49: Danielle

I drove to campus Sunday at noon to pick up Courtney and Jennifer. The hack-a-thon was over. They looked like hell. Courtney looked particularly sour.

"Oh, dear," I said. "Didn't you win the Easter egg hunt?"

"Yes, I did." She folded her arms and leaned back in the seat. I looked at Jennifer and she shrugged. "We'll talk about it later," Courtney sighed. "First I need a nap."

For the most part, we spent Sunday afternoon catching up on the studying we didn't do on Saturday. Courtney went to bed and didn't get up until Monday morning, so we didn't really get to talk. I had enough time between calculus and humanities that I could stop for a sandwich and coffee at the Union. It wasn't a big break and if I missed it, I would still be home by one-thirty and could eat there. But it was a nice diversion.

I chose tuna salad and then looked up to see Danielle sitting by herself near the windows. I strolled over and set my tray on her table.

"Hey, Danielle. Where are the other two-thirds?" I laughed. She looked up at me and scowled.

"I'm not Danielle. I'm Dolly." I looked at her. What is she trying to pull?

"No, you aren't. What's up? Did I do something wrong? You guys took off like you were shot at Saturday."

"How do you know? How do you know I'm Danielle and not Dolly? We've been fooling our parents for years. Why do you think you can identify us?"

"Well, first of all, your sister would never introduce herself as Dolly. She puts up with the nickname from everyone else, but if you had been her, you'd have said, 'I'm Dorothy'," I said.

"But you knew before I said that. How?"

"I don't know. As soon as I saw you over here, I just knew it was Danielle. Maybe the way you sit or the way you tilt your head. I know you've got the same brown eyes as your sisters and I couldn't have seen them from over there anyway. I think it's just the way you hold yourself. It's your sense of presence," I said.

"You're psychic."

"Thanks for not saying psychotic. I don't think I'm psychic. I'm pretty sure that if you set your minds to it, you could probably fool me. I think that you just assume that no one really looks at you."

"And you do. You really look at us. Me."

"How'd he do?" a voice said from behind me. I was still looking into Danielle's eyes.

"Hi, Debbie. Was this supposed to be a test?"

"Fuck!"

"Tell you enough right there? He didn't even turn around. I still think he's psychic," Danielle said.

"Her voice is different," I justified myself.

"I think he smells our scent," Dorothy said from over my left shoulder.

"No. I didn't realize you were there until you spoke, Dolly. And I'm not going to touch the 'I smelled you coming' line," I laughed. "I have to get to humanities. Are you all still okay coming out to help Saturday? It's a double taping."

"Can we join the family for the evening if we cook?" Debbie asked.

"If you really want to get naked with us, all you have to do is say so," I said. "See you all later."

Why is it? If I just look at them objectively, there is no way I should be able to tell them apart. But when I see them, it's like there is a cartoon bubble over their heads with their names written in them. Nah. It can't be psychic. That doesn't make sense. But surely anyone who spent a few minutes with them would be able to tell the difference. They are just ... so different. There was a time when I got more confused between you and Donna than I do among those three.

I'm obsessing. There's no reason for me to obsess over this. I mean, they are now working for us. We're paying them to do prep work on the show. Granted, not much, but they really just want to be in our kitchen. And our home. They want to join the family Saturday night. I mean, they don't really want to join the family, but last Saturday they nearly stripped when Mary took off her shirt.

I wouldn't mind seeing Danielle naked. What? Of course she'd look just like her sisters. But ... Crap! What is going on in my head?

It was Thursday night before I finally got the story from Courtney, and then only after I had given her bottom some serious loving attention. Making love to Court can be exhausting under any circumstances. She isn't shy about telling me exactly what she wants or needs. It wasn't always like that, but as she got used to giving explicit permission, she got more vocal about her needs. We were panting and exhausted and laughing. Then she was in tears and sobbing against me.

"Honey, honey," I whispered. "What is it, my precious courtesan? Talk to me. Tell me about it."

"He ... That bastard geek. What am I talking about? I'm a geek, too. I should start wearing dirty t-shirts and thick glasses. A pocket protector would be good, too."

"What did he do?"

