She was sitting upright in bed, her cute wire-rimmed glasses perched on her nose as she absentmindedly chewed on a ball-point pen while perusing her notepad.

“What are you doing?" I grumbled.

“Planning.”

“For what?"

“For your date with Cherys."

“My what?"

"You forget already?" Amber rolled her eyes at me.

“No, no... I guess I just didn't think of it as a date." Still groggy,

I managed to sit up in bed and smack my jaw a few times.

“You're going to hang out with her for a few hours, getting intimately comfortable with the express purpose of having sex by the end of the evening." She waggled the pen at me.

“How is that NOT a date?"

“Well, when you put it that way." I rubbed my head. "To be honest, I don't think I Like the idea. I'm already dating you."

Amber looked down at her notepad. "It's not Like you haven't slept with other girls."

“That's different. They weren't dates. They were just... sex."

Amber looked up and stared right into my eyes.

“Cherys means more to you than that."

I sighed, now fully awake. I nodded slowly. "Yeah... How can you be okay with that?" I still didn't understand.

Amber shrugged. "I- I don't know how to explain it. I don't think

Cherys wants to become your girlfriend or anything, so there's no threat. She's just very confused about her sexuality right now and being with you would be something special and something safe for her right now. And, well, she's kind of like your big sister. I mean, she's not actually your sister, but well... yeah... you know?"

I stared off at some distant point.

“I know..."

We sat there in silence for a moment.

“Are you sure you can go through with this?" Amber asked me quietly.

I kept staring.

“I'm not sure. It all just feels... weird, somehow. I mean, I have to admit I've been fantasizing about her since I was like twelve. But now we're so close. It's... weird."