Dan looked up when the bell over the door rang. It was during the middle of the evening rush. He looked over at Cory and said, "Pour a mug of root beer for my friend."
"Sure," Cory said getting out a frosted mug from the freezer.
Waving to Tom, Dan shouted, "Get your root beer and order a pizza."
Tom gestured to the two women who were with him and said, "I've got two friends with me."
"Well, bring them over here so that they can order something too," Dan said with a grin. The two women with Tom were very attractive. Dan couldn't help but think that Tom had done pretty well in the girlfriend department. Glancing over at Cory, he said, "Add two more root beers."
Tom walked over to the pizza station followed by the two women. One of the women appeared to be more interested in the mural than in meeting Dan. As he approached the counter, the kid behind it was holding out three frosty mugs of root beer. Tom asked, "Are those for me?"
"Yes they are," Cory said.
"Excellent," Tom said. He grabbed them and handed one each to the women with him. Winking at Amanda, he said, "This is heaven. You walk in the door and they greet you with a root beer. Can it get any better than that?"
Amanda rolled her eyes and said, "You don't act that excited when I greet you with a kiss."
Dan laughed at the comment and said, "Let me finish cooking a couple of these pizzas and I'll join you over at the table."
Unimpressed by what she had seen of Dan, Terry looked over at Tom and said, "So this is the famous Dan we've heard so much about?"
"Yes," Tom answered.
"He doesn't look like much," Terry said with a frown. She glared at Amanda when the other woman nudged her. She wasn't too happy about how this entire trip was turning out.
"He greeted you with a frosty mug of root beer. You can't get a better hello than that," Tom said glaring over at Terry.
"This is a nice place," Amanda said gesturing around the pizzeria.
Ignoring Terry's remark, Dan said, "Thanks. The first order of business is to order a pizza. You might want to check out the mural while it is cooking."
"How does this work?" Terry asked looking at the pizza station. It reminded her of an ice cream parlor. For the first time since leaving Austin, she was actually interested in something.
Having heard that question hundreds of times, Cory said, "If you want a pizza or calzone, you tell me what you want on it and I prepare it for you. Dan will cook it and then one of the waitresses will bring it over to the table for you. If you don't feel like a pizza, then you can have anything else off the menu."
"Oh. I want a pizza with everything on it," Terry said as Tom and Amanda shared a look.
Cory asked, "Personal size?"
"Sure," Terry said.
Cory bent to the task of making the pizza. Despite herself, Terry enjoyed watching him build her pizza. When it came time to add black olives, she said, "A little extra on those."
"Heavy on the black olives," Cory said as he reached over and grabbed some more olives.
Dan removed a medium pizza from the oven and put it on a pizza tray. He turned to call one of the waitresses over, but Cathy was already there. She picked up the tray and said, "I've got it."
"Thanks," Dan said. He turned back to the oven and removed another pizza. This one went into a box and then into the warmer. He called over to where one of the delivery people was seated, "The delivery pizza is ready."
The man came over and picked up the warmer. He glanced down at the address and said, "Another pizza for the coder."
"That guy orders one every night," Dan said. About three weeks earlier, a guy at a little internet place started ordering pizzas every night. Seven nights a week he called with the same order. Dan added, "Take a bottle of soda for him. Tell him it is compliments of the store."
"At least he tips," the man said as he left the store carrying the warmer and a bottle of soda.
Cory handed Dan a paddle with Terry's personal pizza on it. Dan slid it into the oven and said, "Ask Sandra to take over for me."
"I'm here," Sandra said startling Dan.
"Sorry," Dan said stepping back. Cory was holding out a paddle with another personal pizza on it. It suddenly seemed a little crowded behind the counter.
"Got it," Sandra said taking the paddle. She slid Amanda's pizza into the oven with ease and nudged Dan out of the way with her hip. It was normal for her to get him away from the oven using that little hip nudge.
Getting the hint that he wasn't needed any longer, Dan went over to the soda fountain and poured a mug of root beer. He stepped out from behind the counter and made his way over to where his friend was requesting pepperoni on his pizza. Tom finished his order and raised his mug. With a smile on his face, he said, "It's good to see you."
Dan tapped mugs with Tom and said, "It is good to see you, Tom."
"Allow me to introduce you to Amanda and Terry," Tom said.
Turning to the two women, Dan said, "It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Tom has told us so much about you," Amanda said glancing over at Terry. Her lover had suddenly found something interesting to look at on the mural. She wanted to hit Terry.
