Part 03 - Serendipity

Part 03 - Serendipity

Heather's phone was buzzing every few minutes. Charlie, a few feet away, interrupted his work on fixing the squeaky stairs.

"Babe, your phone is buzzing." He said.

"I know..." Heather kept her head in the dishes and prepping afternoon snacks for the kids.

"It's been buzzing for a while, you sure you don't want to check who it is..." He got back to his handiwork.

"I know who it is." Her tone turned just a bit defensive. She didn't mean it to, but she couldn't help it considering the circumstance. The hammer pounding on the stairs stopped again.

"Well??" Charlie inquired "Who is it? Who wants your attention so badly." Charlie chuckled.

"It's nothing, it's silly." Heather stopped placing grapes and crackers in plastic colored bowls. Wiping her hands on the skirt of her dress, she placed them behind her on the counter and leaned back. "Its this girl I met at the gym the other day, during my aerobics class."

"What does she want." Charlie resumed the pounding.

"She wants to meet up for dinner and drinks. She has been hounding me for days." Heather said crossing her arms. "She's young, and single, and she wants to have a night out." Charlie laughed at the prospect.

"And?" He said continuing his work.

"And what honey?" Heather furrowed her brows

"What do you want? You wanna go?" Charlie looked up at her again.

"Ugh" Heather sighed. "I don't know if it really matters. We have so much work around the house. I don't think I'll have the time." Heather shook her head and turned back to her snacks.

"Well, I mean considering how much you've been working out recently, at least its good you're making friends." Charlie got down from the stairs and stood a few feet away, leaning on the island in the kitchen behind her.

"Yeah..." Heather grabbed her phone and scrolled through the texts, putting it in her pocket. "It's been nice to get out again, even if its for a couple of hours." She put the snacks next to her husband. "Can you help me take these out to the porch?" She held up the jar of punch pointing it to the door of the back porch.

Charlie grabbed the two bowls in front of him. "So, listen, I was thinking...I know we talked about our date night."

"Oh god here we go..." Heather rolled her eyes.

"Will you just listen; the boys are having a draft night in person." Charlie placed the bowls on the table, next to the jar with sprinkles of liquid that had splashed out in splatters around it. "And..."

"Charlie..." Heather put her hands to her forehead, sitting on the chair next to the couch. "I don't want to keep doing this with you..."

"I'm not cancelling honey. Just if we can go a night earlier or a night later?" He scooted closer to her on the couch. "It's on a Saturday...I'll make you deal." Heather leaned back on the chair and crossed her arms folding her legs in front of her. "I'll do the draft Saturday, and we go on our date night, either Friday or Sunday. My mother is going to be in town that weekend anyway, you can have your night out with what's her face, from the gym on Saturday."

"I can HAVE a night? Charlie?" Her gaze was piercing and compressing the air between them.

"No, that is not what I meant. I mean you can enjoy a well-earned night off with your friends, whoever it might be." Charlie reached for her hand which Heather yanked away, but eventually relented on relinquishing. "I didn't mean 'Have'. I really didn't" Charlie voice grew softer.

She looked away at the kids playing outside. "Have you considered that it is things like this that add to the issues we have?" Heather voice cracked. "You always do this."

"That is not true...I do it sometimes, but you do too." Charlie winced after he had said it.

"Fine. Go." Heather retorted. "We can have our night Friday." Her smile was cutting.

"No, okay I'll cancel, Its not important, we can keep our date night." Charlie was rubbing his forehead.

"No Charlie, I want to go Friday night. You have your draft on Saturday, and I will go out Saturday. Its settled." She stood up and called the kids for their snack.

"I am serious, I'll reschedule! I'm sorry!" Charlie pleaded

"No, absolutely not. We have a plan, and I want to stick to that plan. I want a night out. Like you said, I've earned it." Heather called the kids again, her scream a bit shriller than the previous one.

"Will you stop! I'm trying to compromise!" Charlie tried to pull her down.

"No! You know what, I was slightly annoyed, but now I'm mad. Charlie, you are not compromising, you have created a situation, you have made a decision, or a plan, and now you are trying to compromise with me on YOUR plan." Heather bent over the arm guard of the chair she was sitting on. "I didn't change our plans sweetheart, you did. And now you are telling me that going back to our original plans is a 'compromise'?? Absolutely not." Heather started back into the house.

