You have an important conversation with Mary

You drive to work absentmindedly, your mind focusing more on the recent events in your apartment: Mary, your coworker and your most recent sexual conquest, storming out of your apartment after a conversation with Carrie. Thankfully, the several years of driving to Simmons Pharmaceuticals offices enable you to navigate with low brainpower. That, in turn, causes you to fall in a minor spiral of anxiety about two things: how Mary will react to you at work and how despondent Carrie seemed before you left.

You sigh as you pull into the parking lot of the stylish office building that you spend your days inside. A quick scan of the currently parked cars show that Mary isn’t here yet, which sends another tingle of worry through your stomach.

However, the major question racking your brain is what sparked the incident between Mary and Carrie? Did Carrie tell Mary that she didn’t, in fact, sleep with her husband James? Or perhaps Carrie made an offhand comment about a future sexual encounter between the three of you, and Mary wasn’t comfortable with that. Whatever it is, you hope that Mary tells you, because even the short period of confusion and questions that you’ve felt is far too much.

You walk into the office to a quiet Friday morning, the effects of Ted’s departure still felt heavily by the relaxed vibe that permeates your department. You sit down at your desk and get to work, thought as expected the lack of Mary’s presence distracts you, with you taking with many intermittent glances at the clock in the bottom right corner of your screen.

Finally, just before 9:00 a.m., you hear motion from behind you, and you turn to see Mary rush to her desk, already being almost an hour late to work. She looks ravishing, as usual, despite the fact that she must have rushed to get here so late. As you study her face, you realize that you can’t quite read her expression, so you do what you always do when confronted with an unknown and murky situation.

Attempt to diffuse it with humor.

“Long time no see,” you joke, taking a mock look at your watch. “It’s been a whole ninety minutes since I’ve seen you.” That earns you a blush from Mary at the reference to last night’s festivities, but her face quickly turns a mixture of somber and serious. She then motions her head, indicating that you should follow her.

You comply with Mary’s request as she leads you outside of your building to a secluded area a short distance away from the side doors. You recognize the spot as the former congregation spot for the smokers of your building, back before Simmons banned smoking in the name of public health. You didn’t personally partake in the act, but you remember it was quite the hubbub a few years ago.

“Wow, I know you enjoyed last night, but I didn’t realize that you enjoyed it so much that you’d want to get me alone less than a minute into seeing me.” Your joke falls flat as Mary gives you a frown before chastising you for your behavior.

“I was worried about this,” she says with a sigh. “I don’t want anyone at work to know about our…extracurricular activities.” You nod and mumble an apology to the beautiful brunette, before the two of you stand in silence for a short time. “But the reason I called you out here is because I need to ask you something. And I need you to be honest with me.”

“Of course,” you reply. “What do you want to know?”

“Did you know that Carrie filmed the two of us have sex last night?”

“What? No,” you exclaim, genuine shock in your voice. You’re about to defend Carrie and say that she wouldn’t do such a thing…but that would be a lie. In your experience, Carrie can be a little out of control when it comes to sexual encounters and wanting to film your first time with Mary encapsulates here perfectly. Further puzzle pieces click into place as you remember the large package that Carrie returned with earlier this week, and how you now have no idea where it has gone, having disappeared from your apartment when you were spending a couple nights at Carrie’s. “But in hindsight, it is something she would do.”

Mary nods as she sees the truth in your eyes, as she gives you a smile as if she just affirmed something to herself.

“I’m guessing that was led to your sudden departure this morning,” you venture, which Mary confirms with another nod.

“Carrie told me this morning right as I was getting out of the shower,” Mary tells you. “And to be frank, I was furious. It feels like such an invasion of my privacy for you and Carrie to film me without my consent.”

“Well, I didn’t know,” you lamely repeat what you said earlier.

“And I know that now. Though Carrie insisted to me that you didn’t know about the hidden cameras, I didn’t know who to believe. Even if I truly wanted her to be right, and that you and me had a special, unwitnessed connection together. But again, I wasn’t sure.” You smile at Mary’s touching words as she continues to speak, “So I left abruptly and went home, intent on telling James that we just made a huge mistake because our friends had violated our trust by filming me have sex. Only to…”

“Only to what?” you prod Mary, curious to hear the rest of the story.

“Only to find out that James already knew about the video!”

“How?” you ask, playing your role, though a part of you already can guess the answer.

“Well, Carrie mentioned it to James, and apparently, he wanted to watch the video. Badly. And apparently the two of them just watched the video together and didn’t end up having sex. And less than an hour ago, I learned that my husband of three years is a cuckold and would rather watch me have sex than to swing with a gorgeous woman like Carrie.”

You find it unnecessary to point out to Mary that Carrie promised you that she wouldn’t have sex with James, no matter what happened. Though, James being a cuck might explain why Carrie felt so confident that she could ensure that you and Mary would be uninterrupted even if she didn’t have sex with him.

“A cuckold, huh. And here I thought that was how you insult people that you don’t like online,” you state.

“Apparently not!” Mary replies, trying to stifle a chuckle. “I only got the cliff notes this morning, so we’re both probably going to take a long lunch so we can talk about it further. You know, important, relationship defining stuff, like has he felt this way throughout our entire relationship, or is it something that he’s wanted only recently? And where do James and I go from here? Do we try to find another couple each time we do this, to keep it fresh? Or stick with someone that we both know and trust to get the job down?”

“And which way are the two of you leaning,” you ask, attempting not to seem too **** for an answer.

“Well, you shouldn’t count your chickens before they hatch,” Mary states as she tries to suppress a grin, “But you are my number one choice.”

You nod in approval while successfully resisting the urge to pump your fist in celebration. Nevertheless, your enthusiasm bleeds through your demeanor and Mary smiles in response.

“We should probably head back inside though,” Mary tells you, turning to walk inside. “Even if the reign of Ted has ended, we don’t want anyone else in management to think we’re slacking off.”

“Well, you’re one to talk. Getting to work an hour late and apparently taking a long, personal lunch,” you tease Mary. “But one last thing. Are you okay with Carrie?”

After a big sigh, Mary finally responds, “Honestly? I don’t know. I mean, I still like Carrie, but that was a serious invasion of my privacy; the kind of thing awful people do.” You open your mouth to defend your girlfriend, but Mary continues, overriding you. “And I’m not saying that Carrie is a bad person. Just that she went way too far, and that’s the kind of thing you should ask about before you do it.”

You don’t know how to think. On one hand, you’re hardly surprised that Carrie’s enthusiasm for sexual adventurousness eventually tripped her up and pissed off someone both of you care about. On the other hand, you really want to see the video from last night.

Not knowing what to say, so you just silently follow Mary back inside your office building. Before the two of you approach your cubicle, you break off, heading to the bathroom to take a leak. While you’re there, you get out your phone and text Carrie an update, that while Mary is disappointed with her, you think the relationship between the two of them is salvageable. After all, if Mary hates Carrie, she’ll definitely find a reason to no longer sleep with you. And neither you nor Carrie want that.