After that weekend, things around the house changed. We adopted a sort of communal free-love kind of arrangement between the four of us. Of course, it didn't happen all at once, but sex between each of the girls and I (or in a few instances between the girls themselves) gradually became more frequent and less secretive. Eventually it wasn't even a private thing at all. If two of us were feeling horny, we fucked. If someone else wanted to join in, it wasn't a big deal. It was as common for us as watching TV together.

We enjoyed exploring each others' bodies, and finding out what turned us on. We let go of any sense of shame or embarrassment about our sexuality, at least with each other. As long as we were respectful of each other, and no one got hurt or jealous, everything seemed to work out fine.

I won't bother detailing every single encounter for you because most of them sort of run together in my mind anyway. Besides, if you haven't got an idea yet of what the girls were like in bed, I doubt you ever will. Suffice it to say, I'd gone from never having sex to constantly having sex, which, as you'd expect, was pretty fucking awesome!

But one drawback from having sex all the time was the time it took away from other things. I had to really do a rush-job on the lecture notes I was supposed to be working on that weekend, and they came out pretty half-assed. The faculty advisor I worked with was not impressed, and I got in a bit of shit over it.

As much as I enjoyed our new arrangement at home, it was very distracting to say the least. After a second verbal warning in a month about the slipping quality of my notes, I decided I needed to get away from home, at least for a little while each week. I thought maybe the office would be peaceful on the weekend, somewhere I could get some real work done, without distraction or temptation.

I packed up my laptop, and my text book Saturday morning, and headed to school. As I suspected, no one was around, and I had the office all to myself. Strangely, more than a month into the semester, I still hadn't met my new office-mate, Zoey. I figured, we probably just kept different schedules. Still, that little anime figure of Shino Asada from Sword Art Online that sat on her desk by her monitor intrigued me. Even without meeting her, I recognized her as a possible kindred spirit.

By the early afternoon, after working for four hours straight, I was starting to zone out a little. I'd find myself staring at the computer screen without really seeing the words there. I decided I needed a break, and headed out to the coffee shop a couple of blocks from campus. If the caffeine didn't pick me up, the cool early autumn air would.

It was a beautiful sunny day. Undergrads were all over campus, walking, playing ultimate frisbee in the quad, stringing hammocks between trees. There were a couple of long-haired guys singing and playing acoustic guitars in a courtyard, surrounded by a half-dozen freshmen girls. Everywhere, people seemed to be in good spirits, soaking up the sunshine. I have to admit that I felt a bit envious, since I was stuck in a windowless grad-student office. I decided to slow my pace, and take my time getting my coffee.

Forty minutes later, I was back at my building. The elevator had been broken all week. So I took the stairs to the fourth floor. I was thinking again about my situation with the girls, and how strange it was. It was totally unconventional, but somehow, we were making it work. But could we sustain what we had?

The law of entropy dictates that over time, order dissolves into chaos. Was our arrangement doomed to fall apart, or had we broken the old organizing rules and structures and were we now embracing the chaos? Maybe there was some kind of reverse-entropy where chaos organizes itself randomly into new orders. Was this coming together and falling apart just two sides of the same coin tumbling over and over in time?

Without noticing, I'd reached the top of the second flight of stairs. And then, lost in my thoughts, I tried taking another step up, only to find that the step didn't exist. I pitched forward, and in my panic, my arms flailed and my hand squeezed tight on the paper coffee cup I was carrying. The lid popped off, and hot coffee spilled all over the front of my clothes.

"Shit!" I shouted into the empty stairwell. I heard my voice reverberate back to me, almost mockingly.

I looked down at the liquid darkening my pants and the lower part of my shirt. I would have gone home to change, but I couldn't bring myself to walk through a campus full of undergrads looking like this. It looked like I'd just pissed myself.

"Shit!" I repeated.

If I wasn't willing to go back down, then the only direction left was up. Arriving at the fourth floor, I poked my head out of the stairwell door. The hall was still silent. I stopped and listened hard for some time for any kind of sound to indicate anyone was around. There was nothing. Thankfully, the floor was empty.

I went into the washroom and stripped out of my clothes. I rinsed the coffee out of them in the sink, hoping to prevent any serious staining. It didn't escape me that after living with the girls, I'd begun taking more interest in how I dressed and taking care of my clothing. After wringing as much moisture as possible from them, I poked my head out of the washroom door, and listened carefully again for maybe five entire minutes. There was absolutely no sound. The coast was clear.