"All lies, I'm sure," Dan said with a smile.
Tom nudged him in the side and said, "When the truth won't do, you have to lie."
Dan and Tom laughed at the joke as the foursome went over to a table. Once they had all taken a seat, Tom asked, "How's business?"
"Business is good. I'm ahead of my business plan and the business is still growing. I can't complain," Dan said with more than a little pride evident in his voice.
"That's great," Tom said pleased to hear that things were going well for his friend. He gestured to Terry and said, "She's a business major at UT."
"Oh, that's great. Maybe we'll have a chance to talk and you can give me some advice," Dan said looking at Terry.
"Yeah, sure," Terry said looking around at the pizzeria. She didn't think that what she had learned was going to be of much value to a little place like this.
Seeing that his attempt to get Terry out of her bad mood wasn't working, Tom asked, "How are your girlfriends?"
"They are great. Alison came back this morning from college and is moving in with us. Ann's mural business is picking up and Sally is thinking of going back to school," Dan answered.
Amanda stared at Dan wondering how he managed to juggle three women. Tom hadn't told her about that. All he had said was that Dan's relationship with the three women was almost as complicated as theirs. She looked over at Terry, but the other woman was lost in her own world of thoughts.
Tom asked, "How do the four of you fit in that little apartment?"
Dan laughed and said, "We moved into Ellen's house."
"You did?" Tom asked surprised by the news. Ellen hadn't mentioned that when she had talked about moving out of it. He glanced at Terry and then back at Dan thinking that he may have found a solution for his little problem with Terry.
"Yes. Ellen moved in with James Vic and leased the house to us. It was really sudden the way it happened," Dan answered. They had been living there for just more than a week, but he found that it had been a very good decision. He often took a swim in the pool on returning home from work and had a short workout in the morning in the gym.
Tom leaned forward and said, "Is there any chance that you could take Terry in for a little while? The only place that she has to stay at is my parent's house and she isn't all that wild about the idea."
"Why wouldn't she want to stay at your parent's house?" Dan asked with a frown.
Rolling his eyes, Tom answered, "She's a lesbian and is afraid that my parents will throw her out when they discover that."
"You son of a bitch," Terry said in a low growl.
"What's the matter?" Tom asked looking over at Terry.
"Nothing," Terry said getting up from the table. She had to get out of there before she hit Tom.
Dan watched her storm out of the pizzeria. He looked over at Amanda and could see the indecision on her face. He could tell that she wanted to go after Terry. It was obvious to him that the two women were lovers. He wondered how Tom had managed to get into such a complicated relationship.
Looking over at Amanda, Tom asked, "Did I say something wrong?"
Amanda glared at Tom and said, "No, asshole. You outted her in front of a stranger."
"Amanda, I didn't mean anything wrong. Dan understands these things," Tom said frustrated. Terry had been perfectly horrible during the entire drive from Austin. She had complained about everything. He had stopped at the pizzeria hoping that she'd cool down before taking her to meet his parents.
Dan said, "Let me go talk to her."
Knowing Terry better than anyone, Amanda was pretty sure that Terry would bite Dan's head off. She said, "No, don't. I'll talk to her."
Dan waved a hand at her and said, "Don't worry about it. I'll talk to her."
"She's mad," Amanda said.
"Don't worry about it," Dan said rising from the table.
"Let him talk to her," Tom said taking Amanda's hand. He hoped that Dan could save the situation.
When he stepped outside, Dan didn't see any sign of Terry. He looked around and then heard a quiet sobbing sound from around the corner. He went over to the corner and found Terry seated on the curb crying. In a soft voice, he said, "Tom didn't mean to hurt your feelings."
"He's a fucking bastard. I hate him," Terry said.
Dan shook his head and said, "You're just upset because he told me you're a lesbian."
"No. I really hate him," Terry said. She cursed the day that he had entered Amanda's life.
"Oh," Dan said taking a seat next on the curb next to her. He asked, "Do you want to tell me why?"
"No," Terry said. She wiped her eyes and tried to keep from crying. She hated crying in front of a stranger.
"That's your right," Dan said. He glanced over at her and said, "I'd like to take you out for a drink after I close up shop."
"You've got to be kidding me," Terry said looking over at Dan. She couldn't believe the guy was trying to pick her up after learning that she was a lesbian.
"No. A couple friends of mine own a lesbian bar. I thought you might want to talk to one of them," Dan answered with a shrug of his shoulders.
