“You don’t get it,” muttered Toma.
“I think I do,” he said. “Toma, I have a sister.”
“What? You never mentioned that.”
“We’ve… been estranged for the past five years. I spent a lot of that time looking for her, trying to find out if she was still alive or if something had happened.”
“Damn, I’m sorry, dude. That sucks.”
“It’s okay, I did find her,” said Lee. “But she had fallen in with a bad crowd. All I had wanted up until that point was to just know the truth, and I thought that would fix everything. But it just led to even more disappointment.”
“I see where you’re going with this,” said Toma. “Family is nothing but disappointment.”
Lee rolled his eyes, noticing the facetious nature of Toma’s grin.
“I could drink to that,” he said. “You’re buying the first round, since you started the fight.”
“I didn’t just start the fight,” said Toma. “I ended it.”
“One of these days, I’m going to start recording some of the stuff you say and playing it back, just so you can get a taste of how corny you are.”
CHAPTER 26
Odarin insisted on treating the various cuts and scrapes adorning both Lee’s and Toma’s faces since he’d already pulled the bandages out. They left the infirmary looking like two children who’d just finished playing “make-believe hospital” with real medical supplies, over-bandaged and under-supervised.
The walk down to Gillum was mostly filled with both of them complaining about the icy wind’s effect on their respective faces. By the time Lee pushed the door to the Frostfire Tavern open, it almost felt like he and Toma had undone the damage that they’d inflicted on their friendship through the fistfight.
“What are you in the mood for?” asked Toma, as they took seats at the bar. It was still early in the evening, and the bartender made his way over to them with the energy of someone early in their shift.
“They have a maple stout on tap,” said Lee. “I used to drink it all the time back home. Maybe some of those bacon cheese fries to go with it, so we’re not drinking on an empty stomach.”
Toma ordered, and the two lost themselves in a temporary state of food and alcoholic beverage-induced bliss.
“What’s the deal with you and Eliza?” asked Toma.
“I’m not sure what you mean,” said Lee.
“You were both super weird this morning. Like, you kept smiling at each other like you suddenly had some kind of new secret.”
Lee let out a small chuckle. “We had an interesting night.”
“Oh? Did you finally get the grand slam?”
“What is it with you and referring to sex with baseball terminology?” asked Lee.
“It’s not just me, lots of people do it.”
Lee took a long sip of his beer. “I don’t kiss and tell. We have gotten a lot closer to each other recently, though.”
“You’re so boring, Lee,” said Toma. “Ask me about how the sex was with Jenna.”
“I’m not asking that, and I don’t want to know.”
“Our first time was, well, it was just incredible,” said Toma. “I was like this, and she was leaned back with her tits pushed up. And then I started in with the ol’ hula hoop trick, know what I mean?”
He started gyrating at the waist, or at least as much as he could while sitting on a stool.
“You were a virgin before Jenna, weren’t you?” asked Lee.
“Doesn’t matter. It’s all instinctual. Deep in our primal DNA, Y-chromosome shit.”
They ordered another round of maple stouts, which seemed to disappear even quicker than the first.
“I miss Nurse Susie too, Toma, but I think she’s more than allowed to take some time off if she needs it,” said Lee.
“It’s not that I miss her. You’re misunderstanding me, dude. It’s just… she was pretty hot.”
“Very true,” said Lee.
“With her and Harper gone, Primhaven has a serious shortage of faculty eye candy.”
“This is an emergency, Toma,” said Lee. “You should alert Mattis immediately.”
“Odarin would probably take it more seriously,” said Toma. “But Mattis… she’s up there. A little chubby, but in a fun way. The alchemy instructor, Escher, is also kind of nerd-cute. The school really needs another drop-dead gorgeous faculty member though, you know?”
“They have Kei,” said Lee. “He fits the bill, just for the women at the school, instead of the men.”
“That’s not the same. In fact, it’s kind of sexist for you to even say that.”
“You have no idea what sexism entails, do you, Toma?”
