Another One

"Do you really think I would do that to you?"

"You already have Audrey; twice."

"I was younger and a little more flighty then Rob. I have grown up a lot."

I took a chance and asked for a date and, as the last time, one led to two which led to a third and then we were keeping each other company again. On our fifth date we made love for the first time. There previously had been a lot of hot and heavy necking, but we had never gone all the way. Neither of us were virgins and though I knew it was unreasonable of me I was really pissed that Audrey wasn't. Mostly because she had probably lost it to one of the guys Monica was always setting her up with instead of me. However we seemed to fit well together and after that first time we made love three or four times a week.

As it had been before a lot of our dates were double dates with Monica and her taste in guys hadn't improved any, but also as before I kept my mouth shut and bore up under it as best I could.

We made it through our freshman and sophomore years without any more problems and I was beginning to think of our future after graduation. I was even to the point of stopping and looking in jewelry store windows at rings. One month into our senior year the Monica Monster raised its ugly head again.

It was a Thursday and we were having lunch at the cafeteria in the student union and Audrey asked:

"We don't have anything going this Saturday do we?"

"Not that I can think of. Why?"

"Monica wants me to do her a favor."

"What kind of favor?"

"This guy she is seeing has a friend coming to town for the weekend."

"Are you the only girl that Monica knows? Why is it always you that has to be the one that she sets up with her boyfriend's friends?"

"I'm sure that she knows other girls, but I'm her best friend and she just feels more comfortable when it is me with her."

"Well I'm not comfortable with it. I thought we had something working for us Aud, but you going off and dating other guys makes me wonder."

"Don't be that way Rob. It doesn't mean a thing. We will go to dinner and maybe a movie. Probably stop for a drink or two and some dancing and then I'll go home. It is just a favor to Monica and you just said that we don't have anything planned. It will be okay."

"I don't own you Audrey, but I'm going to say that I don't like it. I'm not happy with it at all" and I got up and walked away from the table.

I had hoped the way I left would give her pause and make her rethink things. I didn't see her again until lunch the next day. We talked about classes and things and after I finished eating I said:

"You want to do something this weekend?"

"Did you forget I'm going out with Monica?"

"No, but I had hoped that you would have thought it over and decided not to do it."

"We doing anything tonight?"

"I don't know about you, but I'm going to call around and see if anybody has a sister or a female cousin or female friend coming to town who needs a date" and I got up and left her sitting there.

She tried to talk to me after our afternoon class, but I didn't stop to talk. She called me twice that night. The first time she told me that I was being unreasonable and I told her not to my way of thinking and I hung up on her. The second time she gave me a ration of shit for hanging up on her and I hung up on her again.

Saturday I called around and found a couple of guys to go out drinking with. Mike had heard of a new place out on the turnpike and so we went out that way to check the place out. We had been there maybe an hour when Ben said:

"Isn't that Audrey?"

I looked and sure enough it was Audrey, Monica and two guys. One guy had his arm around Audrey and she was looking up at him and smiling. They took a table at the other end of the room from us and ordered drinks. The guy who had his arm around Audrey leaned over and said something to her and she laughed and then they kissed. They got up to dance and moved so close together that I doubt you would have been able to slide a sheet of paper between them. Audrey had both arms around his neck and he had both hands on her ass pulling her into him.

I watched for an hour as they danced and kissed and then I'd had enough. I told Ben and Mike that I needed to move to some other place to do my drinking or I would probably end up in jail for creating a very nasty disturbance. We got up to leave and I stopped at Audrey's table. When she saw me I saw her face change to an "Oh shit!" look and I leaned down and said to Audrey's guy:

"She is a great piece of ass, but make sure that you use a condom. The last time I fucked her she gave me a bad case cock rot. Took damned near a month to clear up."

Then I looked Audrey in the eye and said, "Nice seeing you again Aud" and then I walked away.

