The Bridge Club

Massimo had told Christina about the bet.

I couldn't for the life of me figure out why he would do that. To fuck me over, sure. But he was forfeiting the bet by revealing our secret. Did he hate me that much?

I had to know. So I called him, and set up a meeting at the fitness club. I didn't mention squash or tennis. He knew why I wanted to meet.

Massimo swaggered into the club as he always did. Even now, he was checking out the hotties in their sports bras. I had to sit on my hands. The urge to strangle him was too powerful otherwise.

- "She told you, did she?" was the first thing he said.

- "Why would you do that, Massimo?" I asked.

- "Do what?"

- "Tell her about the bet. You realize that you forfeit." I tossed the napkin on the table.

- "Hey, that's no forfeit. She already knew." he said.

- "What do you mean 'She already knew'?"

- "She already knew about the bet."

- "How?"

Massimo shrugged. "I dunno. She figured it out. She's smart. It doesn't count as telling the secret if she already knew."

- "So you're going to claim that the bet is still on." I couldn't believe Massimo's nerve.

- "Duh. And I'm winning, too. Or hadn't you heard?"

- "Heard what? Who did you sleep with?" Oh dear Lord, I thought, let it not be Beth. Why did I think that? Because I knew it wasn't Christina? "You slept with Emily?"

Massimo chuckled. "That was a night to remember."

- "But ... she's ... a lesbian." I got out.

- "Where did you get that idea, Normie? Bisexual, for sure, but Emily does go for the right guy. She is one hell of a firecracker."

I was off balance, angry and confused. "Fine, so you claim to be ahead 3-2. But it doesn't matter if the bet is off."

Massimo leaned forward, and pointed a finger at me. "Oh, no, Normie . The bet is NOT off. Christina guessed. You ask her. And for your information, the score is not 3-2. It's 4-2."

He stood up. I couldn't speak. "That's right." he continued. "4-2. So start savin' your pennies, 'cause you'll be paying me at the end of the year."

With that, he walked off, triumphant.

Oh, God, I thought. Who was number 4?

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

I think that I went to work the next day. I mean, I know that I did; I just don't remember anything about it. The day after that, I called in sick. I stayed home and read Edgar Allan Poe stories. The Black Cat and the Tell-Tale Heart didn't make me feel much better. Edgar Allan himself didn't put in an appearance, either. The only person left to talk to was myself, and I was in no mood for conversation.

The next evening, after a shitty day at work, my door buzzer sounded. It was Beth and Carmen. I considered pretending I wasn't home. But it wasn't their fault. I let them in.

- "You look like shit, Norm." said Beth.

- "Thanks." I said.

- "Carmen here has something she wants to say to you."

Carmen had been crying. Her eyes were red and puffy. Beth prodded her again.

- "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Norm." said Carmen.

- "Why? What did you do?" But Carmen was crying. She couldn't answer. I got her a box of tissues, and then asked Beth: "What is she sorry about?"

Beth shook her head. She can't say. She's too embarrassed. She just wants you to know how sorry she is. I'll explain the details. OK, Carmen. You said it. Now go home. It's alright. Go home. I'll call you later."

Carmen wrapped her arms around me, said "I'm so sorry." a few more times, and then left. She took the box of tissues with her.

Beth and I sat down on the couch.

- "What is she sorry for?" I asked.

- "Can I have something to drink, Norm? Something alcoholic? This isn't going to be easy."

I got a bottle of wine, opened it, and put it on the coffee table in front of her, with one glass.

- "You're not having any?"

I shook my head.

Beth poured herself a full glass, and then started to talk.

- "Carmen is sorry because she slept with Massimo. Actually, she slept with him when he first came to work with us. Then, after ... you, and this other guy ..."

- "Scott."

- "Yeah. How did you know? Anyway, after you and Scott, Massimo started calling her up. She knew what he was, and what he had done to Abigail, but ... a moment of weakness, she called it. She slept with him again."

- "She has nothing to apologize for."

- "I'm not finished." said Beth. She took a healthy sip of the wine. "I told you about Emily. Well, Carmen was curious. She'd never been with a woman, and ... well, shit. She wanted to try it. But Emily had a condition. She's a bit of a control freak, apparently. Anyway, Emily's condition was that it had to be a threesome. Carmen thought that meant her husband, Max. But Emily said that Carmen had to provide the guy. You see where this is going?"

- "Massimo."

- "Yes. Carmen didn't know about your bet, Norm. But now that she does, she feels like crap. Because she knows that she helped Massimo win your bet."

- "It's not her fault. She didn't do anything wrong." I said.

- "You can tell her that another time, when she stops crying and she's ready to hear it. By the way, Abigail wanted to come, too, but we told her not to. She says hi."

- "Abigail knows, too?"

- "Norm, we're friends. We tell each other

everything

. Well, sometimes we leave out the gory details. But sometimes we're all about the gory details."

- "Well, thanks for telling me." I said.

- "I'm not finished." said Beth. "And don't you dare interrupt me." She took a big swallow of the wine, then put the glass down. "I have to say this. I'm sorry, too, Norm. I slept with Massimo, too. It wasn't a moment of weakness. I knew exactly what I was doing."

"By the time I broke up with Jake, we hadn't been ... oh, fuck it. We hadn't been having sex for a long time. I was horny. And Carmen had talked about Massimo having a big dick. These aren't excuses. I'm just telling you how it was."

- "Beth, you don't -"

- "Shut up, Norm. I won't tell you again. Where was I? Oh - I want to apologize, too, because I'm making you lose the bet, too. But it's worse than that. I think I may have fucked up your chances with Christina. Not directly. I mean ... Aww, shit. I wanted

you

, Norm. I didn't dump Jake for you. We were going to break up anyway. But I was half hoping that you would be available. Carmen and Abigail made you sound pretty good. And I don't just mean the sex."

