Looking worried, Stephen stopped at the front door of the house. He turned to Nestor and said, "Hagar, can you check out things in the house before I go in?"
"Are you expecting a problem?" Nestor asked with a grin.
"Yes," Stephen said. He had several theories for what was happening, but no evidence sufficient to select one theory over another. Of course, the worst one was that Magus told her the key to getting him to propose. The problem with that theory was that it wasn't very likely.
"What kind of problem?" Nestor asked.
"Mel and Magus are up to something," Stephen said.
Nestor asked, "How do you know that?"
"She talked to Magus," Stephen answered. "It is possible that she wanted to know how to get me to marry her."
"That's likely," Nestor said.
"I'm too young to be married," Stephen said.
"You are young," Nestor said.
"Of course, that's not the only explanation for her visit to Magus this afternoon," Stephen said. "It is not even the most likely one."
"It is just the one that scares the hell out of you," Nestor said.
"That's right," Stephen replied. "Now go inside and scout out the situation."
Nestor went into the house anticipating some scene designed to trap Stephen. It was ten minutes before he stepped out of the house with a puzzled expression on his face.
"What is it?" Stephen asked.
"You have company," Nestor said.
"Company?" Stephen asked puzzled by the answer. Entertaining company wasn't very conducive to invoking an involuntary proposal. Company didn't fit any of his other theories either. There had to be some sort of trick.
"Yes, there are five young women waiting for you," Nestor said.
"Are they gorgeous?" Stephen asked getting concerned.
"No," Nestor said.
"I wasn't expecting anything like that," Stephen said. "What should I do?"
"Go in," Nestor said.
Stephen entered the house wondering what he was going to find. There were six women, including Mel, seated around the living room. All of the women were staring at him. He looked down to see if he had some sort of stain on his clothes. He didn't.
Smiling, Mel said, "You're home."
"Yes, I am," Stephen said. "What's up?"
Mel said, "Magus was telling me that law students usually form study groups."
"Yes," Stephen said.
"I want to introduce you to your study group," Mel said gesturing to the five women.
Stephen looked at the five women thinking that outside of a few minor variations that all of the women in the room could have been sisters. It didn't seem natural that so many women with so many features in common would all be in one place. He said, "Isn't kind of early to be forming a study group?"
"Magus picked them out," Mel said.
"Really?" Stephen asked.
Mel said, "Yes. Let me introduce them to you. This lovely red head is Megan O'Neil."
Stephen looked at the red head. She was wearing a Notre Dame sweatshirt that was about two sizes too big and sweat pants. It was impossible to tell what she looked like under the baggy clothes. Outside of her hair color, she could have been Mel's twin. He said, "Hello, Megan."
"Hello, Stephen," Megan replied.
Mel said, "Would you like to tell Stephen how you came to be here?"
"Sure," Megan said. "I'm graduating from Notre Dame this semester. I had applied to a couple of law schools and got accepted, but none of the schools gave me a scholarship. The problem was that without a scholarship there was no way for me to go school. I was telling a professor of mine about my financial situation and she told me that she couldn't help me, but she knew someone who would solve my problem for ten dollars and a favor. The next thing I know, she's holding my ten dollars and I'm on the telephone talking to some guy named Magus."
"Ten dollars and a favor is the Solutions Incorporated standard fee for an individual seeking a solution to a problem for the first time," Stephen said.
"That's what my professor told me," Megan said.
"So what happened?" Mel asked.
Megan answered, "Magus arranged a full scholarship for Harvard Law School and housing. I hadn't even applied here."
"That's the same thing that happened to me," one of the other women said.
"Me, too," another woman said.
"Same here," another woman said.
"Ditto," said the woman wearing a University of Alaska sweatshirt. "No one mentioned anything about me being part of a study group."
Mel said, "Isn't that interesting?"
"I smell a rat by the name of Magus," Stephen said.
Mel pointed to one of the woman and said, "Would you mind introducing yourself?"
"I'm Georgia, and I'm graduating from the University of Georgia."
She was a mousy looking woman with long brown hair. She was wearing an oversized sweatshirt with the name of the University of Georgia on it. She had large metal framed glasses with thick lenses.
"Nice to meet you Georgia Persikka from Georgia," Stephen said.
"I'm Susan Korn and I'm graduating from the University of Iowa."
She was a plain woman with medium length brown hair. She was wearing an oversized sweatshirt with the name of the University of Iowa on it. She was wearing a pair of granny glasses perched on the end of her nose.
"Nice to meet you Susan," Stephen said.
"I'm Rebecca Hamilton and I'm graduating from Colgate University."
She was another plain looking woman. Her brown hair was cut short. She was wearing an oversized sweatshirt with the name of Colgate University on it. She was wearing a pair of large hoop earrings.
"And last but not least, I'm Denise Bering and I'm graduating from the University of Alaska."
She was another plain looking woman. Her blondish brown hair came down to her shoulders. She was wearing an oversized sweatshirt with the name of University of Alaska on it. She was wearing a pair of brown frame glasses.
"Nice to meet all of you," Stephen said. "I'm Stephen and I'll be graduating from Harvard at the end of this summer."
There was a murmur of acknowledgments from the five women. They were all looking at him as if he was a strange beast of some sort.
Stephen said, "The semester isn't over. I would expect all of you to be studying for your final exams."
"I would be except Magus paid my way here to see my living quarters. A limousine picked me up at the airport and dropped me here. His email said that Mel would be taking me to where I would be living," Denise answered.
Mel said, "I guess we should all go over to the house right now."
"A house? I was expecting a dorm," Georgia said.