"no...is there anything I can do to stop you...please don't go..." Charlie sat back, he popped a grape into his mouth, and put his feet on the table. Heather stopped in the doorway. Her cheeks pointed as her teeth clenched.

"Fuck you." The door slammed shut behind her, right as the other door opened with the prattle of footsteps and muffled noises. She looked through the window in kitchen onto the porch, the top of her husband's baseball cap and her kids. She leaned against the island and slid down to the floor, ignoring the buzz she felt in his hip pocket.

Picking up her head from in-between her knees, she grabbed the phone out of her pocket. Seeing there were 13 messages. She unlocked her phone, the tip of her glossy finger nails scrolling through them. She drifted out of though. Looking at the brown checkered tiles on the floor. Her phone outstretched in front of her. She looked at the last message again, staring at it.

<I need to be inside you; I need to feel your body pressed against mine>

She took a breath, then another. Her thumbs moved sharply for a few seconds. Then she paused, for a second, and then pressed send.

<Saturday, Serendipity, 7:30. Get us a table>

She didn't wait for a response, she put her phone away, got off the floor, and went upstairs on the creaking floorboard of the stairs filling the silence inside the house.

Friday night Heather lay in bed thinking of tomorrow, she could feel her body enticed by the thoughts she had. The heat, the bed, the sheets. The feel of his arms planted alongside her shoulders. The Feel of his lower back against her heels. She started past the dozen red roses with a scribbled note, the box of her favorite chocolates leaned against the vase next to the blinking clock that had the same red hue of the roses. She caressed her shoulder as the slender strap of her champaign pink negligee fell off to the side of her arm. Her legs and feet moving involuntarily creating heat from the friction. She could feel warmth in between her thighs, a reminder of how she felt when he had grabbed her downstairs. When his lips crept closer after each sentence. She flipped on her back, her hands reaching to feel that warmth between her thighs. She caressed the borders of her veiled, silky drapery, and the feeling of her smooth upper thigh. Her fingers skirted the borders till she could feel that warmth against the very tips of her fingers. Careful not to disturb the comforter, she spread her knees just enough to allow her fingers to find the source. Circling the borders of her pussy, she pursed her lips as her head arched back. Soft sighs of pleasure escaped her lips and her hips began to ungulate.

She jolted back to her side in one swift movement when she heard a thud or snap of wood somewhere in the house. The jerk invited Charlie to grumble and turn on his side with a bare hand on her shoulder. She gave out a deep sigh, and a grin gave way, looking at the clock strike 12:00 as the silence once again permeated the house.

"The emergency information is in the basket next to the fridge. The neighbors have a spare key if you guys get locked out. Don't let them eat too many treats, or else they won't go to bed on time, we have a soccer game early tomorrow. Charlie should be home by 11/11:30, and I'll have my cell on me. And..." Heather's purse refused to stay on her shoulder as she rushed from the kitchen to the hallway leading to the front door.

"Yes, yes, I know. GO already." The voice from the living room shouted back. Mixed in with the laughter of kids.

"And make sure they take their baths. Both of them. Goodnight, guys, I love you." Heather screamed from leaning out of the front door. The door slammed behind her. She stroked her deep blue dress from her chest to her lower stomach, then gathering the bunch of her hair between her fingers and moving them behind her ear. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before exhaling through pursed lips before making her way to the car.

The sun was setting and the knot in her stomach was unrelenting. She eyes every exit on the freeway, every chance to turn back, followed by a firm depression of her accelerator with the top of her heeled shoes. Her necklace and rings on her fingers glared the moonlight into the car. The tall buildings of downtown area providing a kaleidoscope of neon and starlight. She saw the sign in a distant, in a hue of yellow and red in cursive inlaid with silhouettes of deep purple. There was a gaggle of people right outside, with pulses of music intermingled with murmurs of conversations echoing in the area. She looked around the faces to find any hint of recognition, but in vain.

Heather stepped out of her car in the garage. The car beeped an echo as she reached down to unscramble the bottom of her dress away from her heels. She draped her shimmering sliver purse around her neck and shoulder resting it just above the slit of her dress on her hip. Dawning her brown jacket, she briskly walked towards the front of the establishment. Waiting for the elevator, she grabbed her phone and scrolled to her texts.

