Alt. Saturday Night (Unedited)

Dark storm clouds hovered over me the rest of the week. Hope, the pesky sonovabitch who had haunted me this whole time, was missing. In its absence, life turned… bland. Not even bland. It turned normal. This was normal Isaac’s life. The life I had before Emma. Routine and structured. How had I lived this way? Bleak with no excitement anywhere in sight.

Emma tried to cheer me up. Even invited me to hang out with her friends again on Friday, but I wasn’t in the mood. I couldn’t shake the melancholy of knowing what awaited me. The clip she sent me went unopened. Her attempts to tease me out of my shell produced nothing. It was time to admit I had already given up.

Without Dungeons and Dragons, I had nothing to occupy my free time. Saturday night suddenly free, I decided to invite Mike to a movie. We’d been wanting to see a new science fiction movie that came out, so it was as good a time as any. When Emma found out, she invited herself along as well. I numbly accepted and went through the motions.

Emma didn’t disappoint in the looks department, but her outfit had a different feel than it usually did for a Saturday. Instead of the hot and sexy date look, she had a more causal one. The white long sleeve sweater and lengthy black checkered skirt downplayed her usual sexiness, replacing it with a cute innocence. She seemed unusually subdued tonight as well, as if she knew what the result of tonight would be. The closing of the Isaac chapter of her life, filed and forgotten in the grand game of her life.

The movie was good and helped boost my mood enough to socially interact with the two. We went to Mike and my favorite Chinese place after for dinner. Most of the conversation was about the movie. I don’t think Emma was a fan overall, but her and Mike ran off in their own conversation about special effects and sound direction. I followed along well enough, but my attention was mostly poking at my pork fried rice and giving short answers when Emma tried to bring me in on the conversation as well.

We ended the night in my basement. I had the TV on. Some random Netflix show provided background noise as we talked about the future of Dungeons and Dragons. Emma and Mike wanted to continue. While we could do it with two, we would try to get at least Trent to try. If things truly got ****, Emma was willing to ask her friends if any of them were interested—Mike looked uncomfortable at that, but remained silent.

As the time passed midnight, conversation seemed to cease as we pretended to watch the show we’d been ignoring for the past few hours. Emma was on the other couch alone. She had her legs pulled under her, arms hugging her tightly as she leaned against the armrest. She caught me staring and gave me a small smile. My eyes darted away, head sinking lower. At this point, I just wanted to rip the bandaid off and get this done and over with.

With my attention on Emma, I’d failed to notice the nervous squirm Mike was going through until he finally spoke up. “Hey, Emma.”

“Hmm?” She looked his way.

“Do you like Isaac?” We were both struck speechless. Poor guy looked like he was about to keel over.

Her surprise quickly faded. “I—”

“I’m not talking about as a friend,” he said with a hard look.

She let the silence linger. “I do,” she finally admitted. Not once did she look my way, her attention fully on Mike.

“H-he told me. About… you know…” She quirked an eyebrow as he stuttered his way though the sentence. “…the quest stuff.”

“Did he now,” she said, sliding her gaze over to me. There was an unreadable wall there as her eyes lingered a bit too long for comfort. I opened my mouth to defend myself, but the way her eyebrow twitched killed the words before they could form.

He nodded. “Not going to pretend I understand it.” He shook his head. When he looked up again, the quiver in his voice was gone and there was resolve in his eyes. “Even now it still doesn’t make sense. What does make sense is my best friend is head-over-heels for you. I’ve known him a long time, and I can barely recognize him anymore—in a good way. I know you are a large part of that, so…”

“So…?” Emma asked innocently. My eyes narrowed at her, but she ignored me. She let him flounder a bit, light amusement on her face. Eventually she threw the poor guy a lifeline. “Mike… Perhaps…” She had a coy smile on her face. “You want to have sex with me?”

Mike was strawberry red, showing through his darker complexion. He sputtered, trying to form a response in his embarrassment.

With the grace of a deity descending into the realm of mortals, Emma slid her legs out from under her and rose from the couch. She shed the innocent demeanor she had worn the entire night, releasing her commanding aura upon us. It wasn’t as intense as it normally was with me, but I think it was too much for poor Mike. It looked like he was regretting this already.

“I-if that means Isaac completes his—”

“Mike,” she said taking one step closer than is normally comfortable. They were about equal in height, but Mike seemed to shrink away. She seemed to realize her intensity was too much and dialed it way back, breaking the tension with a sweet smile. “Don’t worry about the quest. I want to know if you want to do this. Not for Isaac’s sake.”

He looked to me, panic in his eyes. Then back to Emma. Then the floor. “I… uh… well…” Reaching out, she rested a hand on his upper arm. He flinched, but looked up at her. She gave him an encouraging smile. “I would be lying if I said I didn’t. I just never expected anything to happen. I mean, look at me. I’m hardly—”

“None of that now,” she said softly as broke the final barrier between them. I watched in disbelief as she pressed herself against him. This was… completely unlike how she interacted around me. Even when we had been close like this before, she had treated the entire interaction with a cold indifference. With Mike, she was kind and caring. Friend Emma, all out in the open.

Fuck. I was jealous. It roared inside me, chewing its way through my attempts to stop it. Emma’s kiss detonated it, the shards embedding themselves inside me as my stomach twisted in a knot.

