The guy at the register was not much older than Natalie, and as he scanned the lingerie he smirked unattractively, “Big weekend with your boyfriend?”
Natalie was mortified to have been asked such a personal question, but keeping her cool responded, “My girlfriend actually, and I’m sure your manager wouldn’t be happy if I told him you were making inappropriate comments to customers instead of doing your job.”
The jerk’s mouth dropped open but nothing came out. Shaking his head in disbelief he finished tallying her things in silence and stammered out the total. When she’d put it on her credit card he asked “Do you, er, need help to your car?”
Natalie couldn’t help it, she laughed. “Help from you? You have got to be kidding me!”
Still laughing, she walked away just as he muttered “Jeeze, I have to ask that question to every customer!”
Once home, Natalie packed the food and drinks into a cooler, grabbed her duffle bag, and placed it all in the large cargo space of her Volvo wagon. She left a message on her parent’s cell phone, telling them she would be spending a few days with her best friend Stephanie. She felt a little guilty about the lie, but she knew Steph would back her up, and she could hardly tell her parents her real intention. She looked around the empty house, and satisfied she hadn’t forgotten anything, locked it and headed for Nathan’s.
As she pulled up to the large Tudor style house Natalie was surprised that Nathan’s car wasn’t the only one in the drive. Parked next to the small black Saab was Stephanie’s Toyota Corona. It was winter break, but was there some sort of assignment she was supposed to be working on with them that she forgot about? Walking in without bothering to knock, Natalie looked around the empty living room, then turned and headed up the stairs. “Maybe they’re studying upstairs in his room,” she said naively to herself as she reached the landing. But as she swung open the door, she realized that what her best friend and boyfriend were doing on Nathan’s bed wasn’t something they had covered last semester.
As the guilty party looked up in surprise, Natalie took in the scene as if it were a movie set in slow motion. Stephanie on all fours facing the foot of the bed, her bottom high in the air and her naked breasts flushed. Nathan, positioned behind Steph, both hands on her hips and obviously deep inside her. Nathan’s expression was one of pure horror at being caught, Stephanie’s was a strange mixture of guilt and relief. As the two disentangled from each other and started grabbing their clothes off the floor, Natalie could only look on in silent disbelief.
Once she got her panties and tee shirt back on, Steph was the first to make an attempt at conversation. “I’m so so sorry Natalie. I came over to Nathan’s house looking for you and it just sort of happened…” Stephanie trailed off as
Natalie shook her head. “You were always a bad liar Steph. I just can’t believe you would do this to me.” She looked at Nathan, who had pulled on his boxers and was struggling to untangle his inside-out football jersey — the one she had gotten him for his birthday. Her eyes swam with unshed tears and all she could do was leave. She turned and ran down the stairs, not stopping when she heard Nathan’s shout to wait up. She pushed out the front door and was fumbling with her keys when Nathan grabbed her arm and spun her around.
“Damn Natalie, I said to wait. I can explain, I really can.”
Natalie laughed as the tears finally spilled over and streamed down her face. “What is there to explain Nathan? You were having sex with my best friend. If you were going to cheat on me, couldn’t it at least have been with some girl I didn’t know?”
“We never meant for it to happen!” Nathan protested, “But she came by and we both sort of… well we… shit Natalie, what do you want me to say?”
“How long?” she asked him bleakly. “How long have you two been doing this behind my back? Don’t bother lying to me Nathan, I can tell this isn’t the first time it’s happened. It was written all over Steph’s face.”