<We may have a slight problem, but I don't think it's a big deal. Come to the back>

Her heart was pounding, she scrambled through the phone to call him, but as the doors of the elevator closed, the phone beeped that the call could not be completed. The opening doors revealed a crowd of people in the distance. Again, her face and dress reflected the blinking colors of the sign the edifice had dawned for the night. She gathered the courage to walk past the crowd, contorting her body to ensure her dignity and minding to preserve the sanctity of her high slit dress.

"There is a line Ma'am." A burly gentleman next to a podium stated. His black suit and janky ear piece were an all to unfamiliar site for Heather who felt silly amongst the crowd.

"I know, but I'm with someone who's inside already at a table." Heather said filing through her purse for her ID.

"Name?" The man asked looking her up and down.

"Mine or..." Heather presented her ID

"The person inside ma'am." He flashed a blue light onto it. Heather rolled her eyes at the prospect of her ID being a fake.

"I think it's probably under Kyle, or Macy, maybe?" Heather said. The man's fingers scrolled through a page in front of him.

"Go on in." He lifted the red velvet rope next to him, as Heather walked across to staring eyes behind her. Getting closer, the pulses of music grew louder, shaking the floor under her, reverberating through her legs. The inside of the establishment was a cavalcade of music, lights, and bodies. A mass of humans congregating in almost anonymity in the darkened façade. The air was thick, smelling of sticky sweetness, a mixture of perfume and booze. Heather walked the edges of the dance area, avoiding the chairs and tables to the other side of her. After turning the corner, she saw Kyle waving his hands. Much to her despair, and as she had feared, he wasn't alone.

A rush of footsteps came her way as Heather braced for the impact. Her mind was still trying to figure out how to respond and act. But before she could mute the gentle ring in her ears, she was on her.

"Hey! Glad you could join us! Sucks that Charlie is such a wet blanket, but boys and their fantasy this and fantasy that..." Heather roped her arms around her making eye contact with Kyle who was frantically motioning something she couldn't decipher.

"Hey Michelle, good to see you. And yeah, you know how it is." Heather could suddenly hear every glass clink and every beat of the bass heavy music ringing in her ears. She took her seat on the angled bench table, with her lover's wife in between them sitting in the corner.

"So glad you could make it out. Finally got a night away." Michelle was animated; there were a few empty drink glasses on the table already. "I wish I had known Charlie would bail, I would've asked Kyle to stay home and we could've had a girl's night."

"Oh, its no problem, really. I don't feel like a third wheel with you guys." Heather kept her eyes fixed on the menu glancing everything while reading nothing.

The night was a cacophony of noise and muffled conversations. Heather's hands and feet were shifting and looking for comfort within herself to no avail. The three vodka sodas she'd had were pouring into her, feeling heady and making her hyperaware of what to carefully say and how to act.

"I need to go to the bathroom, you wanna join?" Michelle said grabbing Heather's elbow.

"Huh?" Heather was staring at the glint of lights refracting from her glass.

"Bathroom, girls, come on." Michelle pulled her as she got up.

"Oh, umm, actually I should check in with my mother-in-law and see how the kids are doing. I'll join you in there afterwards." Heather said waving her phone in the air.

"Alright mommy, go do your thing." Michelle rolled her eyes and smiled. Heather saw Michelle turn the corner to join the queue for the bathroom, Heather glared at Kyle.

"You and I need to come to an understanding when I come back." Her teeth gritted as she spoke. When she got up, Kyle grabbed her elbow and pulled her lips towards hers, his fingers twirled her thin straps draped over her shoulders, and the fingers of his other hand rolled under her knee and up her thigh in between the fabric of the slit in her dress. For a moment, a brief moment, she forgot everything in the world. His tongue and lips caressing hers were like the antidote to the anxiety. And then the music, and the lights, and the pulses hit her senses. She jerked away from him, her palms pushing his chest away from hers. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?!" strands of her hair that were balled up in a bun came lose over her face. He tried to move them out of her eye line, but Heather slapped his hand away. "I don't know what you think this is, but it is not it."

"I'm sorry..." Kyle refused to break eye contact.