"I've got a girlfriend," Terry said in a low growl.
"I figured that out based on the way Amanda reacted when Tom mentioned that you were a lesbian," Dan said in a matter of fact voice. He shook his head and said, "You love Amanda and Amanda loves you. Tom loves Amanda and Amanda loves Tom. Tom likes you and you hate Tom."
"Yeah," Terry said. She looked at Dan surprised that he had figured out the dynamics of her relationship so quickly.
"That's a tough relationship. That's a little more complicated than my relationship with my girlfriends."
She asked, "So what is so complicated about your relationship?"
"Well, Ann and Sally love each other. They also love me and I love them. Alison loves me and I love her. All three of the women like each other, but Alison is straight while Ann and Sally are bisexual," Dan said. He shrugged his shoulders and said, "At least they like each other."
Terry asked, "What makes you so special that you have three girlfriends?"
"I don't know," Dan answered looking over at her. He'd been asked that question too many times and had never come up with an answer.
Having expected him to give her some macho bullshit line, Terry stared at Dan. When he shrugged his shoulders, she said, "You're serious."
"Right. I've never understood how I ended up in this situation," Dan said.
"So you know a lot of lesbians?" Terry asked.
"Yes," Dan answered. He rose from the curb and said, "You're pizza should be done by now. It tastes best when it is hot."
Terry rose from the curb and followed Dan into the pizzeria. She didn't quite know what to make of him. She decided that Tom hadn't thought he was doing anything wrong by telling Dan that she was a lesbian. Of course, that didn't mean that she had forgiven him. He had promised that he'd find her a place to live.
After getting home from work, Dan walked out to the pool area and sat down in one of the chairs. He looked over at Tom taking in the miserable expression on his friends face. He asked, "What are you doing out here?"
"I'm in trouble," Tom said shrugging his shoulders. He had been sitting there ever since they had arrived at the house. It seemed like he had spent five minutes visiting with Dan's girlfriends and then he was sent out of the house.
"So I gathered," Dan said. As soon as he had arrived at home, Alison had kissed him and then sent him out to the pool to talk with Tom. Shaking his head, he said, "You know better than to tell people that she's a lesbian. It is her choice to decide who knows about her sexual preferences."
"I know that, but I was talking to you," Tom said gesturing in Dan's direction. He glanced back at the house and said, "It slipped out when I was talking to Ann, Sally, and Alison."
"How did that happen?" Dan asked.
"Alison could see that Terry was angry at me and asked me what I did to piss her off," Tom answered. He rolled his eyes and shock his head at the memory of what he had done.
Dan nodded his head and said, "You explained that you had told me that Terry was a lesbian."
"Right," Tom said. As soon as the words had left his mouth, he had known that he had made a mistake. Terry's reaction wasn't as bad this time as it had been with Dan. He shook his head and said, "You are so much better at this relationship stuff than I am."
"No, I'm just as clueless about women as every other man. I'm just luckier that the women in my life don't have great expectations. They settle for nice," Dan said.
Tom laughed at the part about expectations and said, "The weird thing is that I really do want things to work out between Amanda and Terry. I see how much those two love each other. Amanda would be miserable without Terry in her life."
"I kind of figured that out," Dan said. If you knew what to look for it wasn't difficult to see how the two women felt about each other. When Terry thought no one was looking, she'd look over at Amanda with this little satisfied smile of contentment. Amanda was always reaching over to touch Terry.
Tom asked, "Do you think that Terry will be able to stay here with you?"
"I don't know. It all depends on the three women in there," Dan said looking back at the house wondering what was being discussed by the five women. He and Tom were seriously outnumbered. He asked, "Have you been by your parents?"
"Not yet," Tom said. He had called them and let them know that he was going to be out late. He still had to drop Amanda off at her house. Based on what Amanda said about her father, he wasn't looking forward to meeting the man. He glanced at his watch and hoped that her father wouldn't be too upset.
"Oh," Dan said. He looked around and asked, "Where's your root beer?"
"I don't have one," Tom said. His exile had not included any root beer. As far as he was concerned, that was a crime against nature; cruel and unusual punishment of the worst kind.
"I'll be right back with one for you," Dan said.
"Thanks," Tom said with a smile.
Dan went inside and got a root beer for Tom from the kitchen. He passed through the living room in time to hear Alison ask, "Why is it that every woman that Dan knows has sex with women?"
