubbed her spine gently and urged, “Relax, Kady. You gotta relax.”

“Noelle, can you crawl under there and lick me?” Kady whimpered.

“I… uhhh… the angle’s a little…” Noelle frowned, uncertain of how to position herself. “I mean, I can rub you but--”

“Here,” I offered, taking a big step back and drawing Kady’s hips with me. I slid the redhead back to the edge of the mattress so that only her knees were still supported, and her shins and feet were hanging over open air. “It’s still a little awkward but you can… yeah… like that.”

Noelle had already interposed herself between me and the side of the bed, facing towards me on her knees. She then let her head drop backwards, pointing her chin to the sky. And reaching up to grab her girlfriend’s asscheeks, she managed to park her face directly beneath Kady’s crotch and start licking the redhead’s clit.

The effect was immediate. Kady’s snatch spasmed but she also slackened her compression. She visibly relaxed, and by raising my right leg and planting it atop the bed next to Kady’s right knee, I found I could get the extra leverage to drill down through the redhead’s stretched sphincter. And as long as I stopped myself with a couple of inches still to go, I was able to do so without banging my balls into Noelle’s chin.

Mostly.

I mean, I didn’t do it on purpose. But accidents happened, and after a few times having my nutsack bonk her in the face, Noelle started laughing and pulled her head back out.

“I’m sorry!” I apologized. “I’m trying to stop short but those things kinda swing with their own momentum.”

Noelle was still laughing. “I wasn’t complaining. I’m just amused by the novelty of the situation. Actually, here…”

My eyes popped open WIDE the moment Noelle ducked her face beneath my crotch, opened her mouth, and started sucking on my testicles. She let her tongue out to play, sort of gently rolling around my marbles around within their sac. “Holy shit, Noelle! Wow!”

“What?!” Kady exclaimed. “What’s she doing?”

“She’s sucking his balls!” Lynne volunteered excitedly.

“WHAT?!?”

“She’s sucking his balls while you’ve got his dick in your ass!”

“Really?!” Kady dropped her head back down to the mattress, literally looking back upside-down through the gap between her own legs to gawk her girlfriend sucking on my sac.

I was gawking too. Seriously, I just held myself there in shock with only an inch of dick inside Kady’s ass. But then the redhead started swaying her own butt back at me to take in more and more of me inside her. And after a minute I found myself gawking at the rather mind-boggling sight of having a one lesbian fucking her own ass on my dick while her girlfriend sucked my balls.

“Ohmigawd you guys,” Lynne moaned. “That’s so dirty! What a pair of sluts! I love it!”

“Hell yeah,” Kady groaned as she started to really drive her butt back at me. The more turned on she got, the more her ass loosened up, and the easier it was. “Fuck my slutty asshole while my girlfriend sucks your balls!”

Unfortunately, Kady’s increasing fervor resulted in increasing distance as well. And after the second time she literally bonked Noelle’s head with her butt, the dirty-blonde let go of my testicles and ducked out of the way, laughing all the while.

“Hey Kade? Push up onto all fours and let me slide under you in a sixty-nine. We can try it that way.”

“Hell yeah,” Kady agreed while Noelle started stripping off her underwear. Moments later the lesbian couple were in position, munching on each other’s rugs. This kept Kady’s ass a little more static, and I took over the pumping motions for the most part. The lone exception was when Noelle grabbed my thigh to make me stop, and she craned her head back to suck on my balls a little more.

“Fucking-FUCK. Fuckity-FUCK!” Kady howled, picking her head up. “Fuck my ass, Ben! Lick my pussy, baby! SOOOO fucking GOOOOOOD!!! You two are so awesome! This is the best feeling in the WOOOORRRRRLLLLDDDD!”

“Stop bragging,” Lynne complained. “Ungh, ungh.”

Kady did stop bragging, but only because she started orgasming. Her anal muscles went into overdrive, clenching like crazy while she came. But as soon as she stopped screaming, Kady wheezed and picked her head up again.

“Hey baby?” the redhead called. “Why don’t you go slide under Lynne instead?”

Noelle pulled her face back from Kady’s crotch and asked, “Seriously?”

