The Greater Good

Rachel Jacks had no idea how she had gotten into the situation she was in. She stared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror as she leaned on the vanity countertop, thinking through her memories. How had she been so stupid? How had she gotten married to Jordan Jacks?

The thing was, Rachel was no lesbian! Not even a little. She wasn’t even attracted to women in the abstract. And yet, two years prior, she had stood at the altar, in front of all her friends and family, and became the wife of Jordan Jacks, a person who was undoubtably a woman.

Yes, she had somehow thought that Jordan was a man back then, but looking at her memory, seeing Jordan standing there in her tuxedo, the femininity of the groom was the most obvious thing in the world.

Rachel could leave her. She had been duped into the marriage, obviously, but she wouldn’t. She was going to have a very important role to play in The Mission. Things had to be set right, and Jordan needed to be shown how to be happy. There was no way she was happy how she was, pretending to be a man, hiding from her true self. No, Rachel was in it for the long haul.

“Pretend she’s a man,” she told her reflection quietly, “just a while longer. She’ll thank you for it later, even if it’s a lie.”

She hoped she was right. In her heart, she still loved Jordan, but not like a lover would, but like a best friend. Rachel couldn’t wait to be able to share the things she had always done with her girlfriends with Jordan. Shopping, gossiping, talking about men. Jordan was going to love it.

But for now Rachel was going to have to swallow the poison pill. In a few minutes Jordan would be waking up, and Rachel would have to pretend that nothing had changed. She grimaced as she imagined kissing Jordan, a woman. She could frown in the mirror, but when she saw the woman pretending to be a man, Rachel would have to pretend that she was enjoying it. Jordan and Rachel had enjoyed a very active sex life, and while thoughts of sex with a woman turned Rachel’s stomach, The Mission required that she pretend it wasn’t disgusting, at least for the time being.

“You can do this,” she said through gritted teeth, gripping the countertop, “just a while longer. It’s going to make her very happy.”

And it would, and so Rachel would play along. Somewhere inside she would find the inner strength to overcome her sexual preference and be a lesbian, at least for a bit. It was for the greater good.