OFG Ch 430-434 (Patreon)

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Chapter 430

Rolling out of bed, you groaned a little as you sat up and blinked, then grinned as Gemma reached over and took your hand.

“It’s too early,” she groaned.

“Not if I’m going to make you breakfast, love,” you said, leaning back over and kissing the corner of her lips. She hadn’t even opened her eyes yet.

“Fiiine,” she groaned softly. “Set my alarm for five more minutes.”

You smirked and little and did that for her, kissing her fingers before letting go of her hand. Then you got up and stretched, feeling your shoulders and neck ache a little. Last night had been… energetic.

Finding a pair of your shorts, you slipped them on without bothering with underwear and headed out and across the hall from Gemma’s room to the washroom. It had been a calculated risk, coming back to Gemma’s after the night of bowling with Becca and Charlotte. Sabrina didn’t have any fresh outfits left at Gemma’s and had needed to make a call home that evening anyway, so she’d gone back to her place solo while you, Gemma, Becca and Charlotte had flirted your way back to theirs.

The bathroom was unoccupied so you relieved yourself quickly and then splashed some water on your face. You and Gemma had showered after the sex last night, so you weren’t feeling gross, but the cold water still helped wake you up a bit more. From there you washed your hands and then headed towards the kitchen to start looking to make breakfast, but when you got there you found Becca already started, a frying pan on the stovetop and a carton of eggs out.

“Morning,” you said with a smirk as you walked in.

She glanced back over her shoulder at you and smirked right back. She was wearing panties and an apron and that was it. The look of her bare back was sexy, and her nicely toned legs and ass looked very grabbable.

“Morning, stud,” she said. “Sounds like you put in the good work last night.”

“Sounded like you were doing the same,” you said with a grin. “What was it you were calling Charlotte last night? Love-slave?”

Becca snorted and shook her head as she turned back to the first round of scrambled eggs she was frying. “Yeah, she was in a pretty subby mood last night after all the flirting. But then, you were calling Gemma your ‘anal queen’ so that isn’t much better.”

“To be fair,” you said. “I only had a couple of fingers in there.”

“Good to know,” Becca laughed.

You’d waited long enough, joking and chatting, ignoring what you wanted to do. So you got closer to her, easing up right behind her and softly running the fingertips of both your hands from the back of her bare thighs and up her panty-clad ass, then up her sides. She groaned, leaning back against you, and you took the invitation to slide your hands behind her apron and grab her tits. That just made her groan again as she breathed deeply, pressing them up at your hands.

“Naughty boy,” she sighed out.

“Shush,” you said softly, right next to her ear before kissing it. “You knew exactly what you were doing, dressing like this.”

“I did,” she smirked. “You were flirting with me all fucking night last night but did grope me once.”

“It felt wrong to do right in front of Charlotte,” you said. “Whether you were OK with it or not. I’m not looking to blow her up.” You had found Becca’s nipples and were rolling them between your fingers, tugging on them lightly.

“That’s fair,” Becca groaned. “The flirting definitely got her in the mood, but I’m not sure you grabbing my tits in the middle of a bowling alley would have helped with that.”

“Probably not,” you growled softly, letting go of one of her breasts and sliding your hand down her stomach.

“Is that still groping?” she asked.

“Are you asking me to stop?” you asked back.

She shook her head and your fingers trailed down under the waistband of her panties, through her sparse bush, finding the little nub of her clit hood and then her labia. “Fuck,” she exhaled, rotating her hips and little to alternately press her ass back against your hard cock in your shorts and your fingers on her. She wasn’t super wet, but she was a little slick, and you teased her a little as you kissed and nibbled on her ear.

“Having fun, I see,” Gemma said as she came into the kitchen. She was wearing one of your T-shirts, no bra underneath, and just a pair of panties herself.

“He’s playing dirty,” Becca grumbled with a smirk.