Another round went by in the blink of an eye, and Toma ordered a strong IPA that had a bitter aftertaste for replacement.
“I’m going to fail the Midterm Trial,” muttered Lee.
“Nah, you’re not. I’m going to fail.”
“It’s not like failure is mutually exclusive. We can both fail.”
“I changed my mind,” said Toma. “We’re both going to pass. Here’s what we do: just cast lots of simple, small spells over and over again. It’s the sophisticated version of brute force.”
“You think that would work?”
“I don’t fucking know.”
Toma waved the bartender over as they finished yet another round of drinks.
“Lee, we’re doing sake bombs,” he said.
“A what bomb?”
“You’ve never had a sake bomb before?” Toma grinned at him and gestured to the bartender. “Alright, you got Sapporo on tap? We need two mugs of Sapporo and two shots of sake. And two sets of chopsticks!”
Lee was already heavily drunk as Toma explained the set-up. Two chopsticks were laid flat across the mouth of the mug of beer, with the sake shot balanced on top.
“Now what you do is you either hit the mug to knock it in, if you’re a square,” muttered Toma. “Or you do this. KANPAI!”
He slammed his fist down on the bar counter hard enough to shake the sake shot loose, along with attracting annoyed stares from the various other denizens of the bar.
“Toma, what if I really will fail the exam?” asked Lee. “Should I… even take it?”
“What are you so worried about?” asked Toma. “Just study some more if you’re stressing.”
“What if studying isn’t enough? What if I’m just an imposter, just been getting lucky this entire time?”
“You can’t be an imposter,” said Toma. “You’re my friend. I know who you are, Lee.”
“Eldon,” he said.
“What?”
“My birth name, my real name, is Eldon.”
“Ah. Well, I see why you go by Lee.”
Toma grinned at him and gestured to the second sake bomb he’d set up. Lee chuckled, unable to resist.
“KANPAI!” he shouted, slamming his fist down.
***
The bartender very politely explained that they were cut-off after the dramatic sake bombs. Lee and Toma stumbled back up the path to Primhaven in the dark. It was far later than he’d been expecting it to be, and his thoughts turned toward Tess and Eliza as they made their way through the gate and back onto campus.
Lee was drunk enough that he didn’t immediately notice that Toma was leading him the wrong way, right instead of left off the main path. He caught up to his friend just as he was pushing his way into one of the women’s dormitory buildings, but Toma struggled against him when Lee tried to pull him back by the shoulder.
“Toma, you’re too drunk,” mumbled Lee. “This isn’t our dorm.”
“Jenna!” called Toma. “Jennaaaaaaa!”
He started banging on doors, the first one or two clearly belonging to the wrong occupants, judging from the angry shouts inside.
“Take me back, Jenna!” called Toma. He banged on another door.
“Toma?” called Jenna. “What the fuck?”
“Please,” said Toma. “
I’m so dumb. I was a jerk. Take me back… please.”
Lee was just drunk enough to let himself become infected by his friend’s madness.
“Yeah, Jenna,” he called. “Come on! Take him back, he’s a good guy.”
“Jennnnaaaaa!”
“Toma, you are—” A conflicted huff came from the other side of the door. “Get in here and quit shouting.”
“Whoo! Go, Toma!” shouted Lee. “Ah, sorry.”
Another arm grabbed his. It took him a few seconds to realize that Eliza and Tess had appeared on the scene to serve as his own escorts, preserving the peace. Lee looked back at Toma in time to see him waving a victorious thumbs-up.
CHAPTER 27
“Just how much did the two of you have to drink?” asked Tess.
“A few beers,” muttered Lee. “Along with a sake bomb! KANPAI!”
Eliza chuckled. Tess sighed and shook her head.
“You should avoid making any future late-night strolls through the girls’ dormitories,” said Eliza. “Mattis would have literally torn your head off, had she caught you.”
“It was Toma,” said Lee. “Even more, it was for love!”
“I never realized you were such a romantic drunk,” said Tess. “I know what we’re doing on our next date.”