“Uh-huh. I wanna watch. Plus then she can’t whine about me bragging anymore. Merry Christmas, Lynne!” With that, Kady crawled forward across the bed, sliding herself off my dick in the process.

“Ohmigawd…” Lynne groaned as Noelle did a sort of sideways shimmy to slide herself beneath the petite brunette.

“OhmiGAWD!” Bert grunted a moment later as Noelle stopped for a moment to suck HIS balls into her mouth.

“Did you just--?” Lynne chirped in surprise and then twisted her torso to look back behind herself.

Noelle instantly pulled her head back and shrunk it down between her shoulders like a retracting turtle. “Sorry! Lost myself there for a minute.”

“No, no, it’s cool! Do it again!” Lynne cheered giddily.

“Really?” Noelle exclaimed in surprise.

“REALLY?” Bert exclaimed in even MORE surprise. And as Noelle indeed leaned back and sucked his balls into her mouth, he added a shocked, “Holy SHIT!”

Raise your hands if you had Noelle in the betting pool for the first girl Lynne would let Bert have intimate contact with outside of their marriage. Nobody? What a surprise…

Well it’s not like she’s ever gonna steal him.

True.

But Noelle only sucked on Bert’s balls for a minute. After that, she turned her attention to Lynne’s clit. Once she got started doing that, Lynne started shaking and shuddering. Bert got back to pumping. And Lynne finally put her head down into Noelle’s crotch to return the favor.

Meanwhile, Kady and I were not idle. The redhead had me move over to the head of the bed and recline back against a few pillows. Then she mounted her asshole back on me reverse cowgirl so she could have a good view of her girlfriend in a threesome with our friends. And I reached around to play with her perky tits while she rubbed her own pussy and moaned in erotic heat.

As much as I loved fucking Kady’s asshole again for the first time in two years, it was watching Lynne, Bert, and Noelle have that threesome that was the true highlight for me that afternoon. The sight of Lynne writhing and wriggling in obvious ecstasy, the only “kinda bisexual” girl being totally into eating Noelle’s pussy while her husband raided her rectum, etched itself into my memory for a long time.

Admittedly, I wondered if there would ever be another day when she’d let ME be the one sodomizing her slutty asshole again.

Regardless, I enjoyed the moment for what it was and voyeuristically watched the threesome next to me. Lynne looked as beautiful as she did in my fondest memories of her, possessing an inner glow that radiated throughout her entire body. Never the most buxom or most statuesque woman in the room, she nevertheless had always appealed to me with her kind demeanor and sweet affection. Yet at the same time I knew quite intimately just how much of an animal she could be in the sack, as evidenced by the way she aggressively thrust her cutie patootie back at her husband while howling for him to sodomize her slutty asshole. And I found myself entranced watching her tight little body writhing and wriggling, her perky titties swaying back and forth, and her pretty face contort into clenching expressions of exquisite ecstasy.

Beneath Lynne, Noelle’s naked form was a lush wonderland. Her body reminded me of Adrienne’s in a way, with boner-inducing curves and dirty-blonde hair with a touch of gold. I could still remember the feel of her soft body beneath mine and the taste of her nipples in my mouth. I internally laughed at the memory of that first time I’d actually facialized her. And I remembered the warm, welcoming feeling of her virgin pussy wrapped around my cock.

I knew she was a true lesbian in the sense that she really had no interest in sex with a man. And yet watching her mess around with Bert’s balls, I wondered if I’d ever get to feel that warm, welcoming feeling of her pussy wrapped around my cock ever again.

Spoiler alert: I did.

But that’s a story for another day.

In the meantime, I played with my spunky redhead’s body as she urgently humped her tight asshole up and down my dick. I molded my hands around Kady’s firm tits and used them as grips to yank her down every time she used her powerful legs to raise herself up. I nibbled on her shoulder and the side of her neck while she moaned and groaned for me to keep fucking her slutty asshole. And the next time we both watched pretty Lynne duck her face down and extend her tongue to lap at Kady’s girlfriend’s puffy pink pussy, the horny redhead squealed and came again.

