Arduous

After a small breakfast, you take a quick shower and change into the spare set of work clothes you have at Carrie's for when you have a sleepover. She hands you your phone and kisses you goodbye, and with that you're off to work. On the commute, you're replaying the events of last night in your mind; the fact that you had a threesome with your girlfriend and her married best friend amazes you. Despite that, the biggest news might be that you told Carrie you loved her. You have never said that to a girlfriend before, and you hope this is the start of a lifelong relationship.

As you pull up to Simmons Pharmaceutical, you decide that you have two major tasks today: survive after the your draining day yesterday, and deciding on the next married woman for Carrie and you to seduce. Due to the fact that Carrie doesn't particularly know any of these women, you figure that you won't be having another threesome tonight, but you will need to start laying the groundwork soon.

You're the first to arrive at your cubicle, and you set down your bag to get ready for your 8:00 a.m. with Ted. You're not exactly sure of what it is, but you figure it has something to do with Karen's workload being passed onto you. You grab some documents and head over to Ted's office.

"Finally, John, you're here. I've been waiting forever for you." You refrain from rolling your eyes, you're here for the meeting five minutes early and he's already chastising you for being late.

"What do you need Ted?" You ask, sitting down in one of his chairs across from his desk. "You didn't tell me what this meeting is about."

"I'm going to need you to take over Karen's duties from now on."

"I know that. She gave me everything of hers yesterday."

"No. I mean full time. She won't be returning to Simmons."

"Well, I suppose that's good for her. When are we going to hire her replacement?"

"We won't be. I'm pawning off her duties onto you and a couple others, so we can cut back and save money."

At this point, you start to get angry. As always, Ted is cutting corners and understaffing his department. But because it looks good on the bottom line, he'll do it without a regret in the world.

"Does Marissa know about this?" You ask, trying to figure out a way to stop this. You like your job well enough, but you're not sure how many unpaid overtime you want to spend over the next year before Ted's plan inevitably blows up in his face. Especially when you have a burgeoning relationship with exciting extracurricular activities that you'd rather spend your time at.

"Of course she does." Ted replies angrily. "Now stop questioning me and do some work for once." As he's dismissing you, his phone rings. He lights up and answers it quickly with you still in the room. "Hey honey, how are you? No, I'm sure I want that. I'll call them and make them give you a consult. My wife needs to be the best, and I really think you need to get some work done on your face." You silently leave, letting Ted talk to his wife in privacy. You think back to when you saw Helen yesterday. She's as attractive as ever, and you question why Ted would want her to get plastic surgery. Though, based on his decisions at work, Ted ruining a good thing makes perfect sense to you.

As you return from your quick meeting with Ted, you catch sight of Mary in the parking lot out a nearby window. It seems that her husband James dropped her off this morning, as he's talking to her outside a car that you don't recognize as Mary's. They're chatting amicably, and Mary gives him a big kiss before turning and walking to the building. You nod, and you're glad a couple you know is happy together. You resolve not to pursue Mary, as you didn't want to break up a good marriage. Besides, there were plenty of unhappy wives for you and Carrie to seduce, there was no need to get greedy.

You sit down at your chair and greet Mary as she walks in. She gives you a double take when she sees you, and you look at her in confusion.

"Hey, you look way different today. Something good happen to you since yesterday?" You think back to your threesome with Natalie last night, and think to yourself that calling that good was a definite understatement.

"Something like that." You reply. You couldn't imagine Mary's reaction if she found out you had a threesome. It was equal chance of her being scandalized or her high fiving you and asking for details. You check your calendar and realize that you're scheduled to show Summer the ropes at Simmons.

You grab a couple of files, and head over to Karen's cubicle where Summer has set up shop at for the time being. You smile at her as your greet her, and sit down to show her the various programs she's expected to use over her summer here. It's a typical meeting for a new hire, with a lot of setting up profiles and settings to aid her for future work. Towards the end of the meeting, you have an opportunity to probe a little about her personal life after she mentions her boyfriend, and you jump at the chance.

"So, tell me about your boyfriend. The two of you must be pretty serious if he gave you a promise ring. I didn't know people still did that nowadays."

"Oh. Jose and I are high school sweetheart who've managed to stay together despite going to colleges in different states. He gave the ring to me before I left for Duke, and it's kept our bond strong."

"Well that is downright adorable. What does Jose do?"

"He's working part-time for his uncle while going to a community college. I'm proud of him for working to improve himself."

"As you should be. It sounds like the two of you are the perfect couple."

"Well," Summer mumbles as she blushes. "I wouldn't go that far. But we're making it work long distance and that's all I can ask for."

You nod, and think about the potential vulnerability of this relationship. Being long distance opened up a crack in a relationship's armor and you were curious if that could exploited for Carrie's and yours benefit. You nod to yourself and get back to the training.

And that ends up being the highlight of your day at work. The rest of the day is urgent emails from Ted yelling at you to work harder and a never ending feeling of being behind on your work. By the time 5 o'clock rolls around, you're mentally exhausted and just want to go home.

Before you can, however, Mary taps you on the shoulder. You turn around and she asks,

"Hey, can I get a ride home from you? My car's in the shop and James has gotten held up at work. Apparently, one his kids needs his help for the science fair, so he's going to busy for a couple more hours. If not, it's fine, I can just grab an Uber." James works with at-risk youth and tutors them, ensuring that they stay ahead in the classroom and at home. He throws himself into his job often, as he would do anything for those kids. You think to yourself that another reason not to try and seduce Mary is that James is an absolute saint.

You ponder Mary's request. You normally would absolutely help a close friend like Mary. But after Mary saw the picture of Carrie's face on your phone, you weren't sure if it might be awkward between the two of you.