With my clothes held in a bundle in front of my cock and balls, I quickly ran back to my office. Arriving at my door, I realized that the keys were still inside my pants. I quickly unwadded them in a panic. I listened nervously for the sound of footsteps or an opening door, as I fumbled through my pockets. I searched the wrong pocket first, then the right one. I was convinced that at any second, some janitor - or worse, some faculty member, maybe even the Dean - would come strolling around the corner and find me standing there naked. Not only could I kiss my assistantship goodbye, but they'd probably expel me, too.

But nobody came. I was able to shakily insert the key into the lock, and let myself back into the privacy of my office. Safely behind the closed door, I collapsed into my office chair until my heart stopped pounding in my chest. After that, I arranged my wet clothing over the radiator to dry it out. And then I went back to work on my notes.

When I work, I usually like to listen to music. Since no one else was around, I had the sound turned up pretty loud, playing Nine Inch Nails. That's probably why, almost an hour later, I didn't hear a key turning in the lock, and didn't notice the office door opening. I wasn't aware of anything until I heard a startled female voice say: "Oh my god! Sorry!"

I spun around to catch a glimpse of someone quickly retreating out the office door.

"Hey!" I shouted, but she was already outside.

I jumped up to follow her. I yanked open the door to chase her, then realized that I was still naked. Quickly I retreated back inside, and only poked my head out of my office. I saw her walking quickly up the hallway. She was medium height, and curvy. She had on a black pair of jeans that fit tight against her large ass. She was wearing a black t-shirt, and had black hair with purple streaks in it.

"Hey!" I called again. She kept walking. "Hey, Zoey, right?" I tried for a third time.

That got her attention. She turned to look at me leaning halfway out of the office. All of a sudden, I realized I wasn't sure what it was I wanted to say to her.

"How do you know my name?" she asked. "Are you Bill?"

"Yeah," I said. "Uh, just wait, okay?"

"Why?" she asked, defensively.

"Just let me get dressed, and I'll explain. Alright? Can you do that?"

She didn't answer, but she didn't turn and run either. It would have to be good enough. I ducked back into the office, and picked up my pants and shirt from the radiator. They were still damp, but I didn't have a choice. I put them on, feeling the wet heat radiate through my balls and chest. Then I stepped back out into the hallway a minute later, expecting that she'd be gone. But Zoey was still waiting there halfway down the hall. Her head was cocked impatiently to one side.

"Alright, it's fine," I said. "I'm dressed now. Sorry. You can come back."

Zoey considered me for a moment, and then approached cautiously.

"Listen," I continued as she came nearer. "I'm sorry. I didn't think anyone was here."

"Do you always hang out naked in the office?" she asked suspiciously.

"No, never," I denied. "It's just today. I mean, I had a bit of an accident. I spilled coffee on myself, and then I was trying to clean it up, and I was drying my clothes on the radiator, see?" I pointed to my socks which were still on top of the unit. "Here, you can feel - it's still damp."

Her face had a doubtful expression, so I offered her my shirt sleeve as proof. She tentatively reached out to touch it, rubbing it between her thumb and fore finger. As she did, I took another look at her. She was a little chubby, but not really fat. The front of her shirt had a skateboarding robot on it. And her face had Hispanic features, though I'd already guessed her ethnicity from her last name, Herrero. She had a stud in her nostril, and a ring in her lip. All in all, she wasn't sexy like the girls I lived with, but she wasn't without a certain cuteness either.

"So it was just an accident?" Zoey said uncertainly.

"Right," I agreed. "If I knew anyone was going to be around, I wouldn't - I mean, it's Saturday. No one's here, I- I'm sorry. I don't want you to think I'm some weird perv who hangs out naked in the office all the time. That's totally not me. You're not going to report me are you?"

"Okay," Zoey said, sitting in her chair. "I won't report you. But it's a pretty weird thing to do, you know?"

"I'm sorry. I'm really embarrassed."

"It's alright," Zoey said. "I mean, I didn't really see anything. It was just kind of a shock. You don't expect to walk into your office and just see a naked guy just sitting there."

"Yeah, I know. Sorry. I didn't expect you to just walk in here either. I mean, I haven't seen you all semester."

"I usually come in on Saturdays to work, just so you know," she said, adding with a smirk, "In case you're ever wondering whether it's safe to hang out here without your clothes on."

I chuckled. "Seriously, this was just a one-time thing. I'm really not like a nudist or anything."

"Sure," she sarcastically teased.