Mike was shocked, jerking back from the now smiling Emma. “If you are okay with me… I would be honored to be your first, Mike.” Eyes wide, he looked to me. A man out of his depth realizing he had dug far too deep and was unable to escape. Emma didn’t let him stare, her hand running along his cheek so that he was **** to look her way. “Mike? Is that okay?”

He nodded slowly, unable to look away from her intense stare.

She gave him a warm smile. “I need to hear you say it, Mike.”

“I-I want to have sex with you,” he breathed, unable to escape her charm. Smile widening, she gave him another quick kiss.

Her attention went to me and her smile morphed into something far more familiar. I knew she could tell I was jealous. I could tell I was jealous. Where was this this Emma when she was with me? It was everything I wanted. The sweet touches, caring voice, gentle look. All things I desperately craved from her. She heaped them on Mike, but me? Nothing.

It wasn’t until she started moving toward me and her smile slipped that I understood. It was an act. Just like she always put on a mask for me, she was doing the same for Mike. Emma the chameleon, always shifting and impossible to nail down. For Mike, it wasn’t anything malicious. While she wanted to sleep with him for her own reasons, I knew she wanted him to enjoy it as well.

Standing on her toes, she pressed her cheek against mine. I could barely hear her words as she whispered them in my ear. “Last chance, Isaac. Stop me. Please. I’m begging you.” Pulling away, she looked up at me with big, pleading eyes. I felt her hands touch mine before grabbing them.

Fucking hell, Emma.

The eyes were hard enough, but the gentle touch of her hands against mine? Jealousy flipped to guilt. With only a few words, she had managed to flip this entire situation to one where it was my fault. The sudden emotional whiplash gutted me. I wanted to wrap her in a hug and squeeze. Squeeze and never let go as I carried her off to the bed and—

Her hands slipped out of mine as she stepped back. The look she gave was like a knife to the chest. Betrayal. As if I was forcing this on her. Forcing her to let another man take her when all she wanted was me.

It was wiped away in an instant as she turned to Mike, a smile on her face. Mike was looking at me, confused and more than a little terrified. I probably didn’t look my best. Emma had done a number on me. Still was doing a number on me. This was an elevated state of play she had discovered. There was a twisted enjoyment in her confident self regaling tales of her conquests, but this was… I don’t even know. It hit me harder than anything else. The sensation that I was somehow in control, yet having no control at all… Not to mention Emma had discovered my greatest weakness of all—her ability to project vulnerability and innocence.

I liked the cool and confident Emma. But sweet and innocent Emma? That was something to make my breath catch and legs give out.

And it was that sweet and innocent Emma that took Mike’s hand and led him to the bedroom.

My bedroom.

I barely registered it. Emma pausing by the door after ushering him inside. She waited until we made eye contact before giving me a big smile and closing the door behind her.

Collapsing onto the couch, I was in an emotional maelstrom. Long, shaky breaths helped calm myself over time. The calmness brought clarity, and clarity brought understanding. Understanding on what was going on in my room.

My room.

In my bed.

With my best friend.

I didn’t hear anything. The walls were solid and the door was thick. Quality materials all the way down. I think that made it worse. The silence. It ate at me, feeding my thoughts. What were they doing right now? Were they actually…? Was he…?

Time clawed slowly by as I struggled to take full breaths. Surely by now… It had to be happening. There was no way it couldn’t be. Mike was in my room with Emma.

Emma was…

Mike was…

Images twisted in my mind as I buried my face in my hands. Fuck. I wasn’t prepared for this. I… I thought I was, but now it was happening. This wasn’t like Emma and her friends. Mike was like a second brother and Emma was a precious existence in my life. All I could think about was the look on her face. The pleading look as she begged me to stop her.

That should have been me in there.

It should have been me.

Guilt crushed me as I bent forward, grabbing my stomach and gasping for air.

Sometime later, the door opened. My head shot up as I sucked in air. Was it really done already? Had it been that long? Had it been long? No idea how much time had passed. I stopped paying attention—

“Isaac? Dude, you okay?” Mike said with a horrified expression.

“Huh?” I asked as I quickly put myself together. “Oh… yeah. I’m fine.”

He didn’t look too good himself. Torn between guilt, embarrassment, and… something else.

“You looked like someone ran over your dog.”

I grinned. “I don’t have a dog.” He didn’t look amused. Reaching out, I patted his shoulders. “I’m fine, man. Really.”

“If you say so,” he said, eyes falling away. “I… I should go,” he said softly. Nodding, I released him as he made for the stairs.

“Mike?” He paused to glance over his shoulder. “Did… Did you enjoy it?”

He looked surprised, face going red. “Y-yeah.”

Without another word, he escaped up the stairs.

With a deep breath, I slowly turned to face my bedroom door. It was cracked open, but not enough for me to see inside. I knew what awaited me inside.

Emma.

I felt like a marionette, guided against my will. My hand reached out, feeling the cold wooden door on my fingers.

I froze in place. There was still a part of me that resisted. A part that wanted me to turn away and escape while I still could. Once I walked through that door, there would be no going back. No escape, now or in the future.

The last remaining bit of logic fell silent as I beat it back into place and pushed open the door.