And The Story Goes ... Episode VI

          “I’m sorry honey, did I frighten you?” Mike presents noting the deer in headlights gaze from Michelle.

          “You scared me Mike. Let me take a second to put my heart back in my chest.”

          “You headed out?”

          “I was gonna chill with Andi because I was missing you so much and didn’t wanna be by myself. I’m so glad you’re here daddy,” Michelle endearingly exposes.

          “That’s my baby girl. Let me hit the shower real quick.”

          “No need to hit it by yourself, I’m coming with you,” Michelle offers jogging behind Mike pushing both hands in his back propelling him towards the bathroom. I’ll have to call Andi tomorrow. I’m sure she’s gonna have a drama fit over me not showing up.

*******

         “This is really getting tired; there’s never enough time. We’re not teenagers, we’re both professionals doing this cloak and dagger routine. Are you okay with this?”

          “I cherish any time we have with each other,” David assures firmly grasping both of Brad’s arms.

          “Don’t do that! You know what I mean,” Brad continues through clinched teeth.

          “I’m not sure I do. I’m here, you’re here; we’re devoting time to each other; let’s enjoy it. Why revel in what we don’t have?” David queries while planting little kisses all over Brad’s face. Why does he have to get so serious? Can’t he just enjoy the time we have with each other?  I’ve got enough pressure with work and home, this is my respite. Can I please do something I like?
          Gosh! It’s so good to be in his arms, this is home. I need this. No! Uh un! I can’t get caught up into this. We need to talk now. Brad steps back eliminating the opportunity for smooching to continue. “That’s just it, a moment here or a piece there is all we get. We’re sneaking around and we never have any quality time anymore.  You have Jennifer; and I have Karen, which has made matters worse. Things are so outta hand; how could we let it get this far?”

          “Talk, talk, talk—that’s all you wanna do these days. Fine, let’s talk about it. Let’s talk about the case of amnesia ailing you. Yeah let’s talk about whose idea it was to have our lives like this. Shall I recap for you? Hmm—I guess I should since you’ve conveniently forgotten some crucial decisions in our relationship. Yeah, let’s take a trip down memory lane; shall we?” David asks rhetorically.

          “There’s no need to get sarcastic. I’m not trying to just talk. I like our time together too. I’m just missing you is all. Don’t get mad; I’m not complaining,” Brad renders hoping he hasn’t been overbearing with emotion.

           “Don’t try to go back now; we’re here. So let’s talk about it. It was me, not you that wanted us to be more. Maybe not in public but certainly not skulking in the shadows; do you remember that? How about this one? It was me, not you who said we shouldn’t get involved with women. I believe I said it would make things far more complicated and could have life changing ramifications. Remember that? Maybe it’s not coming to you yet--was it not you that threatened to leave me because—me not having a woman was starting to make people ask questions. You had your pseudo-girl friend and was irritated I didn’t follow suit. Do you have any idea what that did to me? You surely didn’t at the time; but what did I do? I sucked it up and adjusted so that we could be together. Now you’re complaining about time, how fair is that? This crap we have now was manufactured by you, and I did it because I love you. There’s no reneging now. You’re so selfish!” David scolds.

          “I’m selfish because I wanna spend time together? Oh that’s rich; and it’s all my fault we’re in this predicament? I didn’t tell you to marry the woman did I? Don’t put that on me Brad.”

          “You’re missing the point – it’s like I told you all along; things get complicated the more other people are added to the equation. How long did you think I could date Jen and nothing serious happen? Regardless of her being a woman, a relationship grows, it doesn’t stand still. Did you think I wouldn’t love her? I warned you about what could happen yet you still felt it necessary for us to take this road. What do you plan to do with Karen? Surely you don’t expect to just date her and never go any further. You just gonna date women and break up when they want more? Not likely; won’t that be suspicious? Isn’t that what you were so worried about before? We can’t have folks questioning your sexuality now can we?” David puts forth sarcastically.

          Taking a deep breath before exhaling aloud, Brad concedes, “I have no idea what I was thinking back then. Somehow I must’ve made sense of it at the time. What does that have to do with now? I’m telling you how I feel now and what I want for us. Would you rather I not say anything? You want me to live my life for these other people?”

          “Don’t play altruist. What is it that you’re doing for these other people? By other people I assume you mean me and Karen. Gosh you’re incredulous!” David rants. “What about what’s been done for you? The sacrifices I’ve made that now seem to be meaningless even though you posed them to me drenched in ultimatum. Now that I’ve done what you coerced, you want something else. You want us to carry on like people who don’t have other love interests. How much collateral damage is enough?”

           “I don’t know how all of this became my fault. I thought we were a couple in love; how silly of me. What about you David? You’ve had demands along the way too. Don’t get all altar boy on me. We’ve both made choices to be together. Neither one of us wanted to be out; I’m just the one that was bold enough to admit it. Next time I won’t bother to tell you how I feel if it’s gonna be like this.”

          Not tell me? That’s unlikely; you’re always telling people what you think whether they wanna know or not. Bold? Yeah right, so bold that you couldn’t handle us in love and decided we needed to fake affairs with other people. Yeah you’re a b word alright but bold ain’t it. “You’re a lot of things, but quiet isn’t one of them,” David fires.

          He’d better remember that when he doesn’t hear from me later. “Good one,” Brad affirms while making sure his gym bag has all of its contents. “Look, I don’t wanna argue. We can talk about this later. I need to get to work.”

          “Me too; I was supposed to review an RFP last night but put it down. I was so distracted,” David admits.

          “You couldn’t focus? Brad sympathizes.

          “No babe; you were on my mind,” David confesses brushing Brads face tenderly. “I was thinking about us and the quandary we’ve made for ourselves. It seems to get deeper as time goes on. I don’t want us to screw up our lives and everyone who loves us too. We need to come to some resolve and we need to do it sooner rather than later.”

          “You’re right; we do, but we need to head to work first right babe?” Brad directs putting his gym bag on his shoulder and motioning David to his.

          “Right,” David acknowledges as they exit the 24 Hour Fitness Locker Room unaware that Jennifer, his wife, is waiting in the parking lot. 

*******

          Having finished their Perdomos and the strawberries, Shaun continues running lines with Toni while eyeing the chocolates that Toni sat out earlier.

          “I thought you didn’t like chocolate.”

          “I usually don’t, but that looks like the white chocolate candies that Lindt makes,” Shaun suggests.

          “They are; go ahead and get some. Bring me some too,” Toni instructs watching as Shaun stands up. Her silhouette rhythmic, eliciting Toni’s attention. Thank goodness you can’t hear my thoughts. You make me wanna forget we’re just friends. Damn you fine. How about we talk about more than friendship?

“Is this enough or you want more?” Shaun asks showing Toni a handful of candy.

          I want more, so much more. You have no idea how much I want, Toni appraises then responds, “Oh yeah, I don’t need even that much.”

          Changing the subject Shaun calls upon Toni, “Do you mind if I crash here? I don’t really feel like driving now.”

         “Of course not; unless you’re housing an extra four hundred pounds under those clothes, I think my bed should be big enough or I can get you some covers for the couch.”

          “Shoot, I don’t want the couch.”

          “I figured not,” Toni retorts and they join in a chorus of laughter.

*******

Stay tuned and find out what happens next, Monday (5/17/2010)

   Why is Jennifer parked outside the gym, does she suspect something?

      Is Michelle gonna sleep with Mike even though she made plans to sleep with Andi?
          Does Toni really want to be more than friends with Shaun?

  Is Karen still searching for answers about her desire for women?