She blew him a kiss and Lee grinned back at her. He felt Eliza helping him along as he stumbled through the familiar common room of his own dormitory. He collapsed onto his bed, feeling like a little boy as Eliza proceeded to take his shoes off for him.
He pulled Tess into his mystic stream without hesitation, then onto his lap. He was in the middle of kissing her neck and feeling her up through a copy of one of his own cloak sweaters when she cleared her throat and pushed her hands against his chest.
“Eliza’s here,” said Tess.
Lee nodded slowly, though he was a tad too drunk to understand her point.
“Tess and I had a lot of fun today,” said Eliza. “We also talked about… your problem. Your essence problem. You couldn’t cast any spells during elemental class, could you?”
“Didn’t stop me in the end,” said Lee.
“Tess is worried that if you don’t find a reliable new source of essence now that Nurse Susie is taking some time off, you might struggle with the Midterm Trial.”
“So am I,” sighed Lee. The alcohol kept him from picking up on the obvious until Eliza sat down next to him on his bed.
“We talked about a lot,” whispered Eliza. “Tess and I. About you. About the place we both have in your life. About what we both want.”
“This feels like a conversation I should have been a part of,” said Lee.
“Quite the opposite, I think.” Eliza set a hand on his thigh. “Tess cares about you, Lee. A lot. Way more than I think you realize.”
Tess glanced away from Lee, but he could still see the edge of one of her blushing cheeks.
“She wants both of us to be a part of your life,” said Eliza. “Uh, you know, if… that’s what you were… I mean, I’m bad talking about this stuff. She wanted me and you to…” Eliza cleared her throat nervously. “I guess what I’m saying is… I bought new underwear. I also shaved, uh, down there.”
She fidgeted and refused to meet his gaze. Lee looked at Tess instead. She had a smile on her face and slowly nodded as he brought a hand up to cup her cheek. She kissed his knuckles and shifted his hand so he was touching Eliza in the same way.
“Eliza,” he said “I do care for Tess. I really do. But if you’re alright with this, then so am I.”
Eliza nodded slowly. She looked uncertain about what to do. Lee pulled her closer in and kissed her, feeling her lips eagerly responding to his. He kissed her again with more passion. The alcohol was like nitrous in the fuel line of his arousal. He pulled at her sweater, clumsily stripping it up and over her head.
Eliza’s t-shirt came with it, and he caught sight of the new underwear she’d mentioned before. She wore an elegant white lace bra that emphasized the paleness of her body, as though she was a busty angel who’d decided to cover her breasts with distilled clouds.
Lee knew how inexperienced Eliza was when it came to sex. He wanted to serenade her, to create an atmosphere of slow-building seduction, making sure she was comfortable with each and every step.
Unfortunately, he was really drunk. He embraced her and tipped her down onto the bed, growing hard in record time as one of his hands cupped one of her big, awesome breasts. He pulled her jeans off, fumbling a bit when it came to getting them completely off her feet.
Her panties matched her bra, with lace adorning the edges and impossibly soft fabric. Lee practically spun out of his own clothes, only leaving his boxers on. He kissed Eliza and let his hard cock grind into her crotch through their underwear.
The room was lit by a single small light on Lee’s bedside table. Eliza lay on her back, her auburn hair loose across his white sheets, the color of amber in the sunlight. Lee pulled her bra down, letting the garment serve as a shelf of sorts for her hefty assets. He pulled his boxers off and straddled her, briefly giving into the impulse to let his hard cock nestle within her cleavage.
Eliza shot him an unsure glance, smiled, and then stuck her tongue out. Lee leaned his hips forward, and she gave him a long lick, followed by a quick suck, her eyes confirming the newness of the act to her.
He was too drunk and too horny to resist for even a second longer. He pulled her panties down and positioned himself between her thighs. Pushing forward, he pressed his cock into her, probably faster than he should have. Eliza gasped and dug her fingers into the mattress.