Mike, Ben and I went over to the Landing Strip Lounge near the airport and saw Harlina Collins, Nancy Neubert and Bev Holbrook sitting at a table and they waved us over to join them. We danced and drank with the girls until closing and then hit the Denny's on Wayne Road for an early breakfast. Harlina was riding with Bev and as we finished eating Harlina commented on the fact that she lived close to me and could I give her a ride home since Bev lived in the opposite direction so I told her no problem. Bev took Mike with her since they only lived two blocks apart. Ben and Nancy had been making eyes at each other all night so they left together.

Once in my car I asked Harlina why she wasn't out with Toby on a Saturday night.

"Toby is history."

"Oh? When did that happen?"

"When I caught him screwing Helen Liss."

"I didn't know. Sorry."

"I'm not. Better to find out he is a cheating asshole now rather than later. Why aren't you with Audrey tonight?"

"Pretty much for the same reason you aren't with Toby."

"We can sure pick them."

I didn't say anything to that and after maybe a minute Harlina looked over at me and said:

"You know what I'm the most sorry about?"

"No idea."

"I was so looking forward to giving up my cherry on prom night, but then Toby ended up in the hospital. I almost talked myself into letting you do the deed, but at the last minute I decided to stay true to Toby. Too bad that I didn't know then what I know now." She was silent for a bit and then she said, "Any interest in seeing what we both missed out on?"

After what I'd seen Audrey doing I owed her nothing so I looked over at Harlina and smiled.

The hot kiss that Harlina had given me on prom night had hinted at the passion inside her waiting to be released. If what she gave me was even half of what she'd had inside her waiting to break out on prom night I'd missed out on the experience of a lifetime. She was hot and she was damned near insatiable and she took me to my absolute limits. At six in the morning she was trying to get me to respond again and I just could not answer the call. We'd made love four times and I just didn't have a fifth in me.

"Maybe tonight" I told her, "but no way I can go again until I've had some rest."

"Tonight is out because it is my parent's twenty-fifth wedding anniversary and I have to be at their party, but I don't have anything going tomorrow."

I was just a touch slow in answering that and Harlina said, "It is too soon for me to be thinking of Toby's replacement Rob, but I would like to have someone around to help me get over him."

"My last class is at three."

"I get home from work at five."

"Six o'clock?"

"I'll be ready."

At two that Afternoon I got a call from Audrey.

"That was a rotten thing to say to Kyle and why were you following me anyway?"

"What's the matter Audrey? He didn't have a condom or did he have one and wouldn't take a chance? And I didn't follow you Audrey. Mike, Ben and I were there an hour before you got there and I sat there and watched you and your dickhead date for another hour before I stopped by to say hi. Think back on everything you did from the time you walked in the door until I stopped by your table and you will know what I saw. Should what I saw have made me happy Audrey? Goodbye."

The phone rang again almost immediately and I took it off the hook and left it off until I left to go to the movies two hours later.

The next day I was taking my lunch break at the student cafeteria when Audrey sat down at my table. I looked up at her and said in a slightly unfriendly tone:

"What do you want?"

"I want to know what the hell you thought you were doing the other night. I'm here because you can't hang up on me here and if you get up and walk away I'll just get up and walk with you. I'm not letting you tune me out."

"You would be better off tuning me out me out than hearing what I have to say."

"I can't refute it until you do."

"You can't refute it anyway. I saw what I saw and there is absolutely no excuse – none! – for a woman to behave that way with a man when she already has – make that had – a steady boyfriend. If you behaved that way in public there is no doubt in my mind about what you were going to do in private. When I stopped at your table and said what I said I did it in the hope that it would ruin your evening because God knows you had already ruined mine."

"You honestly think I would have done that? You have that low of an opinion of me?"

"Actions speak for themselves Audrey. You did everything but fuck him while I sat back in the corner and watched. He played with your ass and your tits and he had his tongue so far down your throat that it probably touched the backside of your belly button. You made absolutely no attempt to shut him down. All you did was smile and I'll say it again; if you were doing that out in the open in public there is no doubt in my mind at all about what was going on in private."

"I swear to you Rob that nothing was going to happen. Okay, maybe I did go a little overboard, but we were having a good time and I was just going with the flow. I told Kyle ahead of time that I had a steady boyfriend and not to expect anything."