“He can play dirtier,” Gemma said, coming right up and bending her chin up for a kiss that you gave her. Then she reached between you and pulled down Becca’s panties to her knees before sliding your shorts down and taking out your cock. She pressed your cock against Becca’s cheeks. “Use her cheeks and thighs, love,” she said. “No penetration though.”

“Oh, you cunt,” Becca laughed.

Gemma leaned in and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Perfect usage, babe,” she chuckled.

You, meanwhile, started humping your cock between Becca’s cheeks as she tried to focus on cooking. She pressed her ass back against you and even twerked it a little, shooting you grins over her shoulder as you switched up where you were holding her. Sometimes by the hips, sometimes the waist, and sometimes her tits.

Eventually, you needed a bit more stimulation and you scooped your hips lower, pressing your cock between Becca’s thighs. That made her groan as your cock pressed against her outer labia. Gemma, who had been helping get breakfast together around the two of you, snorted softly and winked at you.

Breakfast, unfortunately, was ready before you popped. Gemma wasn’t going to leave you in need, however, and she braced her hands against the table and arched her back as she pushed down her own panties. “Come finish in me, love,” she said. “Becca got you nice and warmed up for me.”

“Bitch!” Becca sighed, half in frustration and half in amusement.

You walked your hard cock over to Gemma and it only took a moment for you to press your cock into her, both of you moaning in pleasure. You were close enough that it only took you a couple of minutes slow-stroking into your girlfriend that you popped, your balls aching and your cock shuddering rhythmically as you pumped your load into her pussy.

Becca, who had been sitting in her chair at the table and fingering herself as she watched, hadn’t quite gotten there herself.

“You have two options,” Gemma said as you pulled out of her, panting from your orgasm. “You can either eat your breakfast, or you can lick his taste out of my pussy while you finger yourself.”

Becca’s jaw dropped open a little, and you were pretty sure you knew what her answer would be, but the sound of Charlotte opening their door down the hall cut the sexual tension. Both of them pulled up their panties, and you pulled up your shorts, wincing at the fact that you hadn’t had a chance to clean yourself off at all.

None of you wanted to rub what was happening in Charlotte’s face even if she and Becca weren’t dating or exclusive.

Chapter 431

“You guys are so fucking mean,” Sabrina giggled.

Even with the sit-down breakfast, you and Gemma made it into the office relatively early and Sabrina was right on your heels. Without Eric there, or anyone else in your part of the office, you’d been able to give Sabrina a proper good morning kiss and then fill her in on what she’d missed since last night.

“Becca was pretty much humping her chair as we were eating, and dragged Charlotte back to their room afterwards,” Gemma chuckled. “The other side of things, though - I think we’ve entered a Cold War with Lucy. She knew we were all there last night, but didn’t start any shit. I’m pretty sure she locked herself in her room all night.”

“What a baby,” Sabrina sighed.

“Better that than a raging bitchmonster,” you said. “I would be perfectly happy with the Cold War lasting until you leave, Gemma. We should probably try not to antagonise her, yeah?”

Gemma made a face. She was the one who was the most pissed at Lucy after whatever it was she’d said about you during their last fight - neither Sabrina nor Gemma was telling you what it was, but apparently it was bad.

“Gemma,” you said. “No sparking World War Three. Or fighting proxy wars.”

“What if I just do one proxy war,” Gemma said, then smirked a little.

You rolled your eyes, but couldn’t continue the conversation because Eric came in with his arms stacked with the morning coffee orders. It was a particularly big one so you went to help him disperse the drinks. Thursday started out pretty much the same as the last few days - the four of you tried to slam through as much work as possible in the queue so that Sabrina could pivot to the Mock Trial prep. The four of you were supposed to make your case on Monday, so you only really had four days left.

After a fast lunch from the bodega down on the first floor, the four of you were just easing back into work when Garrison came and made his second appearance of the day, having checked in quickly earlier.

“Eric, come down to my office,” was all he said.

Eric shot the three of you a worried look before getting up and nervously leaving the conference room.

“Guesses?” you asked Gemma and Sabrina.

“Worst case is he’s fired,” Sabrina said. “Or suspended or something if it’s bad but not that bad.”