I nearly came as well, Kady’s clenching colon trying to coax out my creamy cum. But I constrained myself, riding her out. And I managed to hold back my ejaculation until Lynne had two climaxes, Noelle had one, and Bert’s balls finally came to a boil, roaring a loud “HHRRRRGGGGHHHH!!!” as he spent himself inside his wife’s bowels.

As the resident Sex God in the room, I of course gave Kady no less than three orgasms riding my dick by manipulating her erogenous zones, although her own frigging on her clit of course had something to do with that. Once Bert started going “HHRRRRGGGGHHHH!!!”, I likewise relaxed my Kegels and started going “HHRRRRGGGGHHHH!!!” myself. And I closed my eyes and gripped Kady’s hips hard to pin her down in my lap while I launched liquid lava into the darkest recesses of her body’s least-visited locale.

Lynne collapsed face-first into the gap between Noelle’s knees. Bert pulled out, pivoted around, and sagged to sit down on the side of the bed. And Kady… still twitching a little from her last monster orgasm, toppled off my turgid tool and wound up gasping for air and splayed out across the mattress.

“Noelle…? Baby…?” she wheezed.

“Yeah, Kade?” Noelle asked, her voice much stronger.

“If I ever… say… I wanna feel… Ben’s dick… in my ass again…”

I arched an eyebrow, expecting Kady to continue by saying, ‘Remind me never to do it again’ or something like that.

But instead Kady rolled over to grin at me as she actually continued by saying, “I want you to say… ‘Oh hell yeah… You always love it…’”

I smirked and reached down to pat her leg. “For the rest of your fucking life, Miss Jacobsen.”

Kady started laughing as she shook her head. “Holy shit. I forgot about that.”

“I didn’t.” And then I repeated, “For the rest of your fucking life.”

“But not for two more years,” Kady finished with a bit of a wince, now breathing much easier. “I think it’ll take me that long to recover from this one.”

“Fair enough.”

Noelle shot me a smirk. “Sorry, Ben. I saw your eyes light up for a second.”

“Oh, it’s fine,” I replied and rubbed Kady’s leg again. “Just gives me a rare treat to look forward to.”

****

An hour later, freshly showered and no longer smelling like sex, I turned left onto a small residential street lined with two-story cookie-cutter suburban houses, all with short driveways and two-car garages. The even-numbered houses were on my right side and I drove slowly while scanning for the right address number. Fifteen seconds later, I pulled the motorcycle into the driveway, parked, and dismounted. While doffing my helmet, I glanced at the house as well as the ten-year-old Honda Odyssey minivan parked on the driveway next to me. Glancing back at my motorcycle, I wondered if I shouldn’t have driven my own minivan instead. Based on the way June and Eve’s parents consistently made them come home every weekend, plus what I knew of June and Eve themselves, I admittedly had certain preconceived notions of them fitting neatly into the straight-laced conservative Asian parent stereotype that concentrated on academic success over social development, and a prospective boyfriend showing up on a motorcycle wasn’t likely to reassure them. I might as well have arrived with a shaggy beard and full-sleeve arm tattoos.

Oh, great. NOW this occurs to you?

Kim needed the van to take BJ on his playdate.

Too late to do anything about it now.

I sighed and then took a deep breath to collect myself. But before I could start heading for the front door, the garage door in front of me started unexpectedly rolling up. The driveway had been fairly dark, the nearest streetlight not producing very much illumination, but white fluorescent light from within the garage immediately spilled out from beneath the garage door as it elevated up towards the ceiling, almost blinding in its brightness.

There was a relatively new Honda Accord sedan on the left side of the garage, but my attention was drawn to the right side where a ping-pong table had been set up in the open space. Eve stood on the near side to me, paddle still in hand and a friendly smile on her face. June was over by the entry door into the house, having evidently pushed the button to open the garage.

“We heard the motorcycle,” Eve explained without preamble.

June sighed as she walked over to me. “Did you HAVE to bring the motorcycle? My parents are gonna think you’re a gang member.”

I made a face as I walked up the driveway to approach them. “Yeah, that occurred to me like ten seconds ago. Kim took the van for BJ’s playdate.”

