First Among Equals

Robert Ravers watched the little circular loading icon spin, walking along as he waited. Monica hung a step back, not really wanting to walk too far in case the text in fact didn’t send and someone did actually have to stay behind. She admired his confidence and carefree attitude, a trait he’d had since youth and never seemed to lose, and she wished she could be like that sometimes. Less wrapped up in the concerns of the world and what others think and just able to walk down any given path, confident that things would just work out.

“A-ha,” Robert cheered, as things did, once again, work out for him. The text was successfully sent, indicated by a small tick beside the message. He slipped the phone into his trouser pocket as Monica caught up with him, only now that the text was sent being willing to fully commit to the path they were on.

They walked in silence for several minutes, neither one really sure how to broach the subject that was the elephant in the room. They were saved by the bell for another few moments by Robert’s message tone. Monica cocked her head over as Robert pulled his phone back out and opened the text conversation he’d began with Heather.

“She says they walked all the way from the caves to the waterfall,” Robert paraphrased the text, Monica reading along as she looked over his arm. “They’re going to head back to the cabin now as well.”

“I’ll admit that all worked out fairly well,” Monica said as Robert put his phone away. “I expected something bad to happen but the worst thing to happened was that we fell down that hole.”

“And even that didn’t end badly, right?” Robert glanced at Monica, grinning. “But that has always been your problem, Mon; worrying about things that might never happen. I bet you’ve been fretting over the fact that you fucked Kurt the other day, imagining one of the staff is going to tell the Hospital Administrator or your husband.”

Monica frowned. He was right. She had been worried about that nurse that had come to the door while Kurt was fucking her. Had she seen anything? Was she going around telling everyone that Dr. Bishop was a slut who fucked her patients? Worse, had she told a superior? Monica had spent the whole day refreshing her emails, expecting to receive a summons to the Head administrator’s office.

“I’m just no good at being bad,” Monica replied. “Most people wouldn’t consider that a bad thing, you know.”

“And I don’t either. If that’s who you wanted to be. But I know you Mon. You want to do the bad thing, you just worry you’ll get caught too much to follow through,” Robert assessed, looking at the conflicted expression on her face. “Me, I do the bad thing and don’t worry and nine times out of ten nothing happens.”

“And what about the other one tenth of the time?”

“See what I mean?” Robert chuckled. “Listen, Mon, I’ll be honest with you, as I always have. I want you. I want to see you again.”

Monica bit her lip. “And what if I want exclusivity? If I said to you that I would only be with you, leave my husband and break up my family, if you could devote yourself to me and only me?”

“You wouldn’t because you would know better than to ask for that,” Robert replied soberly. “You know I can’t give that to you, not because I don’t want to but because it’s not in my nature. If I could have done that I’d still be with Brooke and none of this would be a question at all.”

“So, what am I to do?” Monica asked.

“You can stay with Gregory. I don’t mind. I’m not so self-centred to think you can’t be afforded the same freedom as me. You can even fuck other men if you like.” Robert proposed. “All I ask is that I’m afforded the same privilege that I offer you; to be placed first before all the others.”

“So, let’s say Gregory is on night shift and it’s 2 am. I wake up horny and my toys aren’t doing it for me.” Monica whispered, her voice turning husky. “So, I ring you and you’re out with some other slut. What then?”

“I come running,” Robert said immediately.

Monica sighed, her eyes sparkling with temptation. It sounded intriguing, but Monica realised that it worked both ways. She would be expected to drop who or what she was doing at 2 am to run to him as well. Including her husband. And it was easier for Robert to say this, he didn’t have the reputation and responsibilities that Monica had to uphold. This was not an agreement that she could enter into lightly.

“Let me think about it,” Monica insisted.

“Sure,” Robert replied brightly, having not got the answer he wanted but also not the one he dreaded. “Take all the time you need.”

“Thank you,” Monica smiled, but he could see in her eyes that she was still troubled.

“Don’t worry,” he encouraged her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “If the universe wants us to be together it will bring us back to each other, just as it did tonight.”

Monica murmured her agreement as they rounded a corner and began their descent down the sloping path towards the crossroads. She could already see the large towering rock at the bottom of the path where the trail from the cabin split off towards the caves and the waterfall. How long had they been walking for? It had felt like no time at all while they were talking but they seemed to have managed to walk from the caves to the crossroads in what felt like a very sort amount of time.

That wasn’t the only surprise. As they drew closer to the where the path split Monica recognised a blonde teenager standing in the centre of the fork, looking one way and then the other, his face contorted with panic.

“Kurt?” She called out to him as she and Robert drew closer, Robert’s arm slipping off her shoulders as the younger man turned around to face them. “What’s wrong?”

“Uh? Oh, Dr. Bishop, Mr. Ravers, oh…um…nothing…” Kurt stammered, rubbing the back of his neck. “I was just…uh…looking for something…not a person, I mean, just…um…something.” And then, trying to deflect some of the attention away from himself, asked, “Where are Zack and Heather?”

“What are you talking about?” Robert retorted. “Heather said she was at the waterfall with Zack. I assumed you and Lisa were with her because that’s where you were supposed to be searching.”

“They are? I mean, yes, they are!” Kurt said, the panic on his face being replaced with relief. “I was just asking where they were because…I thought they were ahead of me. But they must be behind me. Doy!”

Kurt playfully smacked himself on the head, then turned and ran down the path towards the waterfall, leaving Robert and Monica a little puzzled and suspicious. Neither really believed his story, but it also didn’t seem to be anything very serious and they both had more pressing matters at hand.

“Sometimes I think it was a mistake to let these kids stay up here for two whole weeks,” Robert confessed as they began the walk to the cabin. “Heather’s the only one I trust to act with any sort of sense.”

“Oh, I trust Zack as well. He can indecisive at times, but he has a good head on his shoulders.” Monica replied. “Life just always seems to work out in his favour.”