The New Phone Plan

Do you remember growing up before mobile phones, you know, when we used to have that phone hanging on the wall in the kitchen? It was either white, black, yellow or green? And how long was the phone cord in your home? Usually long enough so that you could stretch the phone down the hallway to your room to talk to your friends in private.

Remember when there would be a long distance call, and the parents would freak out if you didn't get off the phone in about 5 seconds? And even "zone" calls cost more, but still, the monthly phone bill wasn't close to $50.

But now, my AT&T bill is almost $400 monthly for a few cell phones, tablets, watches with unlimited texting and data. And it seems that every time a new phone comes out my wife wants the upgrade, so I always have a payment on a new phone.

I'm not sure all this ability to communicate has actually improved communication, but it sure costs a lot.

So late one Friday night I was sitting up with a beer pretending to work on my taxes, pissed about our expenses and the taxes I'd probably end up owing April 15. So I decided to start shopping my plan, seeing where I could cut back and save a few bucks.. On the AT&T account you can look at each phone number's data and cell usage, even sort the list of phone numbers dialed.

A nice feature is that you can rename a phone number, to easily sort through your bill. For example, I can change my wife's number to "Trish" or my mother's number to "Mom." My office number is obviously "office" and my best friend's number is "Gary."

Normally I don't bother looking at the phone usage since I have an unlimited plan, but sometimes it's just interesting to see what's more popular in my usage, who I talk to more.

For me? I text a lot to the electricians on my crews, and the people at the office. My wife gets a decent number of texts as well. Nothing unusual I guess, but it does show who you spend a lot of time with during the day.

I clicked over to Trish's phone number and hit the sort button on her texts and calls. There were a few of her friends, her Mom and Dad, our kids who were on campus. But surprisingly, there were a lot of calls and texts to, of all people, Gary.

Interesting.

You see, Gary and I roomed together in college and that's where we met our future wives. Not that we were exclusive with the girls right away. Being stupid, entitled frat boys at the time thinking our shit didn't stink, we made the most of our college 'oats.' Know what I mean?

Both Gary and I were decent looking. He was a little larger in his chest, sort of barrel chested while I was more of a runner's body. We'd meet girls at frat parties, tailgating at football games, even in classes or study times at the library.

Gary had a bit of a reputation that spread over the four years, to the extent that sometimes he didn't have to go on the prowl, instead it came to him.

One day at the college library, Gary was hunched over his textbooks, trying to cram for an exam. But he couldn't concentrate because of the constant shuffling of feet and hushed whispers all around him. Yeah, you guessed it. Some of the sorority girls saw their stud.

Gary noticed a stunning brunette sitting a few tables away staring at him, curling her hair around her index finger, showing her pearly white teeth to Gary in a beautiful smile. Well that's all it would ever take for Gary to get a boner. He was an easy lay. So he got up and went over and sat down with her.

Do you think they had an intellectual collegiate conversation about their favorite books and professors? Economic theory and philosophy? Yeah, right.

The closest Gary would come to any kind of collegiate conversation was "hey babe, do you believe in love at first sight or do I need to walk past you again?"

Maybe in your college library you had quiet rooms for study? Sometimes you'd have to reserve them, but they were basically a small cubicle with a small built-in table, soundproof walls, and a door. They usually were pretty empty in the evenings, and such as it was, it was a perfect location for Gary and the brunette, whatever her name was.

Inside they giggled and quickly undressed each other. Why waste time in college when the entire purpose was to get laid? This wasn't romance or love. This was pure sex.

Gary couldn't wait to taste her. He knelt down and started to kiss her inner thighs, teasing her with his tongue. She moaned and ran her fingers through his hair, pulling him closer. Gary knew she was ready so he started to lick her pussy, savoring the sweet taste. College girls get wet really quick.

He then stood up, just like his cock did, and the unnamed brunette looked at it with desire and wrapped her hand around his shaft. He was hoping for some stroking and sucking, but this chick wanted to get right to the point.

She raised up her right leg onto the table while standing on her left and put 'er in, the couple quickly getting into rhythm with each other. Gary wasn't one for letting the girl come first, but this girl wasn't one for letting the frat boy get off, and then, get off. She clenched down on him and rode him like a rented mule.

Moving in perfect harmony the brunette came first, with Gary following soon after. She pulled him out, quickly got dressed, kissed Gary on the cheek and left. Gary felt used, but then, that's why it was so good!

Well after a while of having a lot of meaningless sex you sort of want a sense of stability, and me and Gary hooked up with Trish and Sabrina and it became a thing in our senior year and stayed that way after graduation. For both Gary and I we're pretty happy with our decisions.

The girls seemed ok with it as well. Truthfully, they knew of our horn dogging in college and didn't appreciate it. I settled down with Trish earlier than Gary did with Sabrina, he played around a little longer to maximize his college 'experience.'