“Or his podcast appearances last weekend have caused more trouble,” Gemma guessed.

“Or maybe they spawned a completely new problem,” you added on. “I mean, he got to ‘maybe seeing’ that one producer girl and also hooked up with that model. Maybe someone is trying to make a case against him for something he didn’t do?”

Sabrina and Gemma both sighed, shaking their heads almost in unison, which made you smile.

“Hopefully not,” Gemma said.

Eric was gone for about thirty minutes before he came back, and his grin looked like it had been stapled onto his face, it was so big.

“So,” you said, raising an eyebrow after glancing at your girlfriends. “What was that about?”

“I cannot legally talk about how I just made $100,000,” Eric said. “Minus legal expenses.”

“Holy shit, he settled for that much?” Sabrina asked.

“I cannot legally talk about how I just made $100,000,” Eric repeated himself, his grin somehow getting even bigger as he sat down at his spot at the table.

“So there’s an NDA,” you guessed. “Which bars you from talking about the settlement or probably anything else with the matter, but they can’t stop you from talking about your own finances.”

“I cannot legally talk about how I just made $100,000,” Eric said again.

“So are you bailing on us for the rest of the summer?” Gemma asked. “Because that’ll really screw up our Mock Trial plans.”

“No, no,” Eric said, shaking his head. “The money is great and is going to help pay for law school without needing as much in student loans, but it’s not fucking retirement money or anything. I still need to do the internship and everything.”

“Good for you,” you said. “And also fuck you for taking that punch.”

Eric laughed, shooting you a grin, and you rolled your eyes and shook your head. The money would have been nice, but not getting punched in the face and knowing that Eric was so loyal even if you weren’t close were both wins, too.

The four of you got back to work, though Eric did slow down his pace as he was celebrating by texting with his parents and, you presumed, spreading the word by not spreading the word to his contacts. The afternoon dragged on and Sabrina got Eric back on track by looping him into the Mock Trial prep instead of the regular intern work - the case was starting to really take shape. You had been informed that certain associates from both your firm and the other one would be acting as witnesses, working from scripts, so you had to submit witness lists for the trial based on the deposition files that were in the case package. Then there were the motions that needed preparing, opening statements to write and practice, and outlines for potential closing statements that could be adapted on the fly. Not to mention the actual presentation of the case.

Dinner that night was Polish food, hearty and full of carbs and meat - pretty much everything was ‘food item wrapped around meat!’ It was all delicious though, and you ended up working straight through until 9 PM.

That was when Gemma closed her laptop and looked across the table at you with a smile.

“Again?” you asked.

“It’s not a date this time,” she said, grinning at you and then at Sabrina. “We just need to go support someone.”

“Oh,” you said. “Tasha and Mosche are both supposed to be at the Comedy Club tonight.”

“You guys are going to a comedy club?” Eric asked, perking up a little. “Can I come?”

“Almost any other night, we’d probably say yes, Eric,” Sabrina said. “But tonight there might be a lot of drama for a couple of our friends. Maybe next week?”

Eric shrugged. “I mean, I’m all for drama if it means I can get punched in the face again.”

You snorted, shaking your head. “Well, that could actually happen depending on which comics are there,” you said, thinking of ‘the Bull Dyke’ interacting with Eric. “But no one there will have the sort of money to be able to make a settlement, so it wouldn’t be worth it.”

Chapter 432

You ended up arriving late for the start of the open mic, so you weren’t sure exactly what had or hadn’t happened beforehand. You also knew that all the comics who weren’t on stage or about to be on stage usually hung out at the back of the club at the tables at the far end of the bar, so you could probably find either Mosche or Tasha there, but you also didn’t know where in the order they might be going up so you didn’t want to distract them from their mental prep for their sets.

Then there was the issue of some of the comics still potentially holding grudges against you and Gemma.

You ended up trying to split the difference and, once you, Gemma and Sabrina were inside the club you texted both Tasha and Mosche that you were there and were at the bar. The only way that could really go wrong was if they both came to meet you at the same time, and the chances of that were probably slim.

