CHAPTER 99: ANALISE (2)

At that point, Jack spotted Analise walking by and tapped on the window. She turned to look, saw Jack, waved excitedly, then dashed towards the restaurant door. Once inside, she rushed up and, ignoring the waitress entirely, leaned over and grabbed Jack in a hug.

"It’s so good to see you!" she said. "I’m so glad you agreed to meet me."

He patted her back and said, "Why don’t you sit and we can order something."

She stood up, and as she turned, finally noticed the waitress. "Oh! Hey Trish," she said as she sat. "I’ll have my usual."

"Hey Analise," said the waitress, sounding a touch disappointed. "One pickle paradise."

Then the waitress turned to Jack, "And you? Have you decided?"

"Monte Cristo with fries and kitty sauce."

The Monte Cristo was a deep fried ham sandwich that was served with a berry jam dip. The first time he’d encountered the sandwich was when Jacob had ordered one and he’d thought the whole thing was disgusting.

But he’d still tried it when Jacob offered, and had been surprised by how good it tasted. The combination of savory ham and sweat jam was quite tasty.

As for the kitty sauce, the menu recommended it with fries, so he thought he might as well try it.

He also wondered why the owner didn’t call it "pussy sauce." Maybe for the same reason as the mayonnaise omission from the door sign.

The waitress said, "Right, one Pickle Paradise and one Monte Cristo with fries and kitty sauce."

She winked at him when she said, "kitty sauce."

He and Analise nodded, then the waitress rushed off. The restaurant was busy, so she didn’t have time to dawdle.

"I missed you in class yesterday," said Analise, sounding a little pouty. Then with concern, "Is everything alright?"

He was planning on telling her about having multiple girlfriends anyway, so he figured he might as well explain why he missed class yesterday.

But he wasn’t going to tell her about his and Robin’s mutual therapy session. That was too personal to share with someone so early in their relationship.

"Yes, everything’s fine. I had a lunch date yesterday, and we ended up talking for longer than we had planned."

"A lunch date? Like a date date?"

"Yes. You already know about Madison, right? She told you I’m not exclusive, or at least implied it?"

"Yeah, but I thought it was just Madison, and you two were just..."

As he had feared, she had assumed he had friend-zoned Madison.

"I have two serious girlfriends, Madison being one of them, and I just started dating another girl, and intend to ask out two others. And, while I have no intention of being monogamous, I’m also not planning on being a horn-dog. I’ve turned down four girls already."

"Turned down four...Like they asked you out?"

"No, they wanted sex. One just straight up asked me to fuck her in the ass..."

"What!" she exclaimed.

"..one invited me back to her room, and one humped my leg while we were dancing."

"Humped your leg?" she asked, incredulous.

"Yep," replied Jack, "nearly got herself and me thrown out of the club. But she did manage to finish before management showed up and told us to cool it."

"Seriously, she..." Analise couldn’t bring herself to say it, but made the cutest O-face instead.

"Yep. That."

"Damn." She sounded a little lost, like she’d just learned her application at a prestigious university had just been denied. "Then why..."

"Why am I here with you, instead of with one or all of those four?"

She nodded.

"Because I want more than just sex. I want a connection. I don’t have any family, none. So I have to make my own. And that means relationships that mean something. What attracted me to you in particular was your intelligence, your passion for science. It’s why I asked you out. I thought we could connect, not just as friends sharing an intellectual interest, but two people sharing a passion. And maybe that passion would extend into the bedroom."

Several times as he spoke, she opened her mouth like she was going to say something, but then closed it. When he finished, she just stared at him, searching his face. Her expression was a mix of concern, doubt, and hope.

Eventually she asked, "Do you expect me to share you with, like, five other girls?"

"Expect? No. Hope? Yes. Besides, we don’t have to be lovers. We can just be friends, if that’s all your comfortable with. It’s not my preference, but I won’t complain if you want to keep things platonic."

Before Miranda, this probably would not have been true. But that little minx was keeping him satisfied so he could actually think with his big head whenever he was around beautiful women.

"Would you expect me to um, you know, with the other..." She blushed as she spoke, and he could infer from it that she wanted to know if he expected her to have sex with, or in the presence of, his other girlfriends.

"I would expect you, at a minimum, to be cordial with all my friends, regardless of relationship. And I would hope that you could become close friends with my other girlfriends. But I don’t expect you to engage in intimate activities with them, or in their presence."

"Okay, I think get understand. You’re saying you want to be friends, hope we can be lovers, and want me to get along with your other girlfriends?"

"Correct."

Then she gave him a contemplative look and asked, "You have multiple girlfriends. What if I wanted to have a relationship with another guy?"

"I understand that some people might think it’s only fair. If I can have multiple girlfriends, you should have multiple boyfriends. Except, I’m not some people. I’m a guy, and we are territorial by nature."

"So...what does that mean?"

"It means that if you want to be with me, you have to be with me exclusively. I don’t care if that seems unfair. I am who I am, and I will not share."

"So, you expect your girlfriends to share you with each other, but also expect them to remain exclusive with you? But why? Don’t get me wrong. I’m not complaining, I’m just curious."

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