"He just creeps me out. He got to the Easter egg before I did. And he didn't touch it. He had to recognize it. So while I was watching, he started laying little programming bombs. It was like he was mining the field surrounding the goal. I didn't touch them because I could tell they were toxic. And they looked just like the egg. It wasn't enough for him to win the hunt. He was trying to destroy anyone who came close to it. I downloaded all the data I had from the hunt and then executed the prize so no one else could touch it. As soon as the egg was executed, it shut down the sandbox. That's why we got out when we did," she said.

"Sounds like you prevented something awful. I'm sorry I don't understand anything about what it was," I said at last. She was so far over my head in her special little geek talk that I was lost.

"I gave Dr. Hanratty my disks with a note. Tonight he asked me to come to his office and quizzed me all about what was on my disks. He's not giving me the five hours credit. For the hunt," she sighed. "He said that if I could keep my mouth shut about what I found, he would give me five hours at the end of the term. He was being cagey, but he's a smart guy. I think he plans to lay some traps of his own."

"He also confiscated my worm code. He said that it was the property of the school since it was developed in his class. It pisses me off. It should be mine. I might have been able to sell it." She heaved a big sigh.

"We should ask Dave Mercer about that. That's why we hired an intellectual property attorney. It wouldn't take long for us to find out if software you create personally while in school is yours or the school's. Even if we lose on this one, we would know what to do when you have your next stroke of brilliance," I said.

"Is it really worthwhile? Brian, I so want to contribute to our family. Since school started, I can't do the administrative stuff I was doing when we were back in Mishawaka. I feel like I've let Rhonda down," she said.

"I don't think we're suffering from it, honey. Sandy has been handling a lot of the non-financial administrative work for Rhonda that Louise doesn't do. And I love having the other casa involved in the company. We have to all explore what we can do, what we want to do, and what we need to do," I said. That was good advice for me to remember. "Even Rhonda, in all her enthusiasm, said the other day that she doesn't want anyone to feel trapped into working on the shows. They are only a part of our community and our clan."

"Brian? I probably won't be able to do this again for a while. Would you make love to my bottom again? Please?" I petted her bottom and was already getting hard again. I put on another condom and lubed it up before pushing into her sweet ass. As I pushed, I slapped her butt with my hand—not real hard, but enough to let her know I was spanking her. "Yes! Push. Spank me again." I complied and then we were into serious rutting.

"Such a perfect bottom. I never imagined I would like this until you asked me to bump, my courtesan. I will fuck your bottom as often as you want."

"Can I come out to the ranch with you this afternoon?" Danielle asked when she met me after calculus. She was waiting outside the classroom door and Brenda grinned at me.

"Wish I was going back to the ranch, too," Brenda smirked. "I'm sure there is a lot of work to be done for tomorrow's show. I could help you prepare him. I mean the show."

"Brenda, behave. I'll tell Louise you were hitting on Danielle," I laughed. Danielle stared, open-mouthed.

"Spoilsport. You haven't paid a visit to Casa de la Tierra in way too long, Brian. I'm beginning to think you don't love me any longer," Brenda pouted.

"Seems to me, we were studying calculus Wednesday night, naked in front of the fireplace. This week we can study in your bed."

"I have to run to philosophy," Brenda said. "Have fun at the ranch."

"Where are your wicked sisters," I asked, taking Danielle's hand and walking toward the car.

"Sometimes I get out on my own recognizance. Are you lovers with all the women on the ranch?" she asked.

"No. I know Rose and Whitney gave you a rundown on the clan when they explained the rules to you."

"Yes, but Brenda isn't in your casa. I thought you were exclusive to your hearthmates."

"Does it make a difference to you?" I asked. I opened the passenger door and held it for her, then went to get in the other side.

"I'm just trying to understand how everything fits together. I mean ... I didn't mean it quite like that."

"Oh, it's normal for sweet young virgins to have curiosity about such things," I laughed. "And how are you managing so much time off from volleyball to come out to the ranch?"

"We've really only been out to the ranch on weekends," Danielle said. "Volleyball has just become a varsity sport here and our schedule is only fifteen games. We play mostly on Tuesdays and Thursdays so we don't interfere with the big sports like basketball and football. We're an odd crew, so we practice early in the morning. We have no games for the next week because of midterms and then fall break. We have eight games between midterms and Thanksgiving. When we come back from Thanksgiving we have the NCAA Division I Tournament and will probably be out of the competition by the end of the first week of December. We aren't really all that good this year."