Probably.

You ordered drinks for the three of you, just beers since the club really overpriced their cocktails, and Sabrina hopped up on a stool as you stood on one side of her and Gemma stood on the other.

“Want to make bets on which of them comes to find us first?” Sabrina asked.

“I’m thinking Mosche,” you said. “He’ll still be dealing with being ostracised by the other comics so he’s probably alone.”

“You say that, but Tasha is dealing with that shit too,” Gemma said. “How many of the male comics probably think they can get their mitts on her now?”

That thought made you groan and sneer a little at the thought, which then made you pause because Tasha wasn’t yours to be jealous over.

“It’s OK, baby,” Sabrina said, grabbing your hand. “You can be protective of her without feeling guilty.”

You took in a breath and let it out slowly, then took a sip of beer. “I’m just trying to make sure I’m not getting jealous over her,” you admitted.

“Oh, you can be jealous over her too,” Gemma said. “Be protective and jealous until she’s in a place where she wants to find her person. She needs someone to be that way for her.”

“Really?” you asked.

“Isn’t that sort of a bad look? And kind of like bringing her closer into us?”

Sabrina sighed and squeezed your hand. “On Tuesday, if Becks had liked the look of a guy and ended up going home with him instead of us, would you have been jealous?”

You opened your mouth, wanting to say no, but it wasn’t the truth.

“It’s OK to be jealous and protective of women who we’re sleeping with, John,” Sabrina said. “As long as it’s healthy, I don’t think Gemma or I will have a problem with it. You make emotional connections with them when you have the sort of sex we do, and that’s OK. Even romantic ones. The line is blurry, but we’ll know it’s a problem when we see it.”

“Are you sure you’re OK with this too?” you asked Gemma. She was the one who had the past with a fiance with wandering eyes, hands and heart.

“For Becks and Tasha?” Gemma asked. “Absolutely. Mallory is a different story considering she’s married and all - you can’t exactly get protective or jealous over her, and that wouldn’t be healthy. Same with Becca. You can’t get jealous of her being with Charlotte. But Becks and Tasha are our fuck-buddies, which means they are friends that we care about and that we have sex. That’s deeper and a lot more intimate than most friendships. So yeah, I’m fine with it, love.”

“Thanks for spelling it out for me,” you said, smirking just a little.

“Communication, baby,” Sabrina grinned, leaning in to give you a peck on the lips.

Your conversation was interrupted as Tasha came out from around the far end of the bar, looking towards the stage briefly before spotting you guys and coming over with a smile. Gemma met her first, pulling the comedian into a hug, and Sabrina slipped down from her stool and hugged her as well. You were last and you pulled her into a bear hug as you groaned softly. “God, I’d love to kiss you right now,” you whispered to her.

“Fuck,” she sighed. “You can. A small one, just friendly.”

You let her go and leaned in, giving her a quick, split-second kiss that put a smile on her lips as she looked up into your eyes. “Hi, guys,” she said, turning to Sabrina and Gemma.

“We’re here to support you,” Gemma said, looping her arm with Tasha’s. “You haven’t gone on yet, right? We got here a little late from work.”

“No, I’m after the intermission,” Tasha said.

“Is everything going OK?” Sabrina asked. “Any problems?”

Tasha gave a small grimace. “A couple of guys have made passes at me, and I’m expecting a few more before the night is through as they get liquored up. No one’s crossed a line yet but I’m worried that they might and then it’ll be a problem. And Mosche is here with some Asian girl. Is that who he was seeing while ghosting me?”

“Yes,” Gemma said. “Though like I texted you, we had breakfast with her that one morning and it was awkward but she seems sweet. I don’t think she was doing anything on purpose, it’s all on Mosche.”

Sabrina had glanced at you, accepting your silent acknowledgement that she and Gemma had been right about the Tasha Bring Hit On issue. Now she looked back at the dirty blonde woman. “What do you want from us support-wise? We’re here to cheer you on, but if you need a safe spot to not be hit on, we can be that too.”

