“So… is she good in bed?”

  I scoffed at Zoe’s question and scowled at her.

  “Really? Out of all the questions you wanna ask me about her, that’s the first one? No 'are you sure you wanna marry this chick?' or are you fucking crazy for getting engaged so quickly?'”

  “Geez, what’s with skipping the forepy? Let’s get warmed up a bit before we just jump right in to the heavy stuff, Als… Of fucking course I want to know everything there is about this woman! The st time you and I had a meaningful conversation was the night before HD released, and then the next time I get more than a single word response its to come help you pick out a wedding dress. I’m supposed to be your best fucking friend, Als. So… if you wanna make it up to me for shutting me out, you will tell me everything… yeah?”

  I moved to hold up one of my hands in a pcating gesture but thought better of it when the attendant who was busy taking various measurements of my body gave me a sharp look.

  “Yeah, yeah… OK. I’m sorry, Z. You know how I get when I hyperfocus. And I mean… come on… you’ve seen her. I know you are hopelessly straight, but even you have to admit how fucking gorgeous she is. But… it’s more than that Z. She is like the missing piece of myself I never knew I was living without. She completes me in a way that defies all expnation.”

  Zoe listened intently to everything I was saying, but as I paused she motioned with her hand for me to continue.

  “And…? You still haven’t answered my question, Als.”

  “Why does it matter? You never cared about my sex life before.”

  “And you’ve never gotten engaged to a girl you’ve barely known for a few weeks before either. If my girl is gonna get married, it is my solemn duty as your best friend and big sister to ensure you’re going to be taken care of in every way. Last thing I need is to have you all pent up because this girl doesn’t know how to–”

  “She’s fucking amazing, Z! I can say without any doubt that she blows my fucking mind every single night. She’s… also a top.”

  The much taller blonde woman was about to respond when the attendant moved back to a nearby desk and grabbed a tablet. After motioning for me to put my clothes back on she pced the tablet on a nearby bench.

  “Go ahead and take a look at these and see if there’s any styles that catch your eye. Don’t worry about the fabric or the specific details of the dress, just look at the overall designs for now. I’m going to go see if Miss Maria needs anything. But… do either of you want anything to drink? Water? Tea? Coffee?”

  “I think we’re OK, Monique. Thank you. And uh… sorry Zoe has absolutely no tact.”

  While my best friend scowled at me, the short bck woman ughed and shook her head.

  “No apologies necessary. You two are tame compared to a lot of brides-to-be I’ve met. For what it’s worth though… you two look like an absolutely adorable couple. I know Miss Maria will help her find something that will really blow your fucking mind.”

  With that, she turned on her heel and walked out of the room. I quickly put my clothes back on and sat back on the cushioned bench. After grabbing the tablet, I started flipping through it, tapping on the screen whenever I saw a particur style or dress that I really liked. As soon as Zoe took a seat next to me, I leaned against her and she wrapped her arm around me. She leaned her head against mine and let out a contented sigh.

  “I may be pissed at you for completely shutting me out, but I really am happy for you, Als. I know that I hadn’t said that yet. You really must be head-over-heels for this girl if you forget to tell me of all people that you’re engaged. It was especially annoying that I had to hear it from Richard when I stopped by your work to see you one day, and he told me you quit to be with your new fiancée. He asked me what I knew about everything, and I was more than a little pissed that he knew more about it than I did. Not gonna lie, Als… you owe me big time.

  I sighed loudly and hugged her tightly with my arm that was wrapped around her waist.

  “I know, Z. I really am sorry for not telling you. My… my life has been a bit of blur, if I’m being honest. First I get this completely awesome game, then the next thing I know I have the most powerful character in said game, then I meet this amazing girl and her awesome friends… we become the strongest cn in the whole game, and then–”

  “Wait… you’re in the strongest cn in the… oh fuck me, you’re Allexus. Of fucking course you are. I knew that was you… I knew it! But Shawn said you would be pying some huge hulking male character like you usually do.”

  “Wait, you and Shawn got HD too? I remember you guys saying you weren't sure.”

  “Shawn sorta surprised me with a copy. We've been pying since day 1… but he's been on-call for the past week, so we haven't had much time to py. But… number one pyer in the number one cn. You always did have to be the best at everything, Als.”