"He obviously didn't believe you or he wouldn't have been taking the liberties he took and your allowing those liberties pretty much told him that you didn't really mean what you said."

"God damn it Rob, nothing happened. Nothing was going to happen. After you left the table Kyle asked me if you were my boyfriend and when I said yes he told me I should get up and go after you. The only reason I didn't is because I was pissed at you because I thought you were following me. Please Rob, you have to believe me. Nothing happened and nothing was going to happen."

"I don't know Audrey. It seems to me that I'm only your boyfriend until Monica gives you a call and then I'm not until she doesn't need you. I don't think I want that kind of a relationship. Three times we have had a problem and all three times were because of Monica. I'm a realist Audrey. There is no way I can come between two people who have a fifteen year friendship. No way can I say Monica or me, your choice. I think it is best that we just call it quits and move on. Sorry Audrey, but that's the way I see it."

I got up and headed for my next class.

Over the next three weeks I saw Audrey almost every day at school, but we didn't talk. Over the same period I got together with Harlina seven or eight times as we worked on our friends with benefits relationship. Then two things happened within three hours of each other that changed things.

The first was Harlina bumping into me at the student book store and telling me that she and Toby were going to give things another try and asking me if I would please never let him find out about what we had done together. I promised silence and wished her good luck.

The second thing happened at the end of my last class of the day. I found Monica waiting for me in the hall outside of the classroom. She stepped up to me and said:

"What the hell is wrong with you? Why are you being such a dickhead toward Audrey? That girl is in love with you and you are treating her like shit."

"What? You are pretending that you don't know what went on?"

"I know what went on. Nothing! That's what went on. I was with her the whole time from the time we picked her up until we dropped her off and outside of some touchy-feely shit nothing happened. Okay so the girl had a drink or two too many and got a little loose, but Kyle knew she was spoken for and Tom and I weren't going to let anything happen."

"If everyone knew she was spoken for why the hell were you asking her to date another guy?"

"Because I didn't know until you kicked her to the curb how she really felt about you. To me you were just another guy she was dating. I didn't know you were special to her until we picked her up and she told Kyle that all she was going to be was company and why. At that point Tom and I appointed ourselves as her babysitter.

"We hit the Aladdin and had several drinks and waited for the band before we found out that their van got in an accident on the way to the lounge. We probably could have done with a few less drinks, but what the hell; we were out to have a good time. Nothing happened and nothing was going to happen. Kyle even told Aud to run after you after you left our table.

"The poor girl is a wreck. She comes to school and then goes home and sits and cries. If you have any feelings at all for her give the kid a break. You need to do something soon or you are liable to lose her. She is a lot tougher than she looks and sooner or later she will suck it up and move on. Think on it. Think on it hard."

She gave me a hard look and then she walked away.

I spent a day or two thinking about what Monica had said and it might have been true that nothing was going to happen. What it all came down to was that I had been hung up on Audrey since the ninth grade – over six years – and I missed not being with her.

When I got to the student union on Friday I saw Audrey sitting alone at a table and I took a deep breath, sucked it up and went over and sat down with her.

"I'm sorry Audrey. I overreacted and I apologize for the things I said."

"No need Rob. I've been over that night in my mind a dozen times and I can see why you thought what you thought. My behavior was inexcusable for someone who had a steady boyfriend."

I started to stand up and she asked, "Where are you going?"

"I just stopped by to apologize."

She pointed at the chair and said, "Sit! This is the first time you have talked to me in weeks and I want to keep it going. How have you been?"

We talked in general while we ate and just before I needed to leave for my next class Audrey asked:

"Do you have any plans for tonight?" and looked at me expectantly and just like that we were back together.

I proposed in October of our senior year, she said yes and we began making plans for a June wedding following graduation.

As it had been in the past we did double date with Monica and her beau from time to time. She had finally settled on Tom and for a change he wasn't a dick head like most of Monica's previous guys and I actually liked him.

On June sixteenth Audrey and I took our vows with Monica acting as her Maid of Honor and one month later Audrey stood with Monica as she and Tom were married.

