Epilogue
Epilogue
This was crazy.
He knew it was crazy.
But then again, it had been a crazy few weeks, so why stop now?
“Need a hand?” asked Aiko, as she watched agonisingly from the front porch.
“Nope,” wheezed Josh, as he carried what must have been a box of bricks towards the house.
“It looks very heavy,” she said, looking even more concerned.
“No problem,” he gasped, focusing on making it into the house before he collapsed and died.
“Get a move on,” said Chiho from behind, “these things are heavy.”
Josh let out a puff of air, which would have been a laugh if had been capable of laughing right now.
He had seen what Chiho and Stepphy had picked up. Stepphy had a suitcase full of (presumably) clothes, with wheels, whilst Chiho had three large bags which were filled with bedding and other lightweight bits and bobs.
Josh grunted as he got into the house and dropped the box onto the floor.
“Careful!” cried Aiko, as she rushed over to the box.
“What’s in here, anyway?” he asked, bent over, sucking in lungfuls of air.
“My course books,” said Aiko, “they were expensive.”
Josh watched as Aiko opened the box and inspected the hardback tomes that filled the box. There was a lot of wisdom in those books, a great deal of intellectual thought and ideas too. If only one of them had mentioned the wisdom of weight distribution when it came to packing.
“I’ll have to teach you about packing properly,” he said.
“You planning on moving us out already?” asked Chiho, knocking him with one of the bags of bedding.
“We haven’t even moved in yet,” said Stepphy, “men can be so fickle.”
“I’m not,” he stuttered, taken by surprise as the three women closed at him from every side, “I just meant…”
“They know what you meant,” said Emi as she walked down the stairs, “they’re just teasing you.”
They all began to laugh and Josh joined in.
“We know it isn’t forever,” said Aiko, “it’s just a rental.”
“Exactly,” said Chiho, “you get the pleasure of moving us all once again when we find a permanent place.”
“Great,” said Josh, “I can’t wait to do all of this again.”
He smiled, knowing he couldn’t actually wait.
He didn’t want to tell them, but he already had his eye on a place. He had seen it a long time ago, but it was too big for just him, but now it seemed the perfect fit.
Five bedrooms, three bathrooms and a swimming pool.
It was a little out of town, but the privacy and space it afforded them more than made up for the extra travelling they would need to do. Besides, it wouldn’t be ready for a while even if his offer was accepted today, so he’d picked somewhere which made it easy for them to get to college. Then, by the time they graduated, the house would be ready for all of them to move in.
It was his graduation present to them all.
But for now, this place would have to do.
So he stood there, surrounded by the four women he had only just met but knew better than anyone in his entire life, and for the first time in as long as he could remember, he felt like he was home.
“Is that it?” asked Emi.
“I think so,” said Stepphy.
“Conveniently for you,” said Chiho, giving her a sceptical eye.
“So what now?” asked Aiko.
“Well,” said Chiho thoughtfully, “now that we’re all officially moved in, I believe the tradition is to consummate the house.”
“Sounds good to me,” said Stepphy, “what do you think, Josh?”
“I think,” he said, “it sounds perfect, but I might need to take a shower first!”
He laughed and they laughed and he stretched out his arms and they all closed in on him, the five of them pressing together, their bodies tightly packed as he held them and they held him, and although their vacation was now over, they would forever remain his Spring Break harem.