Grinning, Dan answered, "They take one look at me and give up on men entirely."
Surprised to find that Dan was standing behind her, Ann said, "That's not true. Ellen is straight."
"She's the exception that proves the rule," Dan said with a wink.
Sally laughed and said, "Poor Dan. He's surrounded by women and so few of them want anything to do with a man."
"It is true," Alison said.
"You're saying that he knows a lot of lesbians?" Terry asked. She hadn't believed him when he had said that earlier.
"Tons," Alison said rolling her eyes. She figured that he knew half of the lesbians in town and the rest knew of him by reputation.
"You don't approve?" Terry asked looking rather pointedly at Alison.
"It is not a matter of approving or not. Physics is King, Biology is Queen, and their rule is absolute. It just seems strange to me that every woman he knows is into women. If they aren't lesbian, then they are bisexual," Alison said with a shrug of her shoulders. Too many of them had hit on her, but none had been particularly aggressive about it. She could live with that.
"What does that mean?" Terry asked.
"What does what mean?" Alison asked confused by the question.
"The stuff about physics and biology," Terry answered.
"It is a fact of life," Dan answered. He looked at Terry with a quizzical expression on his face and asked, "Didn't Tom give you the three articles to read?"
"Yes," Terry answered.
"Did you read them?" Ann asked knowing that if she hadn't recognized one of the facts of life that she couldn't have read all three articles.
"No," Terry answered.
Shaking her head, Sally said, "You should."
Nodding her head, Ann said, "I'd read them tonight if I were you."
"You definitely need to read them," Alison said. She wondered how anyone could become successful without knowing the material in the articles. The advantages of actually learning them in a well presented format over learning them by experience were tremendous. It would take a lifetime to learn them through experience and by then it would be too late to take advantage of that knowledge.
Terry sat back in her chair and stared at everyone in the room. Shaking her head, she asked, "What's so damned important about those articles anyway?"
Holding up the root beer, Dan said, "Tell her while I keep Tom company. He has been without root beer for too long."
Watching the root beer pass by, Amanda said, "The appearance of root beer must mean that his punishment is about to end."
As the discussion ramped up, Dan went out to the pool. He tossed the root beer to Tom and said, "They are trying to convince Terry to read the articles."
"I've been trying to get her to read them ever since I met her," Tom said. He was convinced that she wouldn't read them just because he was the one who suggested it. He opened the plastic bottle of root beer and took a sip. As the cool liquid eased his parched throat, it dawned on him that Amanda hadn't read them either.
Looking over at his friend, Dan said, "I have the feeling that she doesn't like you very much."
"She doesn't hate me. I'd almost say that she likes me except when I do something stupid. The problem is that she thinks I'm taking Amanda away from her. That is a source of a little hostility, but it isn't too bad," Tom said. Amanda and Terry had been a couple before Tom had asked Amanda out for a real date. Tom had been ignorant about Terry being important in her life. Terry had wanted a situation that would keen him separated from the other two. She had accepted his invitation for that date and several others before he learned about Terry. The initial meeting of Tom and Terry had not been under the best circumstances. It was marginally worse that Dan meeting Terry for the firs time.
"You aren't?"
"No. I'd like to see the three of us become a family of sorts," Tom said. He didn't know the word for the kind of relationship they would have. He just liked the idea of the three of them facing the world together. Intuitively he felt that they could achieve anything they wanted if they worked together.
"I take it that there have been no discussions about you and Amanda having a threesome with her," Dan said with a wry smile. He could imagine what kind of reaction Tom would get to that particular suggestion.
"I'm not an idiot," Tom said looking over at Dan. He took a sip of his root beer and thought about how Terry would react to that suggestion. It took him a second to realize that Dan was teasing him. He laughed and said, "That would be an invitation to a rather quick and bloody vasectomy."
"It would solve your birth control problems," Dan said with a smile.
Laughing, Tom shifted in his chair. He took a drink of his root beer realizing how much he had missed chatting with Dan like this. He said, "You might not believe this, but I actually like Terry a lot. I know that she hasn't made a very good impression so far, but she is a nice lady. She is a very smart woman and has a 4.0 GPA."
"So do you," Dan said.
"She's one of the smartest women that I've ever met. She's also very ambitious. She's driven to succeed. There are times when you sense this hunger in her to be more than she is. You just want to stand back and watch her take on the world knowing that she's going to win," Tom said looking down at the patio.
