Part 14: Forgiven
"...Well, to continue the story," Gregory said, "Dana I think said something about her and Tracy's bed being squeaky, she asking Dennis if he had his toolbox with him, and if he did would he be willing to look at it for her. Dennis' eyes predictably lit right up with that for several obvious reasons, and of course he offered to help..."
"What man wouldn't though?" Gregory asked rhetorically as almost an afterthought when he saw the look on my face.
...I knew Dana could be quite direct when she wanted something - it was part of her privileged upbringing - but if Gregory's account of the conversation was correct - and I had no reason to doubt this as neither of my friends had interrupted to correct him - she had told both men with remarkably few words that she and Tracy not only shared a bed, but by implication that they did things in that bed that made it squeak enough to be something that needed fixing.
This was more than being direct though, this seemed more like selfish redirection on Dana's part. She wasn't getting all the attention that her very pretty and privileged self had grown accustomed to for the second time in the same day, she then revealing what was supposed to be a secret between both girls in the hope that such would redirect Dennis' attention back toward her and away from me...
"That eventually left you and I down here all alone, and when the bed started squeaking I decided to take you out for a walk as the noise obviously bothered you..."
"...Hold on a moment," I interrupted, "I think I missed something big there."
"He was trying to find a nice way to say that Dana and I went upstairs, with Dennis... well... to show him how our bed squeaked" Tracy clarified.
"REALLY?" I asked incredulously.
"Both of you?" I added a moment later, looking back and forth between them.
"Well, it wasn't one of my prouder moments" Dana confessed in rare form. "But yes, Tracy and I moved around on the bed to show Dennis what it actually took to make our bed squeak, and one thing led to another... Let's just say that Dennis was more than properly compensated for helping us, and we didn't even manage to kill him in the process..."
"I actually thought we might for a little bit there," Tracy added with a mischievous smile.
Gregory for his part looked uncomfortable with the whole conversation, but who could blame him? What were his thoughts on all this? Surely he had a brain, and independent thought. In fact, it didn't seem like he thought with his man bits at all, at least not like most other boys our own age generally did.
The girls had just met Dennis that day, he was a nice guy and all that, but he was still a guy, and I well knew from first hand observation what the girls really liked. That meant that they had used Dennis, that my very pretty but at times shallow friends had used Dennis for their purposes, not even necessarily for their physical needs - which I was obviously sympathetic to lately - but for their purposes.
Dennis had caught my eye, and I his, just as I had Gregory's. It was a lot to process, but both men were drawn toward me first, and not toward my well dressed competition. I was nearly naked and in full submissive pet mode, so one has to grade this interest on a curve of sorts, but the collateral damage to both of my friends egos can't be overstated. And that meant that I had played a part in all this as well, and that meant - at least from their point of view - that I was to blame, and that my friends who had given so much just to get me to this point and place in life would likely expect something extraordinary from me in return to set this right once again between us.
...I already knew that I had allowed myself to become so caught up in all this fantasy adventure so as to forget that it really isn't all about me. This was a painful process, this introspection, made all the more so because my pretty and at times shallow friends had been the ones to teach it to ME. I kept returning to this conclusion time and again in my mind almost like a favorite song overplayed on the radio, it repeated over and over until you end up hating it! I owed them for everything, this experience, this servitude that allowed me to discover who I really was, this nice summerhouse I was a guest in, all out of nothing more that Dana's charity in inviting me, (and of course her as yet properly revealed ulterior motives that had to exist). Some form of punishment would be required, some evil and wicked thing to ensure I never did such a terrible thing again, something never to be forgotten twenty years from now, even though I don't remember clearly actually doing it in the first place!
"I'm sorry," I blurted out, "for everything." Both girls looked my way, shocked, then that was replaced by understanding evident on Dana's face. This absolved everybody involved - with the exception of myself - of all responsibility for my foolish actions. They were after all MY actions, and had I not run away everything would have turned out just fine, even though I didn't do so consciously.
"...I think we both accept YOUR apology," Dana said, beating Tracy's own words from her lips.
"And I think we may agree on another thing now as well" Dana looking towards Tracy when she spoke, the synergy between both girls back on full display. They could almost act as a single mind when they got together on something - sometimes tormenting me - and I found that I missed that element of their character, as odd as that sounds.
"Care to enlighten me?" Gregory asked, joining back up with the conversation.
"A pet is horribly impractical for two girls like us..." Dana told Gregory, "...at least at this stage of our lives." Tracy added as if taking our friends side and finishing her sentence for her.
"...And for purely selfish reasons of my own, a live in maid instead means I would have more time for the things I want to do, or even need to do if we can work this out here" Tracy added. "It's all quite logical really, and practical."
"Yes, they are a lot of work, but with all the help we received from the club in finding your missing pet on such short notice we are committed by good manners to at least ONE show."
"When is the next one?" Dana asked.
"Conveniently enough in the fall." Gregory answered, meaning we would be coming back to the summerhouse again, and that I would be displayed and shown by all three at least once. How we would make that work out before we all went our separate ways to college would be a trick, but not my responsibility. But why was this "conveniently enough"?
I felt both terrified and excited, but also resolved to do it. Gregory then going into detail about what one does at a show, and the number of people who could potentially be there. I would have the most "skin in the game" obviously, but overall the easiest job of all of us as I would have little more to do but follow the orders I was given. This is something I knew I could do, in fact I got off on it, but my friends would obviously have to ensure that under no circumstances could I possibly escape again.
I owed my friends for everything, but this was more than just paying the bill I had run up to date, I was grateful for everything they had done for, and to me. To me that's a completely different frame of mind, and this freshly grateful, (and humbled) servant wanted to show this in the most selfless fashion possible. I wanted to gift myself to them for whatever purpose, or period of time they wanted, and if they wanted to lend me to handsome and charming Gregory for the same, that was more than fine with me...
"I don't remember any of this... not really" I corrected.
"Well I was there," Gregory informed me.
"To get back to what happened, I took you out on the leash and everything was fine, then letting you off of it once a little ways into the trails so you could stretch your legs... and you rewarded me by bolting into the woods like a rocket. You’re impossibly fast on all fours by the way. This in fact gave you an advantage, you were down low and able to get under the heavy brush, your concealed escape an all but forgone conclusion at that point."
"... And your pet club friends helped to find me, and then return me home again?"
"Yes, something like that."
"Have you girls thought about the offer I presented?" Gregory looked not my way, but towards Dana and Tracy when he spoke and altered the flow of the conversation.
... Gregory seemed to be jumping around, or was just in a hurry to finish talking about my missing time adventure?
"We haven't had the time to discuss it in detail," Dana answered for the pair, I suspecting the subject of this ominous offer, but here I couldn't have been more wrong...
"What offer ma'am?" I asked boldly, thinking the ‘offer’ had to be me in one form or another. Could I tip the scales with my friends and encourage this offer if it included Gregory?
"Time is short on this one if you want to get it done this year" Gregory pushed, his tone as well saying something else.
"Very well then, I know you're right" Dana announced in defeated fashion, "but first I have to talk with my parents, in fact we all do..."