  I was about to respond when she suddenly lifted her head and cut me off.

  “Oh, and don't think I didn't notice the whole ‘Allison’ thing… you have been Allie for as long as I’ve known you. You always used to get on all the teachers for calling you your full name, hell, even your parents called you Allie.”

  “It's… sorta a special thing with her, Z. I told her my full name, and when she started calling me that, I don't know… there's just something about her being the only one who calls me that makes me happy. I'm her Allison.”

  “In the 24 years I've known you, Als, I can honestly say I've never seen you happier than you are right now. Even if I am mad about how you went about it, I can tell without a doubt that you are meant to marry this girl. So… tell me everything.”

  “Everything?”

  “Spare no details, Ms. Raynier. I'm a kinky horny bitch, you know I need to hear all the naughty parts. Also… don't choose that one. The stripes would not look fttering on you.”

  So, for the next 20 minutes while we looked at dozens of different wedding dresses, I told Zoe everything I could remember about my future wife, starting with the first time we met back when she was a level 13 Demonspawn.

  ===

  “So Allie goes, ‘just take it easy on me… this is nothing like Life Sim.’”

  Zoe finished chewing a bite of the veggie burger she was enjoying and gave Emily a knowing smile.

  “Wait, you said he picked Eternal Combat? Oh… fuck, how bad did he lose?”

  “Well, she strung him along for a few rounds, but then when she finally stopped screwing around, it was obvious she knew what she was doing. Fortunately the guy turned out to not be as big of an asshole as he seemed at first.”

  “That's cool. Nothing worse than an entitled jackass who can't accept his defeat gracefully. So… what about you, Kim, do you py video games?”

  “I did a bit when Emily and Aaron were younger, but not so much anymore. Evan never showed any interest in video games, so I haven't had much call to py. Why? Do you think I should start pying this Holy Damnation with you all?”

  I suddenly pictured Emily's mother seeing some of the things that me and my demon wives got up to, and I immediately started blushing a bright red. Emily must have had the same train of thought, because as I looked over to her, I could see that she was blushing just as fiercely.

  “So uh… Mom. There is something else I wanted to talk to you about.”

  I gave my fiancée a curious gnce, and as she caught my eye she mouthed the word ‘Noelle.’ My heart started racing as I thought about what Em was pnning to tell her mother, but I trusted that she knew what she was doing. I took a deep breath and nodded.

  “Why do I get the sense that this is going to be something I'm potentially not going to like?”

  “Well… it's definitely something… different. I wasn't even gonna bring it up, honestly, but given that you mentioned something earlier about going over a potential guest list, it might be better to get this out of the way now.”

  I nervously gulped down the rest of my water and did my best to remain calm. I knew that given the retive ‘newness’ of me and Emily's retionship, there was still likely some lingering doubt in her parents’ minds about everything. So I had no clue how Kim would react to the news of me and Em's new polyamorous lifestyle.

  “So… one of the people who we are definitely going to invite to the wedding is a girl Allie and I met pying the game. The thing is… uh… well… Allie and I are both ummm sorta… dating… her.”

  Kim's eyes went wide before narrowing, and she turned her sharp gaze towards me as I spoke before she had a chance to react.

  “Kim, do you know what polyamory is?”

  She spoke in a ft monotone voice, clearly not thrilled with this conversation.

  “I know enough to say I'm familiar with the concept.”

  “And… what are you opinions on it?”

  She sighed heavily and took a long drink of her soda before looking back up at me.

  “While I believe it is possible to love more than one person at a time, I don’t understand how something like that wouldn’t breed jealousy and resentment. I mean… I know for certain that I would never want to see Marvin with another woman. That would crush me.”

  “Kim, can I ask you a few super personal questions?”

  She cocked an eyebrow at me but nodded her head for me to continue.

  “Do you know with 100% certainty that Marvin loves you?”

  She answered without a second of hesitation.

  “Absolutely. In addition to him telling me and showing me how much he loves me, there’s this deep connection with him that only comes from loving him entirely.”

  “Would Marvin ever do anything to intentionally hurt you or deceive you?”

  I could tell that this time she had to truly search her feelings to come up with an answer. After a moment she shook her head slowly.

  “No. Never.”

  “How can you be certain?”

