For Him? Anything!

Hey all! Welcome to my very first attempt at sharing my writing with someone. I am a longtime reader, but first-time poster here at Lit. So be gentle with your comments and criticisms. I originally wrote this for the April Fool's Day Contest, but something went wrong the first two times that I have submitted this story. Please forgive me for the out-of-date theme.

Also, I used the romance category because of how much Annie loves her husband. But if you think I should have used a different category, please let me know as I'm still learning.

Please note that in this story, sex will be alluded to but won't be particularly graphic. I'm just not ready to try to write that difficult of a scene. Sorry to those of you looking for a quick fix. I hope you'll enjoy my first effort anyway.

For Him? Anything!

March 15

th

- Near the end of the business day

Annie Iverson happily hummed to herself as she put the final touches on an arrangement meant as an anniversary gift for the wife of one of her most cantankerous customers. Mr. Gray always seemed cranky, communicating mostly through short, clipped sentences and grunts. Annie smiled though because she knew a secret. Mr. Gray loved his wife very much. He would do just about anything for his, Helen. In fact, no significant occasion passed without Mr. Gray ordering a new arrangement or bouquet for her. Birthday, Mother's Day, Easter, you name it; he bought her flowers. It was truly sweet. So, Annie was determined to deliver something special for the slightly intimidating man.

The bell above the shop door jingled as Mr. Gray came in leaning heavily on his cane and muttering something about parking meters. Never one to succumb to a blight on her sunshiny outlook, Annie's boss, the aptly named, Felicity greeted the salty curmudgeon with a beaming smile. "Welcome back to Allegro's, Mr. Gray. Annie is just finishing your order now."

"Hmph! It should be finished already. You'll make me late for dinner," the old man fairly growled.

"No such thing," Felicity gently admonished. Turning her attention to Annie, she reached for the yellow daffodil arrangement - Mrs. Gray's favorite -- and then laid it on the counter.

Annie held her breath. As with every bouquet, corsage, or arrangement she made, she nervously awaited the customer's criticism. Despite how often Felicity praised her work, Annie struggled with her confidence. The truth was that Allegro's would be in big trouble if Annie ever decided to open up a rival shop. She was that talented. But Annie was way too introverted to attempt such an endeavor.

"What do you think? Isn't it lovely?" Felicity enthused, while Annie prayed.

"I suppose it will do. It's awfully yellow though," Mr. Gray grumbled.

"I'm sorry!" Annie jumped in. "I thought you requested yellow daffodils. I'll fix it straight away, if you tell me what you'd prefer," she anxiously offered hoping that she hadn't completely blown a sale.

"No need, Annie. Mr. Gray did, in fact, order the yellow ones. Didn't you, sir?"

"Harumph. Yes, I did, but who knew they would be so damn yellow!" he complained as he handed over his credit card.

While ringing up the order, Felicity inhaled deeply and said, "Now, Mr. Gray, are you really going to give us a hard time about the color, yellow, when your dinner is waiting for you? Mrs. Gray will be put out if you let your food go cold," she said. She then handed him his receipt and a bag with the flowers and led him to the door. "Now, you bring these home to your beloved and I am certain that she will be delighted with your thoughtfulness."

Mr. Gray grunted wordlessly in response, but he turned and flashed a tiny smile at Annie before taking the hint and leaving. Annie blew out the breath that she hadn't realized that she had been holding and giggled to herself. Felicity just threw up her hands after the door closed.

"Well, at least you got a smile out of him. I don't think I ever will. My mom was sure that I would always inspire happiness in others when I was born. That's how I got my name. But THAT man challenges my abilities," she said exasperatedly walking towards the refrigerator to pull out the makings for a new order.

"Don't worry. Eventually, you will crack that nut. You're too bold not too! I wish I could be like you. I just get nervous and shy as soon as someone challenges me. It's pathetic."

"That's not true. I know for a fact that you have Evan wrapped around your little finger. And from what you tell me, you seem to do fine with your friends."

Laughing self-deprecatingly, Annie answered, "Well, Evan doesn't count because he loves me. Thank God it's the man who does the proposing though. If it were left to me, we'd probably still be dating!" She paused a moment. Then added thoughtfully, "And I'm only so relaxed around our friends because we've been each other's buds since our college days. I know that they will always be supportive. In fact, Ben and Deenie are coming over for dinner tonight. It's game night! They are going down!"