So Sabrina was a little put off by that but still loyal to Gary and I think she's been loyal over the last 19 years of marriage. But Trish never seemed to like Gary's indifference to commitment that last year of college. And that dislike has characterized their relationship ever since.

It isn't that Gary isn't committed to Sabrina, he is. And I think he's been loyal to her, but he flirts a lot. He just has that way with women, his jokes, his teasing, his statements with double meanings, that look he gives them.

Anyways, enough of the memories. The nagging question was, why was Trish communicating so much with the person she doesn't really care for?

I mean, yeah Gary and I get together and golf or hit the sports bar to watch a game now and then. But as couples we don't really get together much. Maybe at a kids event at school, or a neighborhood function, or when the carnival comes to town. But with the kids in college now we really don't hang out as couples anymore.

Pulling out the bottle of Bulleit from my bottom desk drawer and taking a swig, I leaned back in my chair and let my thoughts wander.

Was Trish calling Gary, or was he calling her? I looked again at the billing and it seemed about equal for incoming and outgoing calls. Same with the texts.

That was concerning. If Trish didn't like Gary, then if he was contacting her she wouldn't be responding to every call or text. Hmm. But if Trish was the instigator, if she was the one initiating the calls and texts, Gary would certainly return them.

That means, either way, there is much more of a relationship between them than I thought.

But why? I sat back and sipped my bourbon and pondered the possibilities.

Were they planning a birthday or anniversary party? Looking at the bills, this communication has been going on for several months, so that couldn't be the case.

As impossible as the thought was, I wondered if... no, it couldn't be. Really, could there be some sort of relationship there that I didn't know about, like an affair?

Honestly, I actually could imagine Gary cheating on Sabrina though all the times we're together golfing or drinking he's never mentioned anything like that, nothing that would even indicate an interest in it. I mean, yeah, he would flirt and tease but that's Gary.

And Trish hasn't given any telltale signs of cheating either. But then, I haven't exactly been looking for any signs. I googled "signs of a cheating spouse" and looked down the list. Nah, Trish didn't do any of those things.

Or did she? After all, especially during the week I'm gone from five in the morning to five or six at night running crews, writing reports, solving problems. I really don't know where she is during the day. She has a real estate license but only does that part time on referrals from friends.

Actually, I just remembered that Gary is a loan officer for a mortgage broker and is on the road almost full-time meeting Realtors and buyers writing up loan applications, wining and dining with Realtors to try and get referrals. And he does work odd hours too.

So I really don't know where either of them are during the day. But that's easily fixed.

The next day I stopped at Best Buy and bought two Cube GPS Vehicle Trackers for $100 each. They had a magnetic base and a one year rechargeable battery. I had to buy a data plan for live real time tracking. You know, I never even knew these things were so easy to buy. I never thought I'd need something like this kind of James Bond spy stuff.

Easy enough to put the tracker on Trish's car, and meeting up with Gary for a beer was easy enough for me to arrive late to the bar and place it on his vehicle.

While this may seem to have been a priority for me, really, I forgot about this until the following Friday night when back in my office sipping some Bulleit I pulled up the tracking maps for the week. It took a few minutes to get used to the tracking, but, wait, several times both of their locations matched at the very same times.

Huh? Hmm. Sorta hard to believe so I double checked. I pulled up my AT&T account and looked at the date and times of calls and texts and they matched up until the GPS arrival time at that location, then there was no communications appearing on the bill for the next several hours.

Did that mean they met up together, and had no reason to text or phone each other?

Where were these locations? One was at Gary's house at 11am. Another was at Motel 6?! And the last one was a residential address I didn't recognize, so I googled it and it came up as a listing in Trish's office.

What the fuck was going on? My heart started to beat a little harder, my concern raising my blood pressure, my face flushed. This doesn't make sense. What should I do?

For the next week I looked at my wife differently, listened to her differently, watched her differently, looking for anything out of the ordinary. I admit I was pretty passive over the past years as happens in marriages. After all, trust is something you eventually take for granted. And why not?

So that weekend I invited Gary and Sabrina over for a cookout, picked up some nice steaks and more booze. Trish was a little surprised at my unilateral action, but prepped the home for entertaining that weekend.

The afternoon get-together was pleasant, nothing unusual or out of the ordinary. Of course I looked to see how Trish greeted Gary and it was basically the light hug, but she did that for Sabrina as well. I kept the libations coming, especially for Gary and Trish.

As usual it would be Gary who was the joker of the group, and he did seem a little too handsy with Trish. That stood out to me, and I wondered if this was what he always did and I was just used to it, or had I not really noticed him with Trish. He'd laugh, she'd shriek or gasp and then slap him, we'd all laugh.

When Trish and I happened to be in the kitchen together pulling together more food to bring out to the patio, I told her "Trish, I don't like Gary touching you like that." I wanted to see her reaction.

