Downtime

It'd been a week since you had taken Nova up on her little deal; that you would take Stacy's place as 'object of interest' and effectively become the woman in your two's twisted relationship. She hadn't called on you yet to make good on your end of the bargain, but living in anticipation that the call might come at any moment was both mortifying and exhilarating all at once. Stacy had let you have it as soon as you got home, still upset that you had left the swimming pool without her, little did she know of course that you hadn't left - you were in the communal shower along with Nova, getting real intermate with her feet. Gods you hoped you never had to do that again, whilst exciting at the time you chalked that up to a spur of the moment type thing. You just hoped Nova didn't have an appetite for such play was all, because if she would demand it then you were kind of shit out of luck in refusing her if you also wanted to keep her sights off of Stacy.

Over the past week it was apparent that Nova had surprisingly kept her end of the deal as well, Stacy would call Nova - oftentimes in front of you as you went about your daily lives in the apartment, only for the call to go to voicemail each and every time. Stacy who had been getting a lot of her confidence and attitude from Nova's frequent interjections into your love life; had soon mellowed out a lot more and had practically reverted to how she was before Nova had ever entered your life.

You could tell that Nova's cold shoulder had upset Stacy quite deeply, although she did a good job in hiding it from you, but not well enough it seemed. She would mope around the house, cling to you a lot more, and didn't want to go out as much. Finding snuggling up to you preferential to a night out slamming shots, or dining in a fancy restaurant. For you too the change was palpable - you weren't so defensive, you joked with her more, you opened up about things that you had left unsaid because you thought if you spoke them aloud - then your nightmares would come true.

You let Stacy know about your size insecurities, about how you had been purposefully avoiding intimacy with her because you felt like she deserved better than what you could provide in the bedroom, how her being around Nova had made you jealous. You told her about your porn addiction before meeting her, about how the industry had you doubting your potency as a consumer. She listened to all of it, quietly as she hugged to your side, wanting to hear everything that you had been keeping from her ever since you'd transferred over to Hardwood. Naturally, you had left the ebony elephant in the room out of your explanation, given that that particular Pandora's box should lay sealed shut forever in your eyes.

When you were done, Stacy surprisingly decided to chime in. She had let you know that she too had been feeling insignificant, from her perspective seeing her boyfriend flashing himself to an attractive woman, someone she considered to be her new best friend even, it had messed with her self confidence as well. That she wasn't good enough for you, that she never would be enough for anybody. She went on to explain that her family was very domineering and that she had never once felt like what she did was enough for them, that she could have always done it better in their eyes. You felt like an idiot listening to her, of course she would feel that way given her family background. You had been so consumed with yourself that such an obvious fact hadn't even registered. Even now that she knows that you flashed Nova as a way to 'earn back your self worth' as you put it, and not to cheat on her; the wound was still there.

You apologized to each other and embraced, you whispered sweet nothings into her ear and assured her that it would all be alright, that she was the perfect woman in your eyes and that you'd never leave her for anyone else. You say all of this; but feeling the faint vibration coming from your pant leg - your heart sank in realization that this happily ever after was far from happy, and not over by a long shot.