"You couldn't have warned me? I could've made up some excuse Kyle! Do you have any idea how uncomfortable this is? How fucking dangerous this is?" Heather tried to keep her voice low, but with the music it was challenging, and she could feel the heat in her forehead and neck.

"I knew you would've, and I didn't want that. It was selfish, even if I didn't get you alone, I still wanted to see you. I'm sorry." He said finally looking away and taking a sip of his drink

"It was fucking selfish Kyle; it was very fucking selfish." Heather swallowed the last of her drink. "I'm going to tell her the kids are not doing well, and then I am leaving..."

"No, please don't! Just give me another hour of your company. Then I'll make sure we all leave. I promise." Kyle's hands sandwiched her hand. Heather paused for a moment that seemed like eternity. She wanted do badly to leave and much more so to stay. "Please..." his hand moved from top of hers to her thigh. He scooted closer to occupy the space vacated by Michelle. Heather's body winced, half in nervousness and half in anticipation.

"One. Hour." She said under her breath. And pulled her arm away from over his. Unrelentingly he scooted closer as the music seemed to blare louder and his lips were right next to her ears, his hand cupping his mouth.

"I cannot stop thinking of the moment I penetrated you in that motel room, the feeling and rush through my body. Cupping your breasts with my hands and watching you gasp and moan and struggling to breath." He whispered and then pulled away to sip his drink again.

Heather's arms and the back of neck erupted in goosebumps as the images flashed through her mind. She breathes were short and she tried to not show her excitement. "Don't think that gets you off the hook." She blurted out. Again, annoyed at why she wasn't her usual laconic best in moments with him. "Fuck, you could've said 'nice try' or 'not good enough'..." she thought to herself.

Melissa returned to the change in seating arrangements, "Hey you took my seat." She grumbled.

"Sorry babe, we were talking about the barbeque and how we need to do more of that stuff." Kyle leaned back and invited her to sit next to him. Melissa obliged and continued their conversation from earlier. The next round of drinks we placed before them, and Heather couldn't get the reverberations of his voice out of her ear. She was twirling her straw and it was either the drinks of the brief moment of levity created by her interaction with Kyle, but the tension seemed to have dissipated. Heather swayed to the music, and at first didn't notice anything, the scene had changed and she was starting to enjoy her night off.

"...Right? Like who the fuck does that, I know you want to change the team dynamic, but at least give us a heads up..." Melissa continued, as Heather nodded along.

"You deserve better, why not just find something else?" Heather said leaning forward in her seat, and that is when she noticed. Kyle shifted forward to match her pose, guarding his arm's movement. The palm of his hand had suddenly wrapped itself around the top of her thigh, his fingers scooting in between the slit of her dress. She could feel the cold embrace on her bare thigh as she gasped, and almost spilled her drink.

"You okay?" Melissa said

"Oh yeah, yeah. Just you know, 4thdrink." Heather giggled and cleared her throat, moving her left hand to try and remove his to no avail. Then she tried to fold her legs, but when she moved, his hand drifted further up and the slit was now a chasm under the table. Her thigh, under the table, was a bare almost up to her waist. Heather thought about making an excuse to go to the bathroom, but part of her didn't want that sensation to stop. The adrenaline was making her body shiver. The morose feeling from earlier was overtaken by this burst of exhilaration. Her skin felt hot to the touch of her finger tips, around her bare neck, and shoulders. The straps of her dress suddenly felt heavy, like she wanted him to simply pluck them off with his hands. Another attempt to move her legs, and another sharp move upwards, in a precarious position on her thigh to where both of her thighs felt the now warming touch of his fingers pressed against her skin.

"Well, I think the problem is that there are no options right now. Even at our firm, we are having problems with staffing and resources." Kyle said. "It seems like risk is not something people want to take at the moment." He looked at Heather, and his little finger reached out just enough to where the tip of its nail caressed the seams of her panties flicking inside and, on the outside, up and down the border in between her thighs. Her hand grabbed his wrist under the table as she gave out a deep breath.

"Yup, exactly it. Risk is risk." Mellisa said chuckling to herself.

"Yeah. Who wants risk..." Heather could barely make out her own words.

"Well, if you ask me, I deserve an award for the patience I have shown with the clients." Melissa proclaimed.