"You're a nice guy. I've enjoyed playing bridge with you, and I would've enjoyed ... well, you know. The problem is, you were clearly more interested in Christina by the time I dumped Jake. I wasn't going to cut in on her. So I settled for Massimo because I couldn't have you."

I didn't say anything, but my heart went out to Beth. It took courage to lay herself bare like this.

"I knew it was a mistake right away. It was just the one time. That was all he wanted, obviously." Beth ran out of words.

- "It's OK, Beth. It's not your fault."

- "Don't you

see

! It IS my fault! If I hadn't slept with Massimo, he wouldn't have been close to winning the bet. If he hadn't been close, he wouldn't have gone to see Christina, that lying sack of shit!"

- "What?"

- "Don't you get it, Norm? He thought he was close. One more girl, and he would win the bet.

So he went to Christina and he offered her $1,000 to sleep with him!

"

My mouth was suddenly dry.

- "Christina was speechless. Massimo upped his offer: $2000. When she made it absolutely, crystal clear that she wouldn't touch him with a ten foot pole, he got snarky. He told her that you were no different. Then he told her about the bet."

"That's why she broke off with you, Norm. Because I slept with Massimo." Beth wasn't going to cry, but she looked as miserable as Carmen had a few minutes earlier. "I'm so sorry."

I stood up. Then I went to the kitchen, and returned with a second glass. I poured myself some wine. And then I gave Beth a hug.

- "Thank you for telling me. That took guts." I said.

- "Guts I have. It's my brain that doesn't always work right."

We sat in silence for a while. Then we reached for our wine glasses at almost exactly the same moment.

- "So what are you going to do now?" asked Beth.

- "What do you mean?"

- "Well, if you're still going to try to win the bet, I'll help. I mean, I'll fuck you right now, if that's what you want."

I think that my mouth was hanging open again.

- "No, you're still in love with Christina, aren't you? Forget I said that. And close your mouth."

- "I have no idea what to do, Beth."

- "Then tell me something, Norm. Please? Why on earth did you make this stupid bet with a dick like Massimo?"

Fair is fair. Beth had told me the truth. So I came clean with her. I told her about high school, and Susie, and the prom. I explained that after meeting the bridge club for the first time, I was struck by how pretty all four girls were.

- "Pretty?" said Beth, with a smirk.

- "Sorry. Hot." And then I told her about the bet, from my perspective."Carmen had to be first. She was smokin' hot, and she was coming on to me. If I turned her down, I might never get another chance. 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned', and all that."

- "The Chez Maurice, though? Wasn't that a bit over the top? Carmen would have fucked you behind the convenience store. Or was that for our benefit? You sly dog! And then you convinced

her

to dump

you

? Sneaky ... but clever. Oh yeah: Carmen figured it out afterwards."

- "She did?" I said. "Was she mad?"

- "Not really. Look, Carmen doesn't do long-term relationships very well. She's always on the lookout for something better. Then she feels like a fool for letting a good one get away. But back to your story. Abigail."

I told Beth everything. It was exhausting, and emotionally draining. I felt only slightly better when I was finished.

- "And I have no idea what to do next. I want to call Christina, or knock on her door, but do you think she'd even answer? I don't even know what I'd say to her."

- "You still want to win this bet?" asked Beth.

- "No. I want Christina." Edgar Allan Poe was shrieking in the background, but I meant exactly what I'd said.

- "OK." said Beth. "But does that mean you're going to let Massimo win?"

- "It will bug the shit out of me for the rest of my life if Massimo wins. But if I never have to see him again, maybe it won't be so bad."

- "What if we could do both?" she said. "Get Christina back, AND fuck Massimo over?"

- "Huh? How?"

- "I'm not sure, yet. Let me think about this for a bit."

We finished the bottle. Beth went home, promising to call me as soon as she had an idea.

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

Beth called me three days later. She invited me over to her place for 7:00 in the evening. I took a bottle of wine.

When she opened the door, I was shocked to see Christina sitting on her couch.

- "Look at that!" exclaimed Beth. "He brought wine. Isn't that sweet?"

Christina shot Beth a withering look. Beth took the wine, and then dragged me into the living room. She sat me down opposite Christina.

She looked absolutely lovely. I knew then that I had made the right choice. Christina was far more important to me than the bet. It was no contest.

- "Christina," I said, "I'm so sorry ..."

- "Not that, Norm." said Beth, cutting me off. "She doesn't want to hear any bullshit. Just tell her the story you told me. Exactly what you said to me. Just tell her the truth."

I looked at Beth, unsure where to begin.

- "Start with high school, stupid." she said.

So I did. I told Christina everything. Basketball, baseball. The high school locker room, Susie, the prom. I even explained about the Cask of Amontillado. Massimo's boast that he could bang all four of them. Then I came clean on my strategy, and told her why I had slept with Carmen first, and then Abigail.

- "And he could have had me, Chris." said Beth. "I offered to f - sleep with him, just the other day. But he turned me down. He's been in love with you since Abigail. Shit, since before Abigail. She told you that herself."

Christina gave Beth another withering look. "I agreed to come over here, and to listen to Norm. Not you, Beth. Be quiet." Then Christina looked back to me. "Do you have anything else to say?"

I did.

- "Christina, I thought that I could do both: win you, AND win the bet. Then Beth broke up with Jake, and Emily joined the bridge club. That changed everything for Massimo, but

it didn't change anything for me

. I was so in love you by then that I would have gladly lost the bet - well, not gladly ... but you know what I mean. In hindsight, I wish that I had never made the bet."

- "But you did." said Christina, softly.

She stood up. "Thanks for arranging this." she said, to Beth. "I'll call you."

And then she left.