The first six months of our marriage were trouble free and then there was another 'Monica Moment.' It was a Saturday night and Audrey and I had gone to dinner and after eating Audrey said she would like to go somewhere for a few drinks and some dancing so I drove us over to the Starlight Lounge. We had been there about forty-five minutes when Monica, Tom and two guys I didn't know arrived and took a table at the other end of the room from us. Naturally Audrey had to go over and say hi and I expected her to come back and tell me that we were going to move over to their table and join them.

That isn't what happened. Audrey was there for almost ten minutes and then she got up and danced with one of the guys I didn't know. After the dance she went back to Monica's table and two minutes later she got up and danced with the other guy I didn't know and after that dance she went back to Monica's table. I gave it another five minutes and then I got up and moved toward her. I was about halfway to her when she got up to dance with the first guy she had danced with. Was I pissed? Take a wild guess.

I got my wallet out and took out a twenty. I walked up to Audrey and the guy and grabbed Audrey's arm as I said:

"Excuse me for a second." I handed Audrey the twenty and said, "Here's cab fare" and I turned and walked away.

I had the car started and was just taking it out of 'park' when the passenger door opened and Audrey got in. She slammed the door and said:

"What the hell is wrong with you Rob? You were actually going to leave me there?"

"Me? There is nothing wrong with me Audrey. It is all on you."

"What the hell do you mean by that?"

"Every time you get near Monica your brain short circuits. You went over to say hi to Monica and twenty-five minutes later, after dancing with two guys I've never seen before I'd finally had enough and I came over to tell you goodbye and leave you with who you obviously wanted to be with. It sure wasn't me. You forgot that I was even there."

"Get a grip Rob. All you ha..."

"Can it Audrey. I don't want to hear it."

"Damn it Ro...."

"Just shut the fuck up Audrey!!!"

The rest of the ride home was made in silence.

Things were cool around the house for the next three days and then on Tuesday Audrey woke me up with a blow job and when I was hard enough she moved over me and rode me cowgirl until we both came. She leaned forward and lay on my chest and said:

"I'm sorry baby."

I wisely didn't say a word.

Over the next couple of months I saw some things that disturbed me especially in the light of the time Audrey spent around Monica. One day as I was driving home from work I was passing the Motel 6 on Danbury and for some unknown reason I looked to my right just in time to see Monica come out of one of the rooms with a man who was most definitely not Tom.

Three weeks later I was having lunch with my boss at the downtown Hilton and I was sitting where I could see the lobby. I saw Monica come in with a man and they went to the check in desk. Five minutes later they got into the elevator and I knew the Hilton well enough to know that there was nothing above the first floor but rooms.

I debated telling Audrey what I'd seen, but decided not to. She knew I didn't care for Monica and she would probably think I was trying to make something out of nothing. I didn't know Tom well enough to go to him and for all I knew he and Monica had one of those open marriage type things going.

Two months later Tom took a job at XYZ Industries out in California and I breathed a sigh of relief that Monica was gone from our life. And now here was Audrey telling me that Monica was back. Oh Joy!

++++++++++++++++++++++

Over the next month Audrey met Monica a half a dozen times for lunch and then came what I knew was coming.

"Honey if it is all right with you I'm going to stop after work tonight for drinks with Monica and a couple of girls that we grew up and went to school with. There are plenty of leftovers in the fridge so you can micro-wave yourself something for dinner okay?"

I was going to say no? Best friends for two-thirds of her life and I was going to say "I'd much rather you didn't" to her? I could just imagine what things would be like around the house if I did that. I didn't say a word, but I did give her a long look that told her that I had reservations based on previous experience and I hoped she would take those reservations to heart. Silly me. I should have told her exactly what I was thinking and taken the heat.

She was home by eight-thirty and told me she'd had a good time talking with her girlfriends and being brought up to date on the happenings in their lives. Then she took me to bed and did her level best to turn me into a total wreck. It was not our normal way. We usually made love three or four times a week, but normally it was some foreplay, some mutual oral, do it one time and then cuddle up and go to sleep. That night we went three times and Aud was doing her best to try and get me up for a fourth, but I just could not answer the call. As we lay there cuddling I asked her what had gotten in to her.