“Really?” Tasha smirked. “Because I feel like I’ll get hit on way more with you three than from the guys.”

“That might be true,” Gemma grinned. “But you’ll know we mean it in the best way possible.”

Tasha laughed, which was good to hear, and you moved around to slide your arm across her shoulder and give her a side hug without pulling her from Gemma. “The last thing we want is you to feel uncomfortable, from anyone else or us,” you said. “Sabrina is right, just tell us what’s the best way to support you tonight. You’ve got us for anything you need.”

Tasha smiled up at you again, the look in her eyes thankful and sweet. “Cheer and laugh for me,” she said. “I don’t mind if you clap for Mosche too, I know he’s still your roommate. I might hang out with you during intermission too. And have a beer waiting for me after my set so I can just do a little check-in with the other comics and then come over here since you’ll have a drink waiting for me.”

“Done and done,” you said.

“Anything else?” Gemma asked.

“Take me home tonight?” Tasha asked, blushing a little.

“Just ride with you, or ride with you?” Sabrina asked.

Tasha bit her lip, looking at each of you slowly in turn. “Ride with me, if you want?”

“We want,” you assured her. “If you want, we very much want.”

Gemma smiled warmly. “Careful, Tash,” she said. “John sounds like he might go full caveman, throw you over his shoulder and carry you out of here to find his cave.”

“I might just be willing for that to happen,” Tasha grinned. “Thanks, guys.”

Chapter 433

Mosche went up first.

To be fair, the crowd inside the main area near the stage gave him about as much applause as they gave any other comic. You went and stood at the edge of the bar area, under the dimmed-but-not-blacked-out lights, and clapped for him just in case he could see you at the back. He didn’t seem to notice you, but maybe he was just being professional.

The issue for him was that, pretty much as soon as he mounted the stage, you could tell he was even more nervous than usual. It had to be because Iris was in the crowd, maybe seeing his act for the first time. When he was dating Tasha he had someone who understood that a bad set, or even a full-on bombing, was part of the process. Having a bad night didn’t mean you were bad.

You had no fucking clue about Iris’s knowledge of stand-up comedy, and unless she’d been willing to sit through Mosche’s various rants and monologues about the art form… Well, it was entirely possible that a bad performance would cast a shade over their burgeoning relationship.

The good news was that Mosche opened his act with a couple of his stronger jokes, which got some chuckles from the crowd if not full-bellied laughter. You took that opportunity to back off back to the bar, rejoining Gemma and Sabrina. Tasha had slipped back around to the Comics hangout area since part of the whole thing was seeing and being seen by the comics that were doing better. Comedy was, after a certain minimum bar for skill and execution, about contacts. Experienced comics giving younger comics not just advice, but potentially even jobs whether it was opening for them on tour, following them into writer’s rooms for television, or even writing jokes for them.

“Can I be honest?” Sabrina asked you quietly as you re-joined your girlfriends.

“Always, obviously,” you said, sliding an arm around her as she sat on the bar stool.

“I don’t hate Mosche,” Sabrina said. “And I’m not, like, asking you to abandon him to the wolves or whatever. But… he went from being your weird-but-likeable roommate to giving me the major Ick really fast. Like, I don’t want to want to be mean to him, but after being so fucking destructive to Tasha through his social incompetence and insecurities…”

“You feel bad for disliking him so hard, after trying to be friends with him,” Gemma filled in.

“Yes,” Sabrina sighed. “Exactly.”

“I know,” you said. “On the one hand, I know everything that happened with Tasha is bad. But on the other hand, up to that point, I’d always thought he was sort of a funny chapter in my life that I’d be telling stories about down the road. I didn’t think we’d stay in contact, but I also thought if I ever ran into him sometime, or if he really did get famous and went on tour or something, I would want to grab a beer with him. And he’s still that guy, but with his body weight in baggage.”