“Can’t be helped now. Still… it’s really nice to see you.” June came to a stop a few feet in front of me, giving me an almost bashfully sweet smile. I closed the gap between us, giving her a quick hug and a tender kiss on the forehead.

Eve started approaching to come hug me as well, but before she could, the entry door to the house opened up behind her and Eve spun around in surprise.

I glanced up to see an older Chinese man standing in the doorway. I still had my arms around June, but she twisted within my grasp to also look back at her father.

“Xinyan! Xinyi! Guolai!” he barked rather curtly. And then he added some kind of question in Mandarin I didn’t catch.

June rattled off a response while gesturing out to the driveway, and her father replied something in a tone that was more resigned than curt. And Eve started walking towards her dad.

June then released me and took a step back. I gave her a look that clearly said I didn’t know what was going on, and she blushed before explaining, “I told him we heard your motorcycle in the driveway and I just opened the garage door. He said we should’ve waited for you to properly come around to the front door. I think you still should.”

“Go around the front?” I queried.

June nodded.

I nodded my understanding and backed out into the driveway. The girls’ father rolled his eyes and muttered “Aiyah…” in mild annoyance while turning back inside the house. June gave me a short little wave and I started heading for the front door. I had just turned the corner when I heard the garage door start to roll back down.

Okay, time to start over.

****

<k-thwack> <k-thwack> <k-thwack>

Standing to the side, my arms were folded across my chest as I watched the little white ball zing back and forth from one side of the table to the other side. June and her dad were both total pros, sustaining rallies I could scarcely believe were possible. I mean, I was no expert on the game, but I honestly couldn’t tell the difference between the two of them and Olympic athletes.

<k-thwack> <k-thwack> <k-thwack> <k-THWACK!>

One of Mr. Song’s returns came up a little high and a little short. June had deftly slid around the corner of the table, raised her paddle high as she took a big step forward with her left foot, and slammed the ball HARD. It bounced off the opposite corner of the table and up into the white cabinets behind Mr. Song, ricocheting over to the side wall and then dribbling onto the floor.

“Woo!” Eve cheered.

“Nice shot, June!” I encouraged, clapping.

Mr. Song sighed, squatted to retrieve the ball, and then got back up into his serving stance. “15-17.”

<k-thwack> <k-thwack> <k-thwack>

For whatever reason, I keyed in on that sound.

<k-thwack> <k-thwack> <k-thwack> <k-thwack> <psshhh>

June’s backhand had caught in the net.

“16-17.”

“Why do they call it ‘ping-pong’?” I asked quietly, arms folded as I glanced over at Eve beside me. “I mean, the ball doesn’t make ping or pong sounds.”

“It’s not named for the sounds.”

“What’s the actual name of ping-pong? I mean, what do they call the game in Chinese? Because I’m assuming ‘ping-pong’ is an English bastardization."

“Ping-pong,” Eve replied succinctly.

“Really?”

Mr. Song’s ball flew long past the table.

“16-18.”

“Really, it’s called ping-pong in China.” Eve turned to me as she explained. “Specifically: pīngpāng qiú, which translates to ‘ping pong ball’. The spelling of ‘ping-pong’ is an English bastardization, but the pronunciation is the same. If anything, calling it ‘table tennis’ is the English bastardization.”

“Huh… Learn something new every day.”

June took over serving. “19-16.”

She promptly hit a service winner.

“20-16.” My cute co-worker had a near snarl on her face. I’d been the recipient of that snarl more than a few times in our office, usually when she realized she was about to win an argument.

Three seconds later, she smashed a clean forehand winner, set her paddle down, and thrust both fists into the air, exclaiming something in Mandarin that I assumed to loosely translate into, ‘I win!’

Mr. Song sighed and muttered, “Congratulations, Xinyan.”

Xinyan: that was June’s real name. I actually knew that, having seen it for the first time when I’d been given access to June’s file in our system once I’d become her direct manager. I also knew exactly how much money she made, which felt a little weird.

Xinyi was Eve’s real name, although I only figured that one out by process of elimination when I formally met the Song sisters’ parents at the front door.

