She pulled her lips from mine and looked at me with wide-open eyes.
"Is it Helen!?" she asked excitedly and reached out and picked up the tablet and handed it to me, making my shrinking dick slide out of her in the process. I quickly found Messenger, and yes, it was.
'I had fun too!!' it said followed by--- well, a lip-stick mark-emoji. Like she'd kissed the screen and sent it to me, only, of course, very small.
"Wow, she wants you!" Barb gushed, reading over my shoulder, "a SWAK? Oh, she definitely wants more kisses!"
"Swak?" I repeated, not really paying attention to my wife - instead I was staring at the screen, trying to figure out what to answer... or just what to do, really.
"You know, sealed with a kiss," she explained, and I gave a vague grunt in reply, "so, what are you gonna answer?"
"Eh... I don't know..." I mumbled and looked at my wife, "Barb, this... this thing... what are we...?"
"We're just... we're just having some fun," she assured me but with that fiery look in her eyes she wasn't as convincing as she might have hoped, "no harm done."
"Okay..." I accepted her words without really trusting her.
'Okay good! Just checking in. Didn't want you to feel bad after last night. :)' I wrote and sent it. Barb practically licked her lips as she read the message.
"Now, tell her-" she begun but I held up a hand.
"I'll handle this," I told her and she reluctantly shut up. Much to her annoyance, however, I didn't write anything else to Helen. Just started reddit up again, browsing the nothingness of the internet. I purposely ignored my wife who was clearly boiling with frustration - evidently, she felt I ought to bombard our blonde friend with messages. Well, that's not how it works, not to me at least.
'Youre so sweet' she replied with a little emoji, blowing me a kiss. We were definitely in business... Barb tried her best to read the message but to tease her, I held the tablet at an angle, so she couldn't properly see it.
But what to reply? Just writing 'you too' seemed too juvenile but I didn't want to be too forward either. Really, though, what did I want to happen? What was I trying to get out of this. What was Barb hoping to get out of this? Some innocent flirting, as she'd hinted, or how deep did this rabbit-hole go? I was not sure I was comfortable with my wife's sudden... well, need.
On the other hand, I'd be lying if I claimed I didn't like this new Barb. And... well, Helen was fun. And hot. So where did that leave me...?
While contemplating this, the ipad made another ding! to tell me a new text had arrived.
'U dont feel bad?' she asked.
Hmm. That was a good question. I didn't want to come off as a heartless husband but I didn't want to give her second thoughts - or give the impression that
I
had second thoughts.
'Having fun with a hot blonde doesn't make me feel bad, no :P' I ended up writing. It was some harmless flirting, right? Like Barb wanted. No harm, no foul.
"What did she say? What did you say?" Barb demanded, her curiosity getting the better of her.
"Honey," I said and put the ipad down, "what do you want? I mean, from this?"
"Just... just some fun... like I said," she replied, losing some steam, "between you and me... and you and... her."
"Aha, fun. That's a little vague." I argued, and she accepted my objection with a nod and furrowed brows.
"I... Okay, I think about you and Helen... a lot," she finally admitted, "and... and not just fun like, like last night. I think about you and her together... and it feels..."
"Honey, I don't..." I tried but she stopped me by raising her hand.
"It's been in here," she gestured at her head, "this idea about you and... someone else for so long now. I've kept it buried for, like, forever, but since we... you... started... I don't know, playing with it? It's coming out. And I don't want it buried anymore." She looked earnestly at me.
"But... do you want me to... to keep...?" I asked, not even able to finish the sentence.
"I... I want to see where it leads. It's not just sex for me either. It feels... right. I don't even understand it myself but it's like... like I love you, right? So much! And I... I want you to have everything. Even if... if I can't give it to you."
"Barb, don't be like that! It's not like I'm losing out or anything. You're great, and I want to-"
But exactly what I wanted to, I never got to tell her because the ipad dinged again, interrupting me.
'Okay good to know - ill remember. :D So what u up to?'
I read it quickly and looked from the screen to Barb and back again.
"What's she saying?" my wife asked me eagerly.
"Nothing," I shrugged, "just asking what I'm 'up to'."
"Ooh, tell her that you're thinking of her!" she suggested as excited as unhelpful.
"I'm
not
saying that!" I exclaimed and wrote 'Nothing much, just chilling with the ipad. You?' while still keeping it away from Barb's curious eyes.
'Same really... bored! :P' she wrote back, and we chatted back and forth for awhile about nothing, really. Just friends who had kissed and were extremely attracted to one-another being friends...
Barb was... annoyed, I think, that I wouldn't let her read but also... excited. I didn't understand that, I must admit. Or any of it, to be honest.
---
Over the next weeks Helen and I chatted regularly. She was quite fun, often sending me entertaining quotes, pictures or just plain memes that she thought would make me smile. Some of them were quite raunchy, to be honest. She also commented a lot more on my Facebook-posts, usually she had some witty observation and always at least a 'like'.
We also flirted a whole lot and kept making hints about the fun we'd have 'some day'. I told her I was looking forward to our next dance, hoping she'd wear something as sexy as last time (and she replied with 'Dont you worry about that!') and told her (several times) what a great dancer she was.
'Now what does this remind me of? ;)' she asked one day, the text accompanied by an picture of her holding up a long banana in the produce-section of the local supermarket. Jeez, I almost spilled my coffee when I saw that! And even more at the next image where she held it up to her mouth with puckered lips, as if she were about to kiss it and with the most intense eyes for the camera.
'You are a dangerous woman!!!' I replied and then added the aubergine-emoji - the purple one that looks like a cock - to tell how she affected me.
She merely sent back the smiling emoji with the heart-shaped eyes.
It was an odd feeling, having this much contact - and especially this kind of contact - with another woman. It felt good though, I felt good. And it rubbed off on other aspects of my life - I felt more confident and at ease at work, I had more energy at home to play with my kids. Barb seemed invigorated too, and we talked more and enjoyed each other's company more, instead of just doing nothing on our phones while Netflix ran in the background.
