Please note, this is a
re-post
of a previous story with the same title. I pulled it to edit and polish it up for a free read submission to excessica. There is a mild girl-on-girl scene in this story, so if that's not your cup of tea, you might want to skip over it. Thanks for reading me! Don't forget to vote!
* * * *
Ashley and Paula were roommates in college. Once they graduated, they got an apartment together and began living in the real world. Both in their late twenties, Ashley found a job as a medical assistant and Paula, was hired as a computer systems analyst.
As best of friends, they'd been often mistaken as sisters with their tall, dark haired beauty, aside from Ashley having blue eyes and Paula having hazel. It was no big surprise when they started dating brothers. Mark and Eric were both devastatingly handsome with their tall muscled bodies and when paired with their girlfriends they often turned heads.
When Eric had mentioned moving in with Paula, Ashley had half expected Mark bring up the subject also. While their relationship was rocky, she assumed it was stress from his job as an intern in the next town over. Even though Mark tried, it seemed as though his heart just wasn't in it. When he wasn't working, he often sat around his parent's home watching sports or playing video games, without Ashley to harp on him about it. Which is the one reason he still refused to move out.
Although Paula and Eric are engaged to be married, Ashley doesn't feel like an outsider. She honestly likes him. Eric, who just turned thirty-three, is a doctor with his own practice, and is also her boss. She was the one who'd introduced him to Paula.
Both women have tried to convince Mark to move in or find an apartment together with Ashley so Paula can live with Eric. So far Mark has flat refused, but when he'd visit, he'd always leave a huge mess and an upset Ashley in his wake.
* * * *
Ashley came in the door to see Mark putting his coat on and a greasy pizza box laying on her coffee-table, along with various debris of a half eaten meal. When he headed for the door without picking it up, her temper flared.
"I don't care how you are at home, Mark. When you come here, you have to clean up after yourself. You're a grown adult!"
"Well, honey, you ain't my momma, and even she don't tell me what to do," he replied. "I will call you later." He kissed her cheek and raced out the door.
"Why don't you just cut him loose, Ash?" Paula asked, entering the room after Mark had left.
"I can't, Paula. I love him."
"You've been dating two years now and he refuses to take your relationship to the next level. He's dead weight, Ash. It's time to move on."
"I think he's just unsure of himself," Ashley responded.
"Unsure of himself? Eric has told me Mark went through women like they were nothing more than playthings before he met you. The one girl he did get serious with ended up cheating on him."
"That would explain why he's afraid of commitment, Paula." Ashley shrugged while she cleaned up after Mark, again.
"How are things in the bedroom with the two of you?" Paula asked.
"Okay, I guess." Ashley blushed at the question.
"Just okay? Have you ever had an orgasm with him?"
"I've never had an orgasm," Ashley confessed and looked away from her friend, her face hot with embarrassment.
"Never? Not even with Steve or Andy?"
"No. Let's just drop it, I don't want to argue."
"We're not arguing, Ash. It's just—"
"Drop it please!" Ashley begged.
"Okay, but I still think you could do so much better."
"It's Friday. What do you wanna do tonight?"
"I invited a few friends over to watch movies."
"Cool. I gotta go or I'm gonna be late. I'll see you tonight, Paula."
"See ya, Ash." Paula watched her roommate race out the door. "Mark is history!" she said aloud then turned and walked into the kitchen to fix herself breakfast.
* * * *
"Ashley doesn't know the real reason I invited everyone over tonight, Eric, so just play it cool," Paula said as she sat down at the small table in the kitchen.
"She's not gonna be happy when she realizes what we're doing, Paula." Eric raked his hands through his collar length hair while leaning back in his chair. He let out a heavy sigh.
"I know, but she'll thank us later. Besides, I think she and Jack would make a great couple."
"Your brother is a good guy, but I just don't think Ashley is interested in him that way."
"Yeah, well he's been in love with her for as long as I can remember. Eventually she'll realize how good he'd be for her." Paula took a sip of her soda. "Everyone else should be here in a few minutes. Ashley called and said she was gonna be late, she had to stop by your parents' to talk with Mark for a few minutes."
"Does Ashley know Mark's not coming tonight?"
"No, but I'm sure she'll find out. Your dad has some big shindig going on and he wants Mark there—networking or some such nonsense. That's why I planned this intervention for this particular night, I knew Mark wouldn't be here."
"It's best that he isn't here. I'd never hear the end of it from him or my parents if they knew what was going on tonight. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love my brother, but he's gotta realize sooner or later he can't treat women the way he does," Eric said, taking their plates to the sink.
* * * *
"So, what movies did you decide on?" Their friend Sarah took a seat on the couch.
"Appropriate ones for the theme of the evening," Paula answered.
"Which would be?"
"I chose
The Break-up
and
War of the Roses
." She made no attempt to hide the sly grin on her face.
"Ooh! Good choices!"
There was a knock at the door and Paula excused herself to answer it. Tim and Julie stood there smiling, Tim holding a bottle of wine. "Come on in. "What's the wine for?"
"You know we can never come here empty handed, Paula. We figured you already had popcorn." Tim grinned as he crossed the living room and into the kitchen.
"Yeah, we may need the wine later anyway with what you plan on doing," Julie chimed in.
"What does she plan on doing?" Ashley asked as she came out of her room, freshly showered and wearing a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.