"That's the way!" Felicity cried. "I love it when you show that kind of confidence. Now, we've just got to get you to spread that attitude through the other bits of your life. I know you can do it, Annie."

"I don't know about that, but Evan keeps encouraging me to take baby steps about pushing past my boundaries. So maybe one day, I'll surprise you."

"Amen, sister."

***********************************************************

March 15

th

: Nearly 7 pm

Ben exhaled in disgust as he passed another grandma on the road. "Come on babe! I have the perfect plan to mess with Evan for April Fool's, but I need your help to execute it."

"I don't know, Ben. Every year you mess with Evan and every year your prank gets more and more elaborate. One of these days he's going to get really mad at you," Deenie worried, then gasped. "And stop changing lanes every five seconds!"

Ben looked over at his wife incredulously. "What am I supposed to do? Drive the speed limit?!" Deciding not to challenge his wife's withering look, he switched back to the subject at hand. "Bah! Evan has been threatening to kill me since we were in high school and not only has he not followed through, but he always forgives me after a week or two. There is nothing a man won't forgive in exchange for mid-court seats to a Nuggets playoff game. Thankfully, my boss loves me and has the hook up."

"Thankfully your last three ad campaigns were a big hit. You may not always be so lucky."

"How could I not? My ideas are always brilliant!" he declared smugly. "Don't worry about it. Now, what do you say? Are you going to help me?"

"Slow your roll, buddy," Deenie eyed her husband suspiciously. "You still haven't told me what you're planning. I'm not agreeing to anything until I know what I'm getting into."

"Ok. Ok. We're almost at Evan and Annie's, but I think I have enough time to give you all the main details." He then proceeded to outline the most diabolical and kind of mean prank Deenie had ever heard of."

Shaking her head, Deenie looked at him and wondered how he came up with this shit. "Are you crazy? We can't do that to Annie. She'd have a heart attack!"

"Hey! This would be really good for Annie. It will yank her right out of her shell and might even spice up their love life. Besides, if we pull this off, you have to admit it would be epic!"

"And how are we going to make this happen on April 1

st

exactly, Mr. Machiavelli? IF this doesn't blow up in our faces, it has the potential to happen a few days from now or a few months from now."

"I'm playing the long game here. If we start our plan on April 1

st

, Annie will figure it out. If you spend the next two weeks slowly encouraging her to build up to the big event, the joke should land in the ballpark give or take a day. I'm not picky... as long as I get to make Evan squirm." Ben laughed with a slightly maniacal edge to his voice as he pulled into the Iverson driveway. Turning to his proposed partner in crime, he wiped the smile off his face and gave her his best puppy dog eyes. "Please help me," he whimpered softly.

Deenie sighed forlornly, "I don't know why I let you talk me into these things. I swear if I lose Annie's friendship over this, you'll be sleeping in the actual doghouse for months."

"Yes!" hissed Ben excitedly. "Don't worry babe. I promise to take all the blame. I'll tell them I threatened to make you go golfing with me."

Deenie shuddered. "At least she'll believe that I was facing a terrible ultimatum," she grumbled to herself as they walked up to the modest but handsome bungalow.

Unsurprisingly, her irrepressible husband punched the doorbell with his finger repeatedly and then just let himself in the house calling out, "Honey, we're home!"

***********************************************************

March 15

th

: Around 8:30 pm

After having eaten dinner and chatted around the table for a while, Evan looked at his wife and said, "Well, as usual, dinner was amazing, honey. But if we want to get some games in before this all turns into a snooze fest, we better clean up and get things set up in the living room."

"You're right" Nudging her friend, who seemed to really be hitting the wine hard tonight, Annie asked, "Deenie, would you mind helping me in the kitchen?"

Feeling a bit of panic well up in her chest, Deenie began to stutter, "Umm...ummm..."

"You know what?" Ben intervened. "Why don't we change things up? I'll help Annie with the dishes and Deenie can help pick out the arenas in which we will be doing battle." Everyone looked at Ben as if he had grown a second head. "What? I can be helpful," he pouted.