I had introduced myself as Ben, June’s boyfriend and handed over my neatly-wrapped Christmas present. Her father had replied in thickly-accented English, “Nice to meet you, Ben. I am Zihao and this is Shu Lien. We are parents to Xinyan and Xinyi.”

“Ba Ba,” Eve spoke up from behind them. “It’s June and Eve. You guys are the only ones who use our Chinese names.”

“Names are important,” her father had immediately replied with only a slight turn of his head to his daughter before sighing wearily at the interruption. Clearly there were certain formalities he wanted to follow, and things had NOT been going according to plan.

“Pleased to meet you,” I replied with a short head bob, shaking Mr. Song’s hand and merely head bobbing to the girls’ mom. “Zihao. Shu Lien.”

I stepped inside and immediately slipped off my shoes in the foyer. The five of us then collected in the living room and sat down so I could get the usual “boyfriend grilling.”

Her parents already knew the basics. They’d known for years now that June and I were project partners at JKE. They’d known she had moved in with me in Berkeley as my roommate. And they’d known I was the father of BJ, and that our third roommate Kim was BJ’s mother.

But they also believed that Kim and I weren’t in a relationship and that we were solely living together as co-parents, which would not be a significant impediment to me developing a romance with June. The logical progression of my relationship with June from co-workers to roommates to lovers therefore made a certain amount of sense. And indeed, that sort of long-term growth for a pair of intellectual equals who worked and then lived together seemed to be the only reasonable way someone like their daughter June might find her way into romance.

Her parents WANTED to believe we had a strong, loving relationship. That actually made the “boyfriend grilling” quite mild, all things considered. They asked questions to better understand how we eventually developed feelings for each other (snuck up on us both, was the answer), but didn’t try to poke holes in our narrative or anything like that. They accepted at face value that we were boyfriend/girlfriend now, didn’t question why June might keep me a secret, and expressed their happiness that I seemed to be bringing “Xinyan” her happiness, however unexpected.

The girls’ mother (I couldn’t call her Mrs. Song since her surname wasn’t “Song”, but rather “Yu”), excused herself halfway through to see to dinner, and Eve went with her. The younger Song sister was a bit of a social butterfly normally, used to talking a mile a minute and clearly chafing at being home and straining to keep her mouth shut. June, as my girlfriend, was apparently welcome to interject and participate in the discussion, but only did so rarely and often had to be prompted to speak with a direct question. Eve, on the other hand, was supposed to be the silent and dutiful daughter, but that role didn’t suit her very well, so she kept jumping into the conversation and getting mildly shut down by her father. So in the end she happily went to assist her mom with dinner.

The meal was very good and the chit-chat was polite. June remained quiet and aloof. Apart from that very first hug in the garage, she hadn’t made any move towards me that might be construed as affectionate. I mean really, Eve was giving me cute little looks and teasing smiles more often than my supposed girlfriend. But June’s emotionless android-like behavior was seemingly accepted as the norm. Still, it felt a little weird for me to be doing the “boyfriend meet the parents” thing and have such little contact with my girlfriend, and I found myself acting a little stiff and android-like myself.

At least until ping-pong. As the meal wrapped up, I had the opportunity to ask the girls’ parents about their children a bit. Mr. Song gave me the usual rundown of Xinyan’s academic successes and going to Stanford and all that – stuff I already knew. They talked about piano lessons and math competitions. June likewise remained silent throughout all that. But then Mr. Song brought up ping-pong, and June lit up like a Christmas tree.

I found myself reminded of Kim and her family’s basketball hobby.

In any case, June started talking about how her parents took away all her free time in favor of advanced after-school study programs and had even pulled her off her badminton team. Her one reprieve from academics had been the family’s ping-pong table in the garage, and she played against one family or another pretty much every single day. Once her passion shifted from badminton to ping-pong, she even started begging her parents to let her play competitively, but her father reminded her that the life of a professional athlete had no guarantee of success and that it would have been a waste of her intellectual gifts. June admitted that she probably wouldn’t have been of Olympic caliber anyways, but still, she loved the game.