  She knitted her brows and tilted her head slightly, and I had to keep myself from smiling at how simir to her daughter she looked in that moment. Or rather… it was easy to see how much Emily emuted her mother. I refocused my attention on the matter at hand and smiled warmly and continuing before she had a chance to respond.

  “I’m not trying to make you question or doubt anything. I can easily see how much you and your husband love one another. But for the sake of this conversation, I want you to tell me how you can be so certain that he would never do anything to hurt you.”

  She sighed through her nose and gnced over at Emily, before returning her gaze to me.

  “I can feel how much he wants to do everything he can to show me how much he loves me and cares for me.”

  I nodded happily and then looked over at my future wife.

  “I’m sorry in advance for this, babe.”

  She cocked her head to the side in the exact same way her mother had just done, and I turned back to Kim and asked the next important question.

  “Does being intimate with Marvin, sexually or otherwise, make both of you happy?”

  Both of the women sitting across from me immediately flushed a brilliant shade of red and Emily looked momentarily horrified I had just asked that. I could hear Zoe snickering beside me, and I elbowed her softly and focused my attention on Kim. I could tell she was doing her best to maintain her composure, while managing to not fully look me in the eye. I heard her mutter something to the effect of ‘so not the conversation I expected to be having right now,’ before clearing her throat and looking up at me with a slight smirk on her face.

  “Yes, my husband and I have a healthy and happy intimate retionship.”

  “So… simple yes or no question, sex makes Marvin happy?”

  She blushed again, but still nodded her head. I knew that this was where things would differ greatly between what our society says a retionship should be like and how polyamory truly works, and I did my best to remain calm despite the obvious embarrassment my future mother-in-w was feeling.

  “We’ve already established that Marvin would never do anything to hurt you… so it would stand to reason that you trust him implicity, yes?”

  A look of understanding passed across her face and she gave me a knowing smile.

  “Yes. I think I see where you’re going with this. You’re implying that if sex makes someone happy, and you trust the other person to never do anything to hurt you, as long as they remain faithful to you, anything goes?”

  I exhaled loudly and leaned back in the booth. I tilted my head from side to side in a sort of see-saw fashion and pursed my lips.

  “I mean… sort of. A lot of people think that polyamory means you have free reign to do whatever you want with other people. But that’s most definitely not true. It requires a huge amount of trust and support from one’s partner in order to have a retionship with another person. Often times that means setting up rules like ‘you are welcome to date someone as long as I know all the details that I want,’ or Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays are my days and you will be spending time with me specifically. Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays are her days. And Sunday we share equally. Or… something like that. While on the outside a polyamorous retionship appears to have way more freedom, a successful one has far more rules than monogamous retionships do. Basically… it all boils down to trust and wanting the other person to be happy.”

  Kim’s brow furrowed and her lips were drawn into a tight line. She stared at me, unblinking, for what felt like a full minute. I felt my breath catch in my chest and my pulse started to race as I imagined all the things she was going to say next. When a broad grin stretched across her face I finally let out the breath I had been holding.

  “I don’t fully get it. But… It’s obvious from the way you two talk that you both understand the implications of everything. I will definitely have more questions ter, especially for this other girl.”

  “Noelle, mom. Her name is Noelle.”

  “That’s a really pretty name. But… yeah… I’ll definitely have a bunch of questions for her when I meet her.”

  Kim trained her gaze on Emily with a huge smirk.

  “Are there any other shocking revetions you need to tell me about?”

  “Well…”

  “Emily Lynn Jameson! First you bring home a girl and tell me you’re getting married, then you tell me that both of you are dating another girl… I’m almost scared to think what you might be about to tell me.”

  “It’s nothing bad… just… well… Noellie is… only 18 years old.”

  Kim inhaled sharply and closed her eyes. She shook her head and chuckled dryly.

  “Of course she is.”

  We spent the remainder of the afternoon together in that diner, chatting about anything and everything that we could think of. Zoe and Emily got along exceptionally well, even going so far as to team up on me by sharing some of my most embarrassing stories. We left just as the dinner rush was starting, said our goodbyes, and headed back to our cars. Zoe and I stood side by side, and I leaned against her and just enjoyed the presence of my best friend.

  “Promise me you won’t ‘out of sight, out of mind’ me, Als.”

  “I promise. Sisters?”

  She snorted and pulled me tighter against her side.

  “Always.”