Evan was slightly suspicious, but as he watched Deenie wobble a bit on her way to the next room, he realized that Ben might be trying to spare Annie's dishes from an unfortunate accident. Winking at Ben, he said, "Yeah man. Why don't you make yourself useful for a change?" and followed Deenie out of the dining room.

Annie laughed and shook her head as she gathered everyone's dishes and cutlery. "Ok, Sir Galahad. Grab those serving dishes and spoons and follow me." Rolling up her sleeves, she got to work at the sink. Following Annie, Ben placed his part of the load on the counter and grabbed a dish towel to dry. Annie inquired curiously, "So what's gotten into you today. Usually, you avoid manual labor like the plague."

"Well, I wanted to talk to you about something that I think is important," Ben said in his sincerest voice.

"Ok. What's up?" Annie asked with concern.

"Well, a few months ago Evan confided in me about something really personal. I've been debating since then whether I should tell you. On the one hand, I don't want to break his confidence. I mean, he's my bro after all. But I've been talking it out with Deenie, who is the only person that I've shared this secret with. I swear. And she thinks that as the woman who loves him, you have the right to know," He blurted out as quickly as he could and then took a deep breath.

Man, I am killing it today,

he thought.

Annie paused her washing for a moment. "Woah, Ben. Normally, I would tell you to keep Evan's secret, but I trust Deenie's judgement. If she thinks I should know, then go ahead and tell me," Annie said nodding her head firmly as if to convince herself that she was doing the right thing.

Ben feigned discomfort and looked down like he was suddenly very interested in the dish he was drying. "Ok. Hearing this from me is going to make you uncomfortable and I'm sorry for that, but I don't want to involve Deenie in my part of this. You can do your woman thing and hyper-analyze the situation with her later. At that point, it would be more like you were confiding in her."

Seeing Ben so uncomfortable made Annie wary, but she tried to steel herself for whatever was to come. "Ok. I'm ready."

Feeling the excitement of a plan coming together, Ben struggled a little to keep a straight face, but he managed. "Ok. I really don't know how to tell you this so I'm just going to say it." He paused for effect. "Evan isn't completely satisfied with your sex life."

"What?!" Annie shrieked.

"Shhhh. They'll hear you. Now, don't freak out."

"Too late!" Annie whispered. "Oh my God! I am mortified!" Her cheeks rapidly grew from to pink to rosy to beet red.

"No. Don't react like that. You're not at fault at all. Apparently, he really likes everything you've been doing since you guys started boinking. Which, by the way, you go girl!" Ben held up his hand for a high five.

Annie immediately held up a soapy butter knife like she was going to stab him with it. "If you don't get serious in a hurry, Mister, I am going to hurt you!" she said with a quiver in her voice.

Ben had a brief moment of contrition at seeing her so upset. But then he got over it.

Eventually, they were all going to have a big laugh at this,

he thought. Buckling down to accomplish his mission, he held up his hands, saying, "Ok. Ok. I was telling the truth though. The problem isn't you. It's him. You see, evidently, Evan has been keeping a pretty big secret from us." Ben took a big breath as if he were summoning the courage to go on. "Evan is a sub."

"A what?" Annie asked perplexed.

"A sub. As in submissive. Evan has been hiding a proclivity towards BDSM for years. Deep down he yearns to be dominated. Or more to the point, he wants to be dominated by you," Ben answered earnestly. "You see he loves you very much and doesn't want to lose you." He rushed on. "He knows that you're a gentle soul and he feared that you would reject him if he ever came clean about what he needs to be fully satisfied. So, he's been keeping this all to himself."

Annie stood there frozen, barely breathing and staring at Ben with eyes the size of saucers. Ben continued with his story. "Please don't hate me for telling you something so private. I just feel bad for the guy. I mean how long have you guys been together?"

"Seven years," she croaked out.

"Exactly! Seven years! That's a long time to go without having your world rocked. So umm... were Deenie and I right? Should I have told you this?"

"I... I... Are you sure? I mean could he have been joking? Or maybe you misunderstood what he was saying."

"No Annie. He was pretty clear. He needed to vent his feelings and I'm his best friend. So, he basically spilled his guts. And trust me. I know more about this subject now than I ever hoped to," he grimaced.

He should get an award for this performance.

Annie was completely stunned. "Umm... I... Umm... I need to think about this. Did he really say that he didn't feel satisfied by our sex life?"

"Yes," Ben responded. "In so many words."