My immediate response had been, “How the heck did I never know this?!?”

June shrugged. “You never asked.”

Long story short, that line of conversation led me, the Song sisters, and their father out to the garage while the girls’ mother cleaned up. I’d played the occasional game myself and considered myself a decent player – good enough to keep a rally going at least (Kenny Doyle’s parents had a table on their patio). So June and I got started playing, and while it took me a few minutes to get the hang of it, it was just like riding a bike in the sense that the muscle memory came back. June and I didn’t play a game; we just rallied for a bit until Eve decided she wanted to play with me. And so I rallied with Eve a little bit.

But then I decided I wanted to see the girls play at their full speed. Both of them had been clearly holding back their true skill, just keeping the ball in play for me. But once I handed off the paddle to my “girlfriend” and backed away to stand next to the girls’ Ba Ba, both of my Songbirds went into battle mode.

Knees bent, hips turned, arms cocked, and eyes narrowed: both June and Eve suddenly took the game very seriously, and I wondered just how many times they’d played each other like this. Hundreds of times? Thousands?

The first half of their game passed in relative silence save for the repetitive <k-thwacks> of the ball impacting the table and the paddles and the occasional grunts of two players putting their all into every shot. The sisters had very similar techniques, and Eve was pretty good, but in my opinion, June was the superior player.

June was just more… relentless. No surprise there. She was a machine, patient and efficient, willing to wait for the right opportunity before going on the offensive. Eve wanted more flair, going for winners and making occasional errors as a result.

I commented on this to the girls’ dad when the score was 13-9 in June’s favor. He gave me a confirming grunt with a head-nod but did not further reply to my impromptu analysis, and we returned to watching the game. I cheered for both girls whenever one of them hit a winner, not trying to play favorites. And in the end, June won fairly handily 21-15.

“Rematch,” Eve insisted.

To my surprise, Eve settled down. She got more patient, picked her moments, and kept the score really close. She still lost in the end 21-18, but the rallies had been longer and if a ball or two had gone the other way, she might’ve won.

After that, June called for a rest break. Although clearly not as physically taxing a sport as say… doing a triathlon, the way the girls played could not be described as anything other than athletic. June went into the house and came out with two bottles of water. But by then, I’d already picked up a paddle and was rallying with Eve again.

Three minutes later, Mr. Song challenged Xinyan to a game. June’s smile was all teeth, her predatory expression reminding me of the last time she’d caught Penny’s calculations off.

<k-thwack> <k-thwack> <k-thwack>

Eve had been good.

Her father was better.

But not as good as June.

To my surprise, June actually elevated her game. She’d played a close match with Eve that ended 21-18, and in my opinion, had she played this game at that same level she would’ve lost to her father. Instead, she maintained her metronomic precision and efficiency while actually increasing her aggressiveness.

For his part, despite his comparatively advanced age, the man pushing sixty had reflexes that would’ve put me to shame.

<k-thwack> <k-thwack> <k-thwack>

Several minutes later, June smashed a clean forehand winner, set her paddle down, and thrust both fists into the air, exclaiming something in Mandarin that I assumed to loosely translate into, ‘I win!’

Flawless victory.

That’s Mortal Kombat, dude. And now we’re caught up.

Mr. Song sighed and muttered, “Congratulations, Xinyan.”

“Good job, June!” Eve cheered.

“Great job,” I exclaimed while clapping and walked up to my girlfriend for a hug.

June, riding the high of her victory, immediately turned to me with that look of puppy-love adoration on her face. Squealing happily, she literally leaped into my arms and wrapped her legs around my waist while mashing her mouth down onto mine. And her tongue slithered between my lips while she moaned in obvious heat.

“Ahem…” Mr. Song didn’t actually say ‘ahem’ – he just sort of cleared his throat, but you get the gist.

June yanked her mouth off mine, popped her eyes open WIDE, and immediately dropped her feet. Her face had gone white as a ghost and she turned to face her father, slumped her shoulders, and bowed her head deferentially. “Sorry, Ba Ba.”

