This story is completely fictional. Please note that it is completely unedited, so you might find a typo here and there, some inconsistencies, or maybe even a truncated sentence. Any constructive comments or criticisms are welcome. It is the first time that I do this kind of writing, so please be kind. I will edit it when I get the time. I hope you enjoy it.
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The afternoon was warm and breezy and dry. The mountains towered up in the horizon, framed by the deep blue sky, the way late spring days are in the New Mexico desert. It was a lazy Saturday for Marylyn, without much to do other than watch TV and make a few phone calls to her friends and family.
After cleaning the bathroom and doing a load of laundry, she called Lucy, her colleague at the high school where she worked, to find out what she was doing. Lucy was having a similar day: she had dropped off some clothes at the cleaners and taken her two teen age children to their father's house. "I am just enjoying the afternoon, free of parental responsibilities, reading a book and having a glass of Pinot Grigio. How about you, Mary, how is your day going? Did you go for a run today?", asked Lucy.
"No, I have been a bit of a slob lately. I am just wasting the hours away", answered Marylyn, attempting to sound sorry for not working out that day, but the tone in her voice revealed the a barely contained enjoyment that comes with the deliberate decision of doing nothing, a feeling that most teachers experience once the semester is over and they are rid of the heavy responsibility of dealing with teenagers.
"Maybe I should follow your example and open a bottle of wine. Or maybe you could come over and we could have the wine together, watch a movie or something", suggested Marylyn.
"That sounds great. Let me take a quick shower and I will be right there. I will bring the leftovers from last night's dinner. See you in a bit", said Lucy before hanging up. Marylyn went to the pantry and got a bottle of wine. She poured herself a glass and sat down in the living room. She was truly enjoying herself, and she thought about how lucky she was to have Lucy as a friend.
Lucy and Marylyn had been friends for almost 10 years. They had met when Marylyn came to work to the New Mexico Valley School District, straight from Portland, Oregon. When she first saw Marylyn, Lucy felt sorry for her, and with good reason: at size 14, Marylyn was chubby and wore thick glasses, which translated into an insecurity that was immediately apparent to Lucy and any other keen observer of people. At the time, Marylyn was a relatively new teacher, with only a couple of years of experience as a long-term substitute. She had recently married Ryan, a beer truck driver from California. Although he wasn't a bad person, Ryan had his own set of insecurities, which, the way Lucy saw it, explained his controlling character; Marylyn didn't do anything without asking him. In spite of this, her lustrous, ash blond hair, and supple skin indicated that she took care of herself. At the time, Lucy thought that her curvy figure, emerald eyes, and round face gave Marylyn a strange beauty, as though she belonged to a different time, like the those models from the 1920s.
After a year they had become friends. Lucy started inviting Marylyn to run together. She refused at first because she was embarrassed about her body, but eventually she accepted Lucy's invitation. Although she was overweight, at 5'7"Marylyn was also relatively tall for a woman, and soon enough found herself running and swimming regularly. At first, she would get nauseous because her large, heavy chest bounced too much in front of her, no matter how many sport bras she wore. With time, Marylyn became an avid runner and she started to lose some of her excess weight, but never enough to look slim. She had a large frame, after all, and although her chest had gotten smaller, it still was one of her prominent features.
Ten years later, she still looked curvaceous, but she no longer looked chubby. Rather, she had the appearance of a healthy woman with a normal figure. She had wide hips and round legs that were a bit thick but well-toned, and her skin had the radiance that comes with years of exercise.
She had also divorced Ryan a little over a year ago. After years of pulling in opposite directions, they had finally agreed to go their separate ways. Ryan had gone back to California, and Marylyn, now 39, dedicated herself to her job and did a bit of traveling. In spite of being a much more secure person than she used to be, some of her shyness remained. She hadn't dated anyone since her divorce, even though she had been asked out a couple of times by other teachers. She had gently turned them down, thinking that it was too soon to date. She hadn't really gone out with anyone since meeting Ryan at age 22.
Fifteen minutes had passed when the phone rang. It was Lucy. "Hey, Mary, guess what, I just got a call from Ward. He asked what I was doing, and if I wanted to have a barbeque or something. You know, he is just as lonely as we are. I thought about inviting him, but I told him that I would call him back in a few minutes. I wanted to ask you first if this was okay with you."
Marylyn didn't like having strange people at her house, but Ward was an old friend of Lucy's, so she didn't think twice about it. . "It's great, invite him over. I will see what I have in the fridge. I just hope he likes chick flicks, because that's the only movies I have right now", joked Marylyn.
"He'll be fine. I will call him back and we'll be over as soon as we can" answered Lucy.
Ward worked at Valley School District, but in a different high school. Marylyn knew him, and they were friendly, but they had only socialized two or three times over the years, during parties at Lucy's house, with many other people. Marylyn knew that Lucy occasionally slept with Ward, that they had a long standing "playful friendship", as Lucy termed it, which meant that they had sex a few times a year, mostly when one of them felt lonely. Although she respected her friend by not asking questions about her escapades with Ward, Marylyn thought that Lucy could do better than Ward, and she didn't understand what Lucy saw in him.
Ward was a tall, slender black man in his early 50s who had moved to New Mexico from Detroit. Like Lucy, he was a runner and a PE teacher. He was nice and had an affable personality, and loved the desert. But in spite of his nice personality, he also looked his age, and wasn't particularly attractive.
In contrast, although she was just over 50 years old, Lucy was slender and fit, with the long legs and arms of an athlete. She wasn't beautiful, but she had pretty features and a funny personality, and could pass for someone in her early forties.
An hour later the doorbell rang. Marylyn got up from the couch and headed towards the door. She greeted Lucy and Ward with a hug. "Please make yourselves at home. I put out some cheese and crackers, some olives, and a couple of wine glasses", said Marylyn.
"You didn't have to, Mary, I told you I would bring the leftovers from last night. Oh, well, we won't starve then. We'll have some wine", said Lucy with a soft laugh.
They sat down and started to talk about nothing in particular. They went through the usual litany of complaints and gossip that coworkers usually engage in.
The three were having a good time. After a while, Marylyn asked Lucy and Ward if they would like to watch a movie she had rented. "What is it about?", asked Ward.
"I warned you that you would have no say in the matter, mister.", quipped Lucy while laughing.
"It's some sort of romance story with the backdrop of a mystery. It's called Sex and Lucia. It's by a Spanish director. If we don't like it, we can always watch something else. I have plenty of movies that Ryan left behind after he moved out. He took his action DVDs and left all the 'girly' ones behind. For instance...".
Marylyn was trying to give a list of the DVDs she had, but Lucy interrupted her: "Great. Let's do it. I am sure Ward will like it. If not, he will get over it".
The three friends sat around the TV and the center table. Marylyn took the armchair, and Lucy and Ward sat together on the couch. They continued to sip on the wine, and Marylyn started to feel a little tipsy. She had never been a big drinker, but she enjoyed wine, when she was accompanied by friends.