"Oh my God. What am I going to do?"

"Hey guys!" Evan popped his head in the kitchen. "What's taking you so long? We're set up for 25 Words or Less and Quiddler. You get to decide whether you want to play as couples or be a team unto yourself," he said enthusiastically but quickly frowned when he saw his wife and buddy jump at his sudden appearance. "Is everything ok here?"

"Yeah man! What could be wrong? We're just doing dishes," Evan tossed over his shoulder while giving Annie a plaintive look.

In response, she forced a calm look on her face, turned to her husband, and added, "Yeah honey. Everything is fine. You just surprised us. We're almost done here. Give us five more minutes. And I'm suddenly in the mood for Quiddler. It's less pressure."

"Ok. If you're sure. Deenie and I will just be studying the Scrabble dictionary while we wait for you!" He ran off gleefully.

"Are you ok?" Ben asked gently. This time he really was concerned. He did want to pull off this prank, but he didn't want to actually hurt Annie.

"No, I'm not. I'm glad you told me, but I'm really overwhelmed by this bomb you just dropped. Still, I love my husband and I want what's best for him... Oh, I don't know. I need some time to digest this information. Tell Deenie to clear her calendar. She is definitely going to be doing some serious talk therapy with me for some time to come," Annie tried to smile with some confidence while simultaneously ringing her hands.

"That a girl!" Ben cheered. "Now let us adjourn to the living room and engage in a knock down drag out battle of vocabulary supremacy." He crooked his elbow out for her.

Annie quickly dried her hands and looped her arm into his. At the moment, what she wanted most was for the earth to open up and swallow her. Unfortunately, she could not run away from game night without Evan asking too many questions. And she already had enough of her own questions racing through her mind.

***********************************************************

March 20

th

: Nearly 6:30 pm

Deenie was anxiously waiting for Annie in a booth in the corner of Pete's Kitchen. She had whispered to the hostess that she and her friend would be discussing something delicate over their dinner. Thankfully, the 50-something year old woman wearing a name tag that said Lexi nodded sagely. She sat a couple of parties before her until the right spot opened up. Then she was nice enough to sit Deenie even though Annie hadn't arrived yet.

Deenie had agreed right away when Annie finally contacted her and asked if they could meet and talk. She was still a bit ambivalent though about what she and Ben were doing. She had resolved that if it seemed like Annie could be led down the path that Ben had laid out, then she would push her in that direction. However, if she seemed in any way distraught, then Deenie planned on confessing everything. Ben could just suck it up! Annie had been a great friend to Deenie ever since they were partnered on a history presentation in their junior year of college. Hell, she was the one who helped her slowly condition Ben from being a man-whore to becoming a devoted boyfriend! No, she would NOT hurt her friend!

"Hey. Am I late? I thought I had timed this just right," Annie said pulling Deenie from her thoughts.

"Hey girl! No, you're right on time. I just got here a little early. I convinced the hostess that you would be here in mere seconds, so she gave in and seated me," Deenie answered with a self-satisfied grin.

"Of course you did. You could convince a shark to switch to a vegetarian diet. I don't know how you do it," Annie responded.

Deenie looked ponderous for a moment and said, "Yeah, if only I could use my marketing skills on my husband. But he's so immune to my powers that I don't even try to talk him out of his hairbrained schemes anymore."

"Yeah, but maybe that's why you're a good match. What kind of marriage would you have if you could just run right over him all the time? Besides, he hasn't caused much trouble for awhile now." Annie stopped and narrowed her eyes. "Or is he working on a new prank?"

"What? Ben? No. No," Deenie laughed nervously. "No, I'm just talking in general. Never mind me though. You were the one who called this meeting of the minds. I'm assuming it's about Evan's big secret."

"Yes. How long did you know about this?" Annie asked a little hurt.

"Ben told me a few days before he told you. I needed a little while to think it over, but ultimately, I realized that I would want to know. I think any wife would want to know a secret that big. So, I pushed him to tell you. How are you doing with this news, love?" she asked genuinely worried.

Annie took a shaky breath. "I'm more ok than I thought I'd be. At first, I was really freaking out. That's why I didn't text you until last night. I spent days asking myself what this said about our marriage. How could he keep something like this from me? Have we been living a lie? Did we even belong together?"