Chance snorts, glancing at me apologetically. “I did try to warn you that we’re a lot, right?”
I can only grin back at him. Honestly, I’m touched that this group has welcomed me so readily into their fold. It lessens the sting of missing Connor, Dan, and Sophie back home. In fact, listening to these guys bicker and tease each other feels a lot like hanging out with my old friends.
“I won’t bore you with my woes,” I eventually answer, once the tightness in my throat has eased a bit. “At least, not tonight.”
What kind of a first impression would I make if I spent this first meet-up talking about a Boy I only knew for a couple of days, no matter what kind of lasting impact that short time had on me.
“Tones, you should booze up his thickshake,” Zephyr teases, shooting me a wink. “That might loosen his lips a bit.”
Tony shakes his head and cuddles into Spence’s side. “I feel like that’s a lawsuit waiting to happen.”
Zephyr chuckles and pats Ted’s forearm. “Lucky my Daddy’s a lawyer, huh?”
“He’s not a criminal lawyer,” Tony responds, frowning a little.
Spence kisses the top of his short, dark hair. “Zeph’s just joking, sweetheart.”
Tony’s cheeks turn a bit pink. “Oh. Sorry.” He slouches and, to me, explains, “I can miss things like irony and sarcasm sometimes. Jokes go over my head a lot. Just in case you ever make one and I don’t get it. It’s not you, it’s me.”
His Daddy cuddles him closer and I want to know so much more about their story. It might just distract me from my own ridiculous wallowing. “There’s nothing wrong with not getting jokes,” I reply with a shrug, earning a short, appreciative nod from Spencer. “And a lot of mine are just me beingsilly anyway.”
“All the best Daddies are,” Kade says sagely, giving Chance a nudge with his elbow.
Chance smiles indulgently back at him. “Spoken like a true brat,” he tickles Kade’s sides for emphasis, making him squawk indignantly.
“I was being nice!”
Smiling to myself, I eat my wings and listen as the group bickers and chats, occasionally answering questions as they’re thrown my way. There’s no pressure from this group, even though some of their questions are a bit personal for a first meeting. Then again, interactions inside the kink community do generally tend to get intense pretty quickly. That’s probably why I’m still mooning over Benji.
Despite having zero intentions to make any serious connections at that camp, my heart went ahead and got attached anyway.
I can’t really blame it.
Even in a community like this, finding someone who ticks all your boxes and then some doesn’t happen every day. I wasn’t looking for a relationship, but I would have liked to at least stay in touch with the guy whose interests and personality were so compatible with my own.
Ah well. That ship sailed weeks ago. It’s time to stop mourning what might have been and start looking towards the future.
Laughing at the conversation taking place around me, I can’t help but think that that future might not be as lonely as I imagined when I first moved here.
Chapter Eighteen
It turns out having friends does actually make a difference to how much I enjoy regression time outside of scene play. Anson has made it his mission to include me at The Grove whenever we’re there at the same time, and to invite me to play dates at his house where I meet some of his other friends, regulars I’ve also seen at The Grove from time to time.
At first, I’m just waiting for the other shoe to drop. I force myself to be on my best behavior. To not be annoying or too bratty. To stay quiet and watch as Anson, Ash, and Bear play together, joining in only when they explicitly pass me toys or ask me questions. But, after a few weeks, I forget myself.
It starts with accidentally sassing back. We’re at The Grove, and Anson teases me about being a bitch at work, and I immediately tell him that someone has to keep his and the other doctors’ egos in check.
There’s a moment of stunned silence before Bear snorts and playfully agrees, “Yeah, Anson and Daddytotallythink they’re always super important.” Then he pokes his tongue out of the side of his mouth and concentrates on placing the next piece of his jigsaw puzzle in its correct spot.
Anson lets out an exaggerated gasp. “I’m telling Vince you said that.”
Bear just widens his big, blue eyes and bats his pretty, reddish-brown eyelashes. “But I’m a good boy,” he says, sweet-as-pie. “I don’t think Daddy would believe you. Not when he knows thatyoulike to cause trouble.”
Anson’s jaw drops and he looks my way for support, waving his hand in Bear’s direction. “Are you hearing this? I’m being framed!”
None of us are particularly Little in terms of headspace tonight, which I like. From what I’ve gathered, Bear’s a lifestyle Little whose headspace isn’t usually very little, while Anson tends to enjoy beinglittleLittle when he does regress, but tonight we’re all regressing in much the same way. I don’t think it’s been a deliberate choice on anyone’s part; more like an unspoken agreement that we’re going to hang out and chat for now. When Asher gets here that might change the dynamic, seeing as he generally prefers to getlittlelike Anson.
Feeling bold, I smirk back at Anson and shrug. “I didn’t hear anything.”