Mr. Song’s eyes narrowed, but he didn’t verbally respond. He pursed his lips and seemed to be chewing things over, even though his mouth wasn’t moving. The garage had gone completely silent, uncomfortably so. I took a deep breath, preparing myself to say my own apology. But just as I took a step forward, my girlfriend’s father raised his hand to me palm out.

I stopped and waited him out.

Mr. Song raised his ping-pong paddle, canted his head to the side, and stated gruffly, “Let’s play.”

I blinked and arched an eyebrow. Clearly he was referring to me, so after risking quick glances at both June and Eve, I shrugged and went to pick up a paddle.

Mr. Song had the ping-pong ball in his left hand and his paddle in the other, but he did not yet get into a serving stance. Instead, he regarded me coolly, took a deep breath, and then turned to look over at June.

“Xinyan. You wish to return to Berkeley, do you not?”

June raised her head in surprise, glanced at me, and looked confused. But after only a moment’s hesitation, she nodded, bowed her head again, and replied softly, “Shi, Ba Ba.”

That meant ‘Yes, Daddy.’

Mr. Song turned his attention to me. “If you win, June may return to Berkeley with you.”

June’s head popped up in shock. She stared at me with really big eyes and a look of… hope? But a moment later, her hope faded and she winced at the realization my chances of beating her father in a ping-pong game were slim to none. He was better than me, that’s all.

But I wasn’t about to turn down a chance. She was standing next to me, so I reached out my hand to hers and gave it a squeeze. She smiled again, a shy smile, and looked up at me with just a touch of hope again. Well, maybe not hope. She had a look that clearly said I was gonna get my butt kicked, but at least she appreciated the effort.

I wanted to win… for her.

I failed.

That really shouldn’t come as any surprise. The only way I’d ever beat the girls’ father would be if he took it easy on me.

He didn’t.

But I gave it my best shot. I knew I had no chance to win a protracted rally with the man – he was just too good. So I played defense as best I could and attacked every chance I got. I only got half of my attacking shots onto the table, and half of those he still returned anyway. But still, I ended up getting eight points, which really wasn’t all that bad if I say so myself.

Mr. Song never let up on me, not even at the end when the game was well in hand. At 20-8, he slammed a forehand into the cross-court corner, pulling me off the edge of the table. My weak block popped up short and high, and he took a huge windup into a wicked backhand and slammed the ball HARD. It bounced off the opposite corner of the table from me and up into the white cabinets behind me, ricocheting over to the side wall and then dribbling onto the floor.

Nobody clapped or cheered. Not even the girls’ mother, who had come out into the garage midway through our game.

The older man set his paddle down and raised both fists in front of his chest, stating gruffly the same phrase in Mandarin that I assumed to loosely translate into, ‘I win!’

Fatality.

Dude.

I set my own paddle down and walked around the table, my hand extended for a shake, “Congratulations, Zihao.”

He took my hand, shook it firmly, and then placed his left hand atop our handshake so that I wouldn’t pull away. With narrowed eyes, he stated evenly, “Please call me Mr. Song.”

I blinked in surprise. He had introduced himself to me as ‘Zihao’ and I’d been using that name all evening. I replied a little stiffly, “If you prefer, certainly, Mr. Song.”

“Use of my given name would be appropriate for equals. We are both adults, and if we worked together I would allow you to continue calling me ‘Zihao’. But it is clear to me now how much my daughter cares for you, and how much you care for her.”

“I do,” I replied sincerely.

Pursing his lips, Mr. Song sighed and shook his head slowly. “I was not happy to learn that Xinyan’s boyfriend was a man who had fathered a child with another woman. I was not happy that you arrived on a motorcycle.”

See, told you.

Dude, shut it.

“I decided without meeting you that you would be a… a ‘bad boy’… only interested in my daughter as a conquest. I decided without meeting you that while I could understand her falling in love with a man she worked closely with, I would NOT expect a man like you to have such strength of feelings for her in return. And so I expected to meet you, decide that I did not like you, and ultimately ask you to stop toying with my daughter’s heart and move on.”

I blinked in surprise, not really sure how to respond to that.

“I was wrong,” he stated finally.