“I think you’re both being too soft on him,” Gemma said, then held up her hands defensively. “I’m not saying we should go out of our way to attack him or whatever, or make his life miserable, but he’s facing the consequences of his actions. I mean, seriously - he was reacting to ghosts. Tasha has been pretty explicit with us that she wasn’t giving him any signals about wanting to sleep with or fuck anyone else until he made it sound like he wanted it. And then he made assumptions about what she was doing when it was just normal stuff, but he thought it was her throwing herself at person after person. I don’t think he’s mature enough to handle any sort of serious relationship, including strong friendships.”

“Harsh,” you said.

“Doesn’t make it not true though,” Sabrina said.

Mosche, on stage, had transitioned out of his act and for some fucking reason had decided to practice his crowd work. You had to admit that he had the gumption to do it, but crowdwork was very much his worst comedic skill. He had lost the laughter of the crowd, and you could hear the groans starting to mount.

“I think, in a year or so, he’s going to look back at this summer and have major regrets,” you said. “Those are the real consequences of his actions. And we don’t need to pile on him to make that any less potent. So I think we just let things lay where they fell. Gemma leaves in two weeks, and Sabrina and I go back to school in three. That’s not a long time that we need to put up with him and whatever happens with Iris, right?”

“You know, sometimes it annoys me that you’re the most reasonable person in our trio?” Sabrina asked.

“Wait, do you think you’re second-most reasonable?” Gemma asked in surprise.

“I mean, I don’t use cunt in my non-sexual lexicon,” Sabrina said.

“That is an attack on my country and I won’t stand for it,” Gemma snorted and laughed.

“I’m also not the one going back to live in the land where everything wants to kill you,” Sabrina pointed out.

“Not everything,” Gemma countered. “Just, like, most things.”

You rolled your eyes and leaned in, kissing Sabrina on the side of her head and then slipping around her to give Gemma a kiss on the forehead. “Can we just agree that, as I am the most reasonable by a mile, I can veto any major revenge moves when any of us are angry at someone?”

“A mile?” Gemma asked. “Do you hear this, Sabrina? He says he’s more reasonable by a mile.”

“Maybe a yard,” Sabrina said. “Or a foot.”

“Definitely not a mile,” Gemma said.

You rolled your eyes and started clapping as the host for the Open Mic cut into Mosche’s time a little to get him off the stage. It hadn’t been awful, but it hadn’t been good either. You were pretty interested to see what Iris thought.

Chapter 434

When intermission started the bar area flooded as people from the stage area came to order drinks if they hadn’t been able to flag down a waitress and to stretch their legs or hop outside for a smoke break. With only ten minutes to accomplish those things, the area became crowded quickly.

That didn’t stop you or Mosche from being able to spot each other though, and he broke into a smile as he made his way out of the stage area.

“Hey you guys,” he said as he squeezed through the crowd, his hand clamped on Iris’s as she followed him looking just a little lost. When she saw who he was talking to she brightened a little at recognizing someone, but there was also that lingering awkwardness from breakfast earlier in the week. “I didn’t think you would come tonight. Thank you!”

“Hey, Mosche,” Gemma said a little coolly.

“Hi, Mosche,” Sabrina said, projecting a little more warmth even if she wasn’t quite comfortable with him. “Hi, Iris.”

“Hi,” the younger Korean woman said. She was dressed up in a cute summer dress and had a big black X marked on the back of her hand. Being only 19, you assumed that Mosche had helped her get into the comedy club and the X was marking her as not being able to drink.

“How did you like Mosche’s set?” you asked her.

“Um, it was fun,” Iris said, biting the corner of her lip a little.

“That’s exactly what I was going for!” Mosche grinned. “‘Fun’ is like, a really good spot to be in. There are so many other comics here that want to be edgy, I thought ‘fun’ would be a nice change of pace.”

You felt bad. Iris was obviously trying not to upset him by speaking her mind, and Mosche was obviously oblivious to that fact.

“So…” Sabrina said, trying to find something else to talk about. “Is that weirdo lesbian comic here tonight? I’m not looking to get into a fistfight.”

