[Webmaster's Note: this story is written by Pat Scott, the author of TianasBox.com, a very original online graphic novel, and a supporter of Literotica.]
Jack was an extraordinary guy. That's why extraordinary things always happened to him.
In situations where most people would run Jack would charge. Where most people would seek to draw attention to themselves by talking Jack would seek to learn through listening. While most people will invent the answers to make themselves look more intelligent, Jack would look you in the face and boldly say "I don't know."
Psychology was the perfect profession for Jack. He fascinated people and at the same time was fascinated by them. He was still a few years away from being able to practice mental medicine as he liked to call it, but he was definitely making the grade so far.
Perhaps recounting the events of the day Jack met Steve and Linda will describe him better than if I just keep going on and on.
Jack was taking his midnight walk around his neighborhood thinking about his girlfriend Melissa who was studying in London. She used to accompany him on these walks and he found himself missing her. He was absorbed in very deep, very fond memories of her when suddenly he was snapped back to reality by the sound of yelling. Jack took up residence in a lower middle class apartment on the west side. That was about the best he could do at this point and it was also close to the University. In the three years he had lived there he had seen a noticeable decline in the neighborhood. There seemed to be more drug use, more problems with juveniles, more domestic abusiveness. Good for the psychology profession in general but not especially fun to live amidst.
Most people would keep walking and mind their business but Jack stopped and craned his neck and tried to hear. It was a man and a woman. It wasn't the crazed rantings of the drug addicted or the criminally insane. It was a lovers' quarrel. Jack listened intently but could not make out very much. He went up and rang the doorbell. That's what I mean about Jack, he's just like that.
The door swung open. The man who opened it was still obviously enraged and it was pretty clear that he was expecting to find the police or his landlord at the door. Instead there was Jack. Clean cut with a pristine hair cut and casual but distinguished clothes. The man inside seemed positively stunned.
"WHAT?" He asked angrily after hesitating a moment.
"I was walking by and I noticed your argument. I'm a counselor of sorts and I would like to help you if you'll let me."
Most people are terrified in these chaotic situations and in proximity to these kinds of intensely emotional situations. Jack has a kind of tranquil stoicism that is hard to describe. Nevertheless the man went to slam the door in his face. Jack quickly inserted his foot in the door.
"Look," he said. "A lot of your argument seems to center around having a hard time communicating with one another. I think I can help you get past that so if you honestly want to try to make things better, let me in. If you find that I'm not helping I will leave as soon as you ask me to."
The door opened back up. The woman stood next to the man and evidently she had opened the door back up. The man looked at her and she stared back at him. "Let him in Steve," she said.
Steve backed away from the door and slumped defeatedly into a chair. The woman sat back down on the couch next to the front window. Jack quietly closed the door and stood about an equal distance from each next to a coffee table in the center of the room. There was a silence that most people would find awkward and intimidating. Jack just took a moment to get over the detestable stench of cigarette smoke and jumped right in.
"You would be what? Boyfriend and girlfriend? Husband and Wife?"
"We're not anything right now." replied the woman venomously.
"So generally you're boyfriend and girlfriend. And you both live here?" he asked addressing the question to Steve.
"Yeah," he replied. He seemed visibly frustrated by Jack's presence already.
"Okay, so you have chosen to live together, and have been involved in a relationship. Why? Do you love her?"
"Yes! I've been trying to tell her that!" Steve seemed to go from absolute rage to a swirl of vulnerability and grief in a heartbeat.
Jack turned to the woman. "I didn't catch your name," he said.
"Linda," she replied.
"Linda do you love Steve?"
"He knows I do," she said.
"I'm sorry, I'm not trying to come off like a prick or anything but I was really looking for a more specific answer to whether or not you love Steve."
"Yes," she said. She was half crying and obviously very angry herself.
Jack took a moment. He seemed very interested and looked back and forth between the two a couple of times. Then he took a seat on a couch on the other side of the coffee table. He folded his hands between his legs and leaned way out on the edge of the seat so that the three of them were now all in a clear triangle of visibility.
"You two are off to a really good start. It's rare that two people can say they love one another with so much conviction. Most couples have the problem of one or the other partner being much more in love or even neither partner being very much in love at all. Linda and Steve you don't seem to have that problem. So that leaves us with an event or a circumstance, some sort of problem or something. Which of you can tell me what that is?"
Linda glared at Steve. It was one of those moments where if looks could kill there would be no Steve. It was obvious that it was Steve's job to confess what he had done.
It was equally obvious that Steve didn't want to admit to what he had done. Jack waited patiently and finally Steve offered some explanation. "I slept with the girl down the street."
Having said it, it was as though the wound had just been torn afresh for the both of them. There was all kinds of emotional energy in the air and it seemed as though the screaming was about to break out again at any moment.
"Why did you do that Steve?" asked Jack.
Steve looked angered and hurt by Jack's question. "I don't know." he replied in a 'how could you ask me that' kind of tone.
"Steve, you just told me a minute ago that you love Linda. Do you love also the girl down the street?"
"No," Steve hastily replied.
"Well then of what possible benefit could it have been to have slept with the girl down the street?"
Steve looked like he wanted to kill himself. "I couldn't help it," he offered in his defense.
Jack looked very disappointed. "Well that's silly Steve. That's not any kind of real answer." There was a momentary pause. "Would you be very hurt to find out that Linda had slept with a guy down the street?"
"Yes!" Steve said passionately. "It was just a sexual thing," he added.
"Ah," said Jack. "So that's all it was. Just a little sexual thing?"
Steve seemed unable to speak.
"It seems to me that the two of you entered into a serious relationship that was intended to be exclusive. You've just stated that you yourself would be very hurt if Linda had violated that trust, yet in the same breath you minimalize your having violated it. Help me to understand Steve, is it just a little sexual thing or a very serious violation of trust."
Steve started to cry. "I fucked up. I know I fucked up, but I don't know how to fix it."
"Well it's not something that can be fixed," Jack offered. "If you both still want to you can begin to work toward building trust back a little by little but you can never go back to a point where you've never violated her trust after you have. It doesn't work that way."
"Linda, are you interested in continuing this relationship and working to build it back?" Jack asked.
"Yes, but like you said, I don't know if I can trust him."
"Ask him," Jack implored.
Linda looked for a moment. It seemed as though she didn't quite know what to ask. "Can I trust you?" she asked of Steve eventually.
"Yes!" he replied almost crying. "I told you it would never happen again."
Jack spoke up. "Why do you suppose it happened in the first place?"
It was clear that Steve had been trying to talk about everything but this. He didn't really seem to know the answer but Jack was asking him to search himself and find the answer.
Jack asked another question while Steve thought about the first. "If you wouldn't have been caught would it have been alright or would you have been bothered by it?"
"I didn't get caught." Steve replied.
Linda spoke up. "He told me about it himself. That didn't make it any better."