"Well, I want to come and watch you play. And I'd better do it before Whitney's and Lionel's basketball seasons start. I'm already missing every one of Adam's football games with taping on Saturdays," I said. We pulled into the ranch and I parked.

"Uh ... Brian, you got me side-tracked. That thing about ... Well, when Whitney joked about virgin triplets ... that's not exactly true. I mean, we're not, like, trying to sleep with you or join your family or anything. But it doesn't seem fair that you should think we're all innocent. We do want to spend time with your clan because it's fun and we're a little wild. Sometimes," she said. "I just don't want you thinking that we're prudes and won't get naked when the time comes. Personally, I plan to have all three of us lined up naked in front of you and see if you can still tell the difference. Just saying."

"I will probably dream about that all night," I said. We walked toward the garden. She was going to prep pumpkins for the first show tomorrow and pick winter squash for the second show. "Danielle, I like you. And your sisters. I love the skills you bring to the kitchen. I'm happy to have you helping on the show. But as much as we tease and have fun, you have to understand that I'm not looking for another girlfriend. Or three. You are fun and funny and I really like you, but..."

"But you don't want to see us naked?" she asked innocently. I looked at her and started laughing.

"No, I really want to see you naked," I laughed. "I mean really. I'm twenty years old. I wish the whole university was a clothing free zone."

Elaine and I had just gotten out of bed to make dinner for the casa when Courtney got home. I really liked having an hour or two with my cónyuge on a regular basis each week. We didn't always make love, but we always had a special time of cuddling together and talking with just the two of us. I needed to do that with each of my cónyuge.

"You wouldn't believe it! He's a genius!"

"What's up, Courtesan?" I asked. "Who is so brilliant?"

"Dr. Hanratty. It was all I could do to keep from crowing in class. He gave Wayne Enders the award and five hours credit for tripping the code." She laughed. "He was spluttering and coughing and yelling about how he didn't do it. Hanratty said they were following everyone's progress and had a full record of what each person did. He said that no matter who rang the bell, he knew who got there first and what they had coded. Wayne was pale. It looked like he was going to throw up."

She was dancing around and hugging me as she stripped off her clothes. Then she caught Elaine up to dance around and as soon as Jennifer was naked she had her in her arms. "Take me to bed, Jennie honey. You're the only one who can make this day any better than it already is!" They scooped up their clothes and ran for the stairs.

Friday night was family time. I was vaguely aware that Danielle's sisters picked her up and left, but they didn't come into the house.

"So how is it all working?" I asked Maggie. "I'm pretty much out of the loop, now. You'll have to tell me if there is anything else you need from me." I had to head over to the studio early in order to meet with Maggie before I started on Young Cooking. We invited Lauren to sit in, but she had prep work to do with the triplets and her crew. We were expecting the audience and girlfriend to arrive in about twenty minutes.

"Heaven's plane will arrive at ten-fifteen. She won't be coming to the ranch before the game today. She and Amy have rented a car and are brazenly driving themselves from the airport straight to the stadium. She's been invited to share a booster's box," she said. "She and Adam have been invited to an after-game dinner. It's usually only seniors and prospects that get invited to these things, but famous people get to attend, too. Of course, it presents a problem because she and Adam have been invited to stay the night and she insisted that Amy be there, too. She isn't particularly happy about sharing a bed with Adam for the night, but then she realized that he isn't that happy about it, either. They'll be coming to the ranch after brunch tomorrow."

"I'm assuming she gets the master bedroom in the casa again. What's the shooting schedule?"

"We'll only be here the one night. The shooting will begin in Indianapolis on Monday afternoon. We'll be there two days and will be staying at the Hilton Airport. She'll fly out Wednesday night and we'll have most of the pilot on tape. She'll be back on the first and we'll do any pickup scenes we need for the final editing that weekend."

"So we're on-target for the presentation Thanksgiving week?" I asked.

"Ready as we'll ever be."

It was one of the best-smelling days in the kitchen that we'd ever had. Of course, Mary and the triplets had prepared pie crusts and pumpkin filling in advance because the pie I put in the oven would need nearly an hour of baking time. We'd pull out pies that were already cooked to serve the results. We were making enough pies for the whole clan. The same was true of the squash we were baking in the afternoon. As soon as we closed the afternoon show, the girls were putting more stuffed squash in the ovens to feed the casa tonight.