Page 72 of He Who Sleeps

"Yeah, where do we sign up for the sex parties?" Victoria demanded.

“In your cities? I don’t know.” She laughed and shook her head. “But honestly, you guys would get into something like this? Really? I thought you were one man kinda girls.”

Carlee scoffed. “You kidding? College I was less into dudes and more into girls.” She grinned. “Though I did enjoy the occasional orgy, and before you even disapprove, Fi, they weren’t with the shitty jocks. Goth boys had all the skills.”

"Lay off it," Fiona snapped. "I don't have a problem with fucking around, or with orgies for that matter. I've done my fair share of non-vanilla snacking. You don't get to judge me as a prude because I'm worried that one of our best friends let some guy she only met a couple of times stick needles into her. I'm allowed to be worried, and frankly I'm concerned that you aren't."

"Hey, now," Victoria soothed. "No one is saying you're a prude—"

"That's exactly what Carlee was just implying!" Fiona interrupted her. "She literally just said 'before you disapprove.' We're not just talking about sex here. Needles have consequences. I couldn't care less who you fuck around with or how many dicks you want to take at a time or in which holes, but the minute you start introducing foreign bodies into the organ designed to protect you from infections, you should all be asking questions. You wouldn't go to some skeezy back-street piercing parlor, would you?"

"Sometimes I forget you're a biologist," Victoria admitted. "I don't think you're a prude, and I'm sure the others don't, either." She gave the camera a quelling look. "We know you're just looking out for Petra."

“Leo owns a pharmaceutical company,” she offered. “He’s working on some amazing things having to do with depression. He knows about skin, and blood, and needles. I wouldn’t ever let someone touch me if they didn’t know what they were doing.”

"That's all you had to say," Fiona said, nodding. "That's okay then. So...this birthday weekend? Where are they taking you?"

"Yeah, and will there be cell service?" Victoria asked. "Just in case..."

“Leo didn’t say. It’s supposed to be a surprise.” She smiled. “It’s our first big time together, all of us. It’s Emerson’s birthday, and he and Leo are the ones that made the plans. I’m really excited about it. I mean, spending time with them for a few days without jobs in the way. Leo and I run each morning, and I get to see Finn at work, but...”

"Wait, you work with these guys?" Victoria's jaw dropped. "They're just...out there normalling...like the normal people?"

“Yes, they are normal people.” She shook her head. “Easton is an artist, Finn is actually the accountant for the gallery. Carter? He’s actually the head of Animal Control, and Kendrix is a brilliant spinal surgeon for animals,” she said proudly.

"That's..." Fiona frowned but bit back whatever she'd been about to say. "Small world..." Victoria shook her head wonderingly. "It's almost as though it was fate or destiny or some romantic shit like that."

“Fate...” Carlee said. “I never discount fate. But were they there before you knew them?”

“Honestly, not all of them,” she said. “Finn had worked with me, but we never interacted. Same with Easton, since you know in the beginning I never really saw or spoke to any of the artists. Jack started going to yoga at some point after we met. Same with Leo and me running together. Carter and Rix, I never once met them beforehand, though I had spoken to Carter on the phone. I didn’t know him, never met him before. And Kendrix, I didn’t know him at all before this, though I knew of him, the director of the shelter claiming he was a boon to the shelter, helping them.”

"None of this makes any sense." Fiona sighed. "These guys are all regularly in your life, but you only all get together once a year until now?"

"And how the fuck did you keep a straight face when you walked into work after the first fuckfest and realized you'd been nailing the accountant?" Victoria was back to hysterical screeching. "Oh my god! I'd have died!"

“You gotta learn to play the game. I mean it wouldn’t do if Lorne knew...” She smirked, throwing aside the fact that they were masked when it happened. “And Finn has the blaspheming kink.”

"When do we get to meet them?" Fiona asked, still subdued. "Will they be around when we get home for Christmas?"

“Unfortunately, no. They go back to the school they attended and grew up at for the solstice, but it’s possible they might be here,” she offered. “I was told that New Year’s I have plans...”

"Then perhaps a virtual get-together," Fiona pushed. "If these guys are everything you say they are to you, you'll want them to meet your best friends."

“Of course I want that, I just don’t want them interrogated,” she teased. “You guys are my family, not just my friends. I just want everything perfect when it happens. Right now we are trying to figure out this dynamic on a more permanent level, and what we mean to each other, you know?” She smiled. “And I know it’s different, and isn’t something people would largely accept, but it makes sense for us.”

Carlee nodded. “When you are ready... But we want pictures...”

“Pictures of what?”

“Dicks, of course!”

"No thanks." Victoria's face screwed up. "I don't mind hearing about them, or who has the biggest one, but I don't need pictures."

"Agreed. I've had enough dick pics for a lifetime," Fiona shook her head. "Besides, when we do meet them I don't want to know what their schlongs look like. That would just make everything awkward."

“You sure? I could send a worksheet of dicks and pictures and see if you can match the dick with the guy?”

Victoria snorted. "While that sounds hilarious, maybe we'll save it for your bachelorette party."

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