"Well now Dave, is my husband jealous of another man's attention to me?" she smiled teasingly?

That was a good answer, it didn't really reveal anything. So I thought I'd play it seriously: "Yes, I am jealous. Stop it with him, don't encourage him."

"Oh c'mon Dave, lighten up" she guffawed at the remark.

So I didn't get much from her. So I decided to up the game and take a risk. I followed her back out to the patio and after serving everyone I stood up and said, "Listen Gary, you're my buddy but I got to tell you I don't like the way you touch my wife. I don't think it's funny."

There was a quick glance between Gary and Trish that for a moment I thought had some meaning, that there was more to the playful touching than they thought I knew. Can I prove that? Was my spidey-sense too high and was I misinterpreting that look? Maybe.

Trish spoke up and said "Dave, don't embarrass yourself in front of our guests. Don't be rude."

"Lighten up buddy," said Gary.

I deal with a lot of skilled labor on the job sites, lots of electricians and other trades. It's a pretty tough group that goes on the offensive when they're caught slacking off on the job. Slacking off is tradition among the trades, which is why bids are so high from having to build in a lot of slop.

If some of the trades actually gave a full eight hours the jobs would get done a lot sooner. But there's such a shortage in the trades we can't afford to lose anyone. So they feel comfortable challenging authority when caught sleeping in their truck or playing on Tik Tok when they're supposed to be wiring up homes.

What Gary and Trish just did to me was go on the offensive, meaning, they were hiding what they were doing. The more reasonable response would have been, "Gee I'm sorry Dave, I guess we got carried away. It won't happen again."

That's how you deal with a hurt or offended friend.

After the evening was over I noticed during cleanup that Trish was more quiet than usual, none of the usual banter we had. She went up to get ready for bed, not really telling me the usual "hon, I'm heading up to bed. Love you."

I think her mind was elsewhere.

The next day was a day off, Sunday. I logged into my AT&T account because the phone records update pretty quickly. There was a series of texts between Trish and Gary. After breakfast Trish said she had to restock some groceries after the party and was heading out.

I said "Lazy Sunday mornings at a grocery store is a nice thing to do together. I'll go with you."

"No, I'll take care of it Dave. I'm sure you can find things to take care of here. Maybe you can clean up the patio and yard after yesterday's party."

Expected. That was a test. So I grabbed my tablet and logged into the vehicle tracker, waited two minutes after she pulled away and began following her in my truck. I split my iPad's screen and pulled up Gary's tracker as well.

It was fascinating to see the two lines begin to converge at a diner.

I pulled in around the back and parked. I saw they had parked next to each other. Prepping my cell phone's video function I went in the back door and through the kitchen, the cooks looking at me questioningly. I peeked through the window in the kitchen door and saw them near the front of the diner sitting hunched over a table, leaning in toward each other and talking with serious facial expressions.

A server came into the kitchen, noticed me with a questioning look. I pulled out a wad of cash and plopped it in her hand and pulled her to the side. I asked her if there was a way she could go near that table and leave my phone on the window ledge with the video recorder on.

Looking at the cash, she smiled, took my phone and went up front acting like she was wiping down tables for the next guests. She was pretty smooth and easily left the phone right behind them, and they were so absorbed in conversation they didn't even notice.

After about a half hour they each left, and I retrieved my phone. Back in my truck I pulled up the trackers and it looked like they had separated. I sat there and played back the video recording.

Of course I couldn't see anything but the ceiling because of how the phone was placed, but the sound was crystal clear. And it wasn't good.

"Something's up Trish. He's never spoken like that to me about you.."

"Did you imply something when you guys were golfing? Did you make some comment about me or how I looked? Because even in the kitchen he told me he didn't like you touching me."

"Well, Trish, I'm as confused as you are. Maybe we're just super sensitive given how careful we've been the past twelve years with our meet-ups. I mean, how could he have ever known about us?"

"True, true," Trish said thoughtfully. "Perhaps we're just so cautious about messing up our marriages that we misinterpreted a simple request."

"I think you're right. But you've got to be careful at home, Trish. Don't let this mess with your head. He's not stupid, he could put things together pretty quickly. And I don't want to lose our time together. We're so fucking good together, loving you is what keeps me sane."

With a light chuckle, in a teasing voice, Trish replied, "Yeah, dumping your loads in me seems to get a lot of things off your mind! But I love it. I love you and don't forget, I do love my husband too. This is the best of both worlds. I'll be careful."

Hey readers, can I ask you a question? I'm just curious, how do you feel when you know you're being lied to? Do you get pissed, or are your feelings hurt, or do you feel like running, or are you super-alert and focused?

Because when I finished that recording, I couldn't settle on any of those. I think I was numb.

As my mind started to come to the realization that what I listened to was real, the first thing that flew through