“Julie?” Mosche asked. “Um, I’m not sure. I wanted to sit with Iris so I haven’t really seen the other comics tonight unless they’ve been up on stage.”

Again, you felt bad because you had a feeling that wasn’t the only reason Mosche was avoiding his fellow comics. Tasha had torn him a new one publicly one week ago, maybe a little unfairly by making it so public. He had to be worried about the jokes that were being made at his expense.

“I need to go to the washroom,” Gemma suddenly said and looked at Sabrina. “Come with?”

“Sure,” Sabrina said, then hesitated but turned to Iris and raised her eyebrows in a silent offer.

“I’ll come too,” Iris said, shooting Mosche a little smile before letting go of his hand and the three of them started weaving their way through the crowd.

“Um,” Mosche said. “They aren’t going to, like… Are they still mad at me?”

“Disappointed. Frustrated. Grossed out a little,” you said. “I don’t think they’ll be vindictive, Mosche, and try to turn Iris against you or anything. But they are definitely on Team Tasha after everything that happened, and after finding out how much you hid about the situation to begin with.”

Mosche grimaced, looking down like a little kid who had just discovered what it meant to feel guilty. “Yeah, I kinda fucked up.”

“You kinda fucked up big time,” you clarified.

“Are you on her side, too?” Mosche asked.

That one made you groan inside your head and let out a breath. “Mosche, I’m your roommate and your buddy,” you said. “I’m not going to hold it over your head or anything, or try to keep reminding you of what happened to punish you. But you really, really fucked up, so when it comes to everything that happened I’m on Team Tasha. The girls and I are still friends with her, and I’m not going to try and get you two in the same place or anything, but that’s just the reality of the situation. She doesn’t deserve to lose friends because of what you made happen.”

His guilt turned a little to petulance for a moment, but he took in a breath and seemed to exhale it out. “OK,” he said. “That’s fair I guess.”

“Now I’ve got a question for you,” you said. “What were you thinking doing crowd work when you were trying to impress your new girlfriend?”

“I thought it went pretty well,” Mosche said.

“It flopped, my dude,” you said. “You know your bits are better than your improv.”

“Well, I’ve been practising and I thought I’d gotten better,” Mosche said. “It wasn’t, like, that bad.”

“It wasn’t that great either,” you pointed out.

It took another ten minutes, and the open mic show had started up again, for the girls to come back, complaining about the line for the washroom. Iris grabbed Mosche’s hand, saying she wanted to head back to their table, and he followed her with a thankful look over his shoulder at you.

“Took it easy on him, huh?” Sabrina asked as you offered her a hand to hop back up on her stool.

“Not really,” you said. “He straight up asked whether you guys were still pissed and I told him you weren’t pissed, but you were a lot of other negative things. And that we were all on Team Tasha when it came to what went down.”

“So what was that look then?” Gemma asked.

“That was him being thankful that I can be normal with him despite that,” you said and snorted softly at the look they both gave you. “I compartmentalised.”

“Maybe you should be a criminal defence lawyer,” Gemma said. “That’s a good skill to have when you know the person did something fucking awful, but you still need to give them a proper legal defence.”

“Maybe,” you sighed. You hadn’t really thought about your eventual legal speciality based on your personality, you’d always thought about it in terms of what might interest you.

The second comic was already up on stage, and Tasha came out from the back area over to you all at the bar. “I’m up next,” she said as she joined you.

“Break a leg, gorgeous,” Sabrina said, shooting her a smile.

“Your hair looks fantastic, your tits look incredible and you’re the funniest person here,” Gemma encouraged.

Tasha flipped her hair with her fingers as she grinned and blushed just a little. “Well thank you,” she said. Then she turned to you. “Kiss for luck?”

You leaned in and planted one on her - short and sweet, no tongue so that if anyone was watching you there wouldn’t be more rumours about her. “Smash it, sexy,” you said quietly as you pulled away from her lips.

“That’s all I needed to hear,” she grinned and then headed into the dark of the stage area to wait for her introduction.