"It's a house. Magus found a nice twelve bedroom house for you."
"He got a twelve bedroom house for the five of us?" Georgia asked.
"He got it for the seven of you. Stephen and Nestor will be living there too," Mel said.
Stephen said, "I will?"
"Didn't Magus tell you that?" Mel asked.
"No, he didn't tell me anything about anything," Stephen said with a frown. "He even locked me out of some of the databases."
"I've known we were moving here for a month," Nestor said.
"How come you didn't tell me?" Stephen asked.
"I thought you knew," Nestor answered.
"Who are you?" Rebecca asked looking over at Nestor.
"I'm Nestor."
"Are you a law student?" Georgia asked.
"No. I'm his bodyguard," Nestor answered while pointing over at Stephen.
Turning to Stephen, Megan asked, "Why do you need a bodyguard?"
"It's a long story," Stephen said.
"I'm supposed to protect him from brain groupies," Nestor answered.
"What's that?" Susan asked.
Mel said, "Gorgeous women who can't resist intelligent men."
"Oh come on," Susan said skeptically.
Understanding their skepticism, Mel asked, "Who gets the smartest man in the class for a study partner?"
"The Barbies," Denise answered with venom in her voice.
The other four women knew exactly who she meant and nodded their heads in agreement. It was always the pretty ones that got the smart guys to help them through college. They were always stuck with the self-involved jocks who needed help to get through their classes. Of course, the Barbies also got dates with the jocks and the smart guys were too busy doing homework for the Barbies to date the smart women.
Mel said, "Those Barbies are all husband hunting now. Who do you think they want? The Brawns who turn them on or the Brains who will make a lot of money?"
Margo said, "The Brains."
"It's a curse being wanted by so many gorgeous women," Stephen said.
"Right," Susan said skeptically.
Gesturing towards the door, Mel said, "Let's head over to the house."
Everyone followed Mel while she led them halfway around the block. She stopped in front of a large three story house that was under repair. There were boards lying around on the porch, half of the windows had bars while the other half didn't, and it needed a paint job. It had a ways to go before the work would be completed.
Pointing to the house, she said, "Here it is."
"Wow, that's huge," Megan said.
Wide-eyed, Denise asked, "We're going to be living in there?"
"Yes," Mel answered.
The group went inside the house and explored what would one day become their home. The first floor was spacious with a large kitchen, dining room, living room, and study. Located off of the kitchen were a pantry and a utility room that were the size of small bedrooms. The second and third floors contained six bedrooms each with each bedroom having a private bathroom. The bedrooms were almost the size of a modest house with sufficient room for a large bed, desk, and sitting area.
It took Stephen and Nestor almost half an hour to make their way to one of the rooms on the top floor. Looking around, Stephen said, "This explains everything."
"It does?" Nestor asked.
Stephen said, "Magus and Mel were having a little joke with me. Mel wasn't at the office because she had a problem."
"She had a ten dollar bill in her hand," Nestor said.
"That was the joke. She was there because Magus made an appointment for her. She was helping him get all of this set up. He needed a young woman my age to help deal with my new house mates," Stephen said.
"That makes sense," Nestor said.
Stephen said, "In a way, this depresses me even more."
"Why?" Nestor asked.
"You noticed that they could all be Mel's sisters?" Stephen asked.
"Yes. It was kind of spooky," Nestor answered.
"I think she's made up her mind on going to UCLA for graduate school. This is how Magus is going to soften the blow," Stephen said.
"I didn't think of that," Nestor said.
Stephen said, "I'm really going to miss her."
Having heard part of the conversation, Mel stepped into the room and said, "I guess you figured it out."
"I think so," Stephen said.
"Nestor, would you mind stepping out for a bit?" Mel asked.
"No problem," the big man answered. He lumbered out of the room.
Mel said, "I really agonized over the decision about where to go to school. I really wanted to go to the program at UCLA, but I wanted to stay here with you."
"What convinced you to go to UCLA?" Stephen asked.
"Magus," Mel said.
"He convinced you to go there?" Stephen asked. He couldn't believe that Magus would interfere with his life like that.
"He didn't say anything to me. It is just that I realized he has a lot of exceptional women in his life and they all love him. You're going to be the same way," Mel said. She didn't like the idea of sharing him like that.
"I don't know about that," Stephen said.
Mel gave a sad little laugh. She said, "I don't know how happy those five ladies down stairs are going to be about sharing you, but I can guarantee that they'll all love you by the time you graduate.
"You're smart. You're reasonably attractive. You help people. It is obvious that you are going to be successful. You're very good in bed. With all of that in one package, it makes you virtually irresistible to women. I just can't see going through the rest of my life afraid that some woman is going to take you away from me."
"You're talking about the curse," Stephen said.
"It is not a curse," Mel said. "From my perspective, you're blessed."
"So what happens now?" Stephen asked.
Mel answered, "You and I will go on like we have until we finish school this summer. I'll move to UCLA and you'll move into this house with five very smart women. I'll get my doctorate and you'll become Titus."
"I am Titus," Stephen said.
Mel said, "You're a parttime Titus. When you graduate, you'll become Titus all of the time and Stephen will become just a memory."
"I'm not sure how I feel about that," Stephen said.
Mel said, "That's in the future. For now, there are five very nervous young women downstairs. They need to learn a little more about you. You should probably stay here while I go down there and talk to them."
"What are you going to say about me?" Stephen asked.
Mel grinned and then said, "Maybe I should tell them about all Cathy."
"Why on earth would they want to know about Cathy?" Stephen asked.
"I think they might be interested to learn about how she taught you to use your tongue better than a vibrator."