Dan said, "It sounds to me like she doesn't know how to have fun."
"She knows how to have fun. When she relaxes, she's a very funny person who can play word games that are an absolute delight. She doesn't let go around me very often, but when she does I really enjoy being around her," Tom said. He shook his head and said, "The only time she relaxes is around Amanda. You could say that Amanda brings out the best in her."
"Are you jealous of their relationship?" Dan asked studying his face for any clue that would suggest he was feeling something different than what he was saying.
"No. She really cares about Amanda and can help Amanda in ways that I can't. Being jealous of something like that is stupid," Tom answered.
"It seems to me that for both of you it is all about making Amanda happy," Dan said. He didn't know what kind of basis for a relationship that was. The Pursuit of Happiness talked about all kinds of relationships and not pressing one beyond its limits. It didn't put limits on the variety of relationship that people would adopt.
"Yes it is," Tom said with a nod of his head.
"Tell me about Amanda," Dan said.
"Amanda and I were lab partners in our organic chemistry class. She's smart as a whip. She's a biology major with a 4.0 GPA," Tom said.
"It seems to me that there are a lot of 4.0 GPAs at your university. You, Terry, and Amanda all have 4.0 GPAs," Dan said with a grin.
"No. I doubt there are more than a dozen of us who've made it through their sophomore years with that kind of GPA," Tom said. He hadn't really thought about how unusual it was for the three of them to have perfect GPAs. He thought that they should start calling themselves, "The Brain Trio."
"So she's not only beautiful, she's smart," Dan said.
"One of the professors said that she was going to go places with her mind. I believe him. She thinks things about biology that really blow me away. I really enjoyed working with her in our class. Although it is too easy to say, she's got better work habits than me," Tom said. When he had come to the party for the opening of the pizzeria, he hadn't even thought of asking out Amanda. On his return to Austin, he had looked around and realized that he already knew the perfect girl.
"Sounds like a resume rather than a description of someone you love," Dan said wryly.
"She's sexy as hell. She's beautiful, smart, funny, and driven. She's really giving and well... she is everything that I'm not. I love her. I can't explain it," Tom said with a sigh.
"It sounds to me like you have it bad," Dan said. He had never seen Tom like this.
Tom shrugged his shoulders and said, "I'd like to stay in Amanda's life, but I don't think it is too likely to happen. I'll probably blow it. You saw what happened at the pizzeria. My stupid mouth ruined a perfectly good chance for you and her to be friends. If I don't figure out how to get along with Terry, then one day Amanda will have to choose between us. I'd like to keep Terry in Amanda's life since she is probably a better choice for Amanda."
"I kind of get the feeling that Terry doesn't like men," Dan said looking into the pool.
"That's not entirely true. She doesn't have sex with men, but she doesn't hate men," Tom said. He had a feeling that she avoided men to avoid the complications of their sexual advances. He said, "To tell the truth, I'd like to have Terry in my life, too. I like how she treats Amanda. Of course, she's not really interested in being friends with me. She'd always suspect that I want to take her to bed. I mean, how can I convince her that a relationship between us wouldn't need to be anything sexual? That's impossible. It is a shame."
"No, it is not impossible. You take the relationship to where it is to go and don't press it more than that," Dan said looking over at Tom.
Terry had been listening to the conversation from the time when Tom had first mentioned that he liked her. It was the first time that she'd ever really listened to Tom's take on the situation. Despite the fact that she had never treated Tom very well, she realized that he respected her, understood her, and considered her feelings regarding Amanda. More important to her was that he really did want the best for Amanda. She felt her throat was constricted. She cleared her throat and said, "It's time we got Amanda home. Her father is going to have a fit."
While rising from his seat, Tom said, "Okay. Are you staying here?"
"No. I'll stay at your parents' house," Terry answered. She figured that would give her a little time to get to know Tom a little better. After talking to Ann and Sally she was convinced that his parents wouldn't throw her out of the house because of her sexual preference.
"Oh, great," Tom said hoping that it didn't turn into a disaster.
"If it doesn't work out, I'll talk to Ann and Sally," Terry said. She glanced over at Dan and added, "and Dan."
Dan stood up and said, "I'm off of work tomorrow night. Why don't you three come by for the evening? Bring your swimsuits."
"Sounds like a plan," Tom said. He looked over at Terry and said, "Of course, I'll have to ask Amanda and Terry what they think about the idea."
"Smart man," Dan said with a grin.
Lazlo Zalezac