"Anyway," I said, hoping to change the subject. "Even though it's been kind of awkward, I'm glad I finally get to meet you. It's weird having an office-mate you don't even know."

I extended my hand towards her. She shook it.

"Yeah," she said. "I mean, I think I've seen you around the campus, but I never connected you to your name before."

"Uh huh. You do look kind of familiar, too," I agreed.

The conversation lapsed, and we turned to our computers. In the silence between us, I became acutely aware of Trent Reznor angrily shouting "I want to fuck everyone in the world!" from my desktop speakers - not exactly the most workplace appropriate soundtrack. At once, I felt embarrassed all over again.

"Hope you don't mind the music," I apologized bashfully. "I can change it if you want."

"Nah," she said. "Nine Inch Nails is cool."

I was instantly impressed. She didn't look much older than the girls at home, but not only could she recognize Nine Inch Nails when she heard it (and not just one of the well-known hits either, but a deeper cut), but she also liked them.

"Your Sword Art Online figure is really awesome," I ventured, hoping to spark a connection.

"You know SAO?" she asked, turning towards me again, genuinely surprised.

"Yeah," I said. "It's a great show."

"Huh. I didn't take you for someone who watched anime."

"Why not?"

"I don't know. Just the way you look," she said. "You know, you've got that kind of trendy hair cut, and your clothes - you know when you're actually wearing them."

I laughed, and then so did Zoey. It broke the remaining tension between us. It was true. Since meeting the girls, I'd change my look. My style was more hipster than geek now, but at heart, I still felt like the same me. Well, not exactly the same. I had had way more sex in the past couple of months than I ever expected to have in my entire life, which had made me feel more confident in myself - But this isn't the kind of thing you tell someone you've just met.

"What's your favourite series?" I asked.

"Well, my favourite manga character is her." Zoey pointed at the Shino Asada figure on her desk. "But over all... I don't know. It's hard to choose. I've been watching Fate/Zero recently. That's really good. What about you?"

"Yeah, I liked that too, but I guess if I had to say my favourite of all time, it's kind of old-school, but Cowboy Bebop?"

She laughed. "Yeah, that is old school... But a good one. Anyway, I guess I should get to work."

"Yeah, me too," I said. "I've been here since ten, and I still have a pile of stuff to get through."

We both worked until seven that night. Then I suggested dinner. We went to at a little Vietnamese restaurant off-campus. The more she talked about herself, the more I liked her. We were into a lot of the same music, TV shows, and books. She didn't do much online gaming, but she'd played dungeons and dragons a few times as an undergrad. It was pretty amazing. I'd hardly ever met anyone who enjoyed the same things I did, and never a girl who did.

Even more amazingly, the whole time we were together, I wasn't thinking about whether or not we were going to have sex. That had been my problem in the past with women. I got so caught up in the idea of losing my virginity that I kind of came on too strong, or got too anxious or awkward, or something, and ended up blowing it. But since I was getting laid pretty frequently at home, it wasn't really an issue with Zoey. Without the question hanging over us, it took the pressure off. I could just be myself with her, and get to know the real her as well. As it turned out, she was pretty cool.

"Well, this has probably been the strangest introduction ever," she said as we walked back to her car, "But it ended up being kinda fun."

"Yeah," I agreed. "I'll see you around."

"I hope so."

Zoey gave me a smile and a little wave of her hand. Then she got in her car, and drove away. I waved after her. When she turned the corner, I walked the half-dozen blocks back home with just my thoughts of her for company.

***

Over the next couple of months, Zoey and I got closer. We started spending more time with each other, just hanging out. There was never any sexual tension in the relationship. Neither of us even tried so much to kiss each other. But all the same, I knew I liked her - really liked her, and enjoyed being around her. She was kind of like a friend without benefits, I guess you could say. In any case, I was getting all the 'benefits' I could handle at home, so I was fine with how things were between us.

It was approaching the end of the semester, and we went out for a late lunch at an Irish pub. After lunch, we stayed at the pub, talking and drinking beer, while the owner strung up Christmas lights in the window. I was telling Zoey about a discussion we'd had that morning in my Topics in Media class about the influence of pornography on people's sex lives.

"So she said, 'you know, these guys, they watch all this porn, and suddenly now everyone thinks it's cool to ejaculate in a woman's face, you know? I mean, who does that in real life? What's the point? It's just degrading to women. But now every guy thinks he's some kind of Ron Jeremy or something.' I don't know. Is that true?...