“Thank you for being gracious enough to say that.”

“Therefore, as I expect you to continue being my daughter’s boyfriend, it would be more appropriate for you to address me not as Zihao, but as Mr. Song, the father of your girlfriend.”

“I understand.”

Mr. Song nodded. He glanced over at June as she slid up next to me, wrapped her left arm around my back, and slipped her right hand into mine. She gave her father a bashful look but didn’t say a word. He, however, turned his gaze to me and said softly, “I know my daughter is… special. It is a word meant to be a positive, but when written into her IEPs and other school documents that spelled out the special accommodations required for her to function alongside her classmates, it did not feel like such a good thing.”

I glanced down at June, and she looked up at me with a bit of a wince, looking embarrassed. I couldn’t help myself, I leaned down and briefly pecked her on the lips. But then I blushed and immediately returned my attention to her father, aping June’s previously downcast and deferential head bow.

“We have always known she is… different,” Mr. Song continued without commenting on the stolen kiss. “She could never make lasting friendships. Other children played pranks on her and told their parents they didn’t like her. They said she was mean. They said she was rude.”

The girls’ mother spoke up from next to the Honda Accord. “We always worried that she would never be able to leave our house. We always worried she would be alone for the rest of her life.”

Mr. Song sighed. “I assumed we would grow to be…” As his voice trailed off, he glanced at his wife and muttered something in Chinese as if searching for the right word, but she shrugged and shook her head. In the end, he simply turned back to me and finished, “We assumed she would become an old maid, living at home and helping care for us in our old age.”

I nodded my understanding.

Mr. Song’s face softened, and his wife went to stand next to him. She wrapped her right arm around her husband’s back and slipped her left hand into his, the mirror image of me and June. The older man smiled, his wrinkly jowls turning in the opposite direction, and he gave his wife a quick peck on the lips just as I had done to June. She giggled cutely.

“Unnnggghhh…” Eve groaned, burying her face in her hands.

Still smiling, Mr. Song turned his attention back to me. “You give me hope. For the first time in my life, I have hope that Xinyan… that June… will not be alone for the rest of her life, and isn’t that all a parent could ever want for his children? I don’t say this to put pressure on you, so my apologies if you feel it anyway. I don’t know if you and June will be together forever or even only the next two weeks. I hope it is NOT for only the next two weeks, but even if so, I can at least be grateful you have given my daughter happiness for as long as you have. It is already more than we had ever hoped, and for that, we say, ‘Thank you.’”

I squeezed June’s hand in my own and smiled. “You’re welcome.”

“Ba Ba…?” June asked hesitantly.

Mr. Song chuckled and sighed. “Yes, you may return to Berkeley with Ben.”

I blinked in surprise. “But I lost the game.”

Mr. Song shook his head. “It was never about the game. Although I will admit to feeling… good… that I can still beat a young man like yourself.”

I chuckled and gave him a wry grin.

“Ba Ba…?” Eve now asked hesitantly. She was sort of dancing from one foot to the other in barely-restrained excitement/anxiety.

Mr. Song rolled his eyes. “I know you want to see your friends too. Fine, you can go as well.”

“YASSS!!!” Eve thrust her hands in the air and darted forward, hugging both of her parents.

Mr. Song pulled back and waggled his index finger in Eve’s face. “But you are NOT to ride on that motorcycle with him. Neither of you.”

June looked up at me. “Should’ve brought the minivan.”

I waved my left hand and sighed. “I know, I know.”

“And I expect you home Christmas Eve,” the girls’ father added.

June raised her eyebrows. “But after Christmas…?”

Mr. Song sighed and gave me a weary look. “Is it really so bad that old parents want to spend time with their children?”

I shrugged helplessly, unable to answer that question directly.

He turned to look at both of his daughters and stated, “Sunday night. You can return Sunday night after Christmas. After that… we’ll see…”

“DEAL!” Eve hugged both of her parents again.

Meanwhile, June had turned within my grasp. Her puppy-love look of adoration was back as she snaked both arms around my neck and beamed up at me. I closed my eyes, tilted my head, and lowered my mouth to hers.

And we kissed.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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