Her breathing intensified, but she stayed quiet even as Lee began to thrust into her with earnest. There was a certain novelty to it being Eliza’s first time that made him aware of every inch of her body, along with the warm tightness of her womanly confines. It was like the sexual equivalent of the new car smell, or like breaking in a new pair of shoes.
He got up to speed, letting his mattress creak and groan in lieu of any noises on Eliza’s part. He could see the pleasure in her expression, however. The way her eyelids fluttered. The way she bit her lower lip.
Lee took a dominant grip on one of her breasts and pressed down on her as he thrust deep and hard. He could feel Eliza’s body slowly tensing as he drove her closer to the edge. He was close, too, fully entranced by the mesmerizing, circular bouncing of her breasts and the heady scent of feminine arousal.
“Lee…” breathed Eliza. “Oh… this… I… oh!”
Lee felt a small surge of satisfaction as Eliza’s body writhed in ecstasy underneath him. Strangely, his first impulse wasn’t to go harder or slow down, but to look for Tess. She was still in the room, watching from one of the chairs. She smiled at him and gave him a tiny, encouraging nod.
“Eliza!” Lee’s hips thrust on autopilot. He pulled her tight against him, feeling her big breasts mashing against his chest. He let go, losing himself in the pleasure like a helpless swimmer accepting the pull of the edge of a waterfall.
“I’m not on the pill!” hissed Eliza.
With reflexes that he wasn’t aware he had in him, Lee pulled out at the very moment of his climax. His seed spilled out onto Eliza’s stomach, splashing across her pale skin and even onto the fabric of her brand-new bra. Lee was mentally and physically drained, and almost too drunk to justify still being awake. He rolled over onto his back and mumbled something that even he couldn’t make out.
“Wow…” whispered Eliza. “That was… amazing.”
She smiled as she looked at Lee, but her expression wilted as her eyes met his. She ran her hands through her hair, looking thoughtful, then smiled and gave him a quick kiss.
“I’m going to head back to my room,” she said.
“What?”
“I think you could use some time alone with Tess.”
“Are you sure?” asked Lee. “I mean, that was your first time, wasn’t it?”
“I have to clean myself up anyway,” muttered Eliz
a, glancing down at her soiled stomach. “I’d prefer not to wipe this off in the bathroom of the boys’ dorm, for obvious reasons. Besides, this might have been my first time… but it won’t be our last time?”
She converted the last few words of her sentence into a question. Tess grinned from where she sat and gave a generous nod.
“Definitely not,” said Lee. “I think all three of us agree on that.”
Eliza pulled her sweater and jeans back on, tucking her panties into her pocket, and gave Lee a shy wave as she slipped out of his dorm. Tess moved to take her place on the bed, resting her shoulder against his chest.
“That was hot,” said Tess. “It’s kind of fun to watch you work from a distance.”
“It was hot,” agreed Lee. “But also… confusing. For me, at least.”
“You do get emotional when you’re drunk, don’t you?”
“I just don’t want to hurt anyone, Tess.” He hugged her and planted a kiss on her hair. “Whether it’s you, Eliza, or anyone else that we might get involved with.”
“What you need to understand, Lee Amaranth, is that we feel the same way,” whispered Tess. “I don’t want to see you get hurt. Which is why it’s important to keep our supply of essence topped up.”
“Did you get a lot from her?”
“A ton!” said Tess. “She’s like an arcanum mine. The fact that it’s late at night and she can sleep it off means that I was able to absorb even more than usual.”
CHAPTER 28
Lee discovered the existence of a new level of hangover the next morning. He sat in alchemy class in between an equally hungover Toma and a cheery, surprisingly well-rested Eliza.
“Look,” said Eliza. “If the two of you try to focus on distilling the reflex reagent, I’ll whip you up a potion to cure your hangover.”
“You can do that?” asked Lee.
“Sure,” said Eliza. “Just give me a minute.”
Lee and Toma made small amounts of progress on the routine busywork that Instructor Escher had assigned them, while Eliza set up her alchemy tube over a burner and began mixing ingredients.
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