I slept late the next morning and woke up to an empty bed. I lay staring at the ceiling for a few minutes, and gradually noticed that the house was silent. Erik and Anders must have gone off without me.
Good. I could use a little time to myself.
I took a quick shower and threw the sheets into the wash, then grabbed an apple and a chunk of cheese for brunch.
Before I could eat, my cell started buzzing. I checked the screen. Lauren.
"Hey, whore."
"Hey yourself. Why didn't you call me back yesterday?"
"Mmm, sorry. I was busy with Anders. Hiking." Just thinking about the previous day's events made my stomach flutter a little.
Lauren laughed. "Hiking, for real? Like, in the woods? Weird."
"I know, right? Apparently physical activity is all the rage in Sweden." Lauren and I had been best friends since we were twelve, so she knew very well that I wasn't into exercise. She bitched at me at least once a month for being "effortlessly skinny" while she had to "work her ass off" to stay in shape. Still, her work paid off. She was stunningly pretty, with a body to be proud of.
"Did Erik go too, or was it just you and Anders?"
"Erik had to work."
I could practically hear her grinning through the phone. "Oooh, you are going to get yourself in trouble!"
I rolled my eyes. "Nah, I'm the good girl, remember? You're the whore."
She snorted "It's easy to be good when you've got a husband like Erik. Just know, if you fuck up and get with this Anders guy, Erik is going to be fair game again."
Lauren and I had competed viciously over Erik when we'd first met him, and it was a testament to our friendship that we'd made it through the fights we'd had over him.
"Geez, Lauren! I'm not going to 'get with Anders'. He's Erik's best friend, even if I was a whore, he'd never sleep with his friend's wife."
"Sounds like you've put some thought into this."
I needed to change the subject. "Anyway, why'd you call yesterday?"
"You know how they do those raffles at work? I won a family four-pack of tickets to White Water. So, I thought we could do a girls' day kinda thing."
"I'm in!" I hadn't been to White Water in years, and I thought it would be good to get out with the girls- away from the sexual tension that had suddenly permeated my home.
"Well, Cami and Jess aren't in. Apparently they're in Key West, doing a double date vacation."
"With Mark and Matt?"
"Yep. Weird, right? What do you wanna bet it's a freaky swinger weekend?" We both laughed. Cami and Jess were the last people you'd expect to be swingers, and Cami's hubby Mark was a minister's son. The thought of them getting freaky in Key West was absurd.
It was probably just a friendly get together, and I was a little insulted that Erik and I hadn't been invited.
"I bet you and Erik would be getting freaky with them, if Anders wasn't in town." Lauren sounded a little sad, she was the only girl from our group who wasn't married, so she was usually left out of our couples activities.
"Hey, we can get freaky without them." I joked "How about you, me, Erik, and Anders go to White Water?" With Anders there, Lauren wouldn't feel like such a third wheel. Plus, Lauren was the prefect person to diffuse the tension between Anders and me. She would keep him occupied, for sure. I felt a stupid pang of jealousy thinking about Anders and Lauren together, but I brushed it off.
Anders needed to get laid. And once Lauren saw how hot he was, it was pretty much a given that he would. I could be a big girl and share his attention with my best friend. After all, I'd teased him mercilessly, and there was no way I'd ever be able to satisfy him myself.
Sigh.
Anders and Erik came home shortly after I wrapped up my conversation with Lauren. I heard the door close, and their laughter echoing in the foyer.
"Hey guys" I stood on my tiptoes to give Erik a quick kiss. "Where've you been?"
Her held up a grocery bag in response. "We got a few things for supper, and some drinks. Thinking about grilling out tonight."
I peeked into the bags as they set them on the table. "Hmmm. Meat, more meat, and alcohol." I sighed dramatically. "Never send a man to do a woman's work."
"Hey!" Anders protested "We got veggies! Squash, tomatoes, onions, mushrooms. They're in there somewhere. I'm making kebabs. Like a chef." He grinned and brushed past me to the fridge.
An image of Anders wearing nothing but a chef's apron sprang unbidden into my mind, and was quickly replaced by a different image, one from my childhood. I snorted with laughter.
"You're a Swedish Chef." He looked at me blankly, but Erik laughed.
"Like the Muppet Babies, dude. 'Bork, bork bork!'" Anders had obviously never seen the Muppet Babies. I wondered idly if they had American characters in their children's shows that we had never heard of. "The American Gym Teacher" or "The American Waiter".
"When are you planning on cooking?" I asked "'Cause my friend Lauren called, and she has four tickets to White Water. We were thinking about going today?"
Anders spun around and looked at Erik. "Can we?" He looked like an excited kid, and Erik and I both started laughing. We'd never thought about taking him to White Water, but it made sense that he'd want to go. Sweden probably didn't have much in the way of water parks, considering the average temp over there.
Erik grabbed my phone off the counter and tossed it to me. "Lauren, huh? Call her back and tell her we'll be ready when she is." He gave me a mischievous look, and I knew he was thinking of Anders' chances with Lauren.
I smiled back and shrugged. "Mmm-k. She'll probably be up here in a half hour or so."
As I walked back to the bedroom to get ready, I could just overhear Erik talking to Anders. I swore I heard the word "slut" and I was tempted to be offended for her sake, but I just shook my head and kept walking. If the shoe fits...