Fraternity Alpha Series, Chapter 11: Wait for It

Amy and Xavi devised a plan for dealing with Amy’s mother. They went to Sunday dinner together, and if their blood pressure rose too high, they were mysteriously unavailable for the next week. Or two. Or three. When they returned, Amy’s mom didn’t pick on either of them for at least a week. For some reason Amy, who felt comfortable setting boundaries in relationships with sex partners, had never been able to do so with her mother. But she would not put up with her mother picking on Xavi, who would only get nicer when she tried.

This meant that Amy got less time with her dad. She dealt with this by setting her dad up with a Discord account. After complaining that he was too old to learn something new, Dad started to enjoy telling Amy about the books he was reading. And baseball.

Amy and Xavi attended the Alum’s Storrowing party. Amy felt far more warmly welcomed than she had a year ago. Amy and Xavi, the couple, were the new normal. Everyone she’d played with for the last year was delighted to see her and eager to make new plans.

In one chaotic weekend, Sarah and Georgie moved out and Joann moved in. Joann was an excellent housemate. Ms. Jess had let slip that Joann had largely raised her four younger siblings before escaping to college. Joann was so anxious not to cause Amy any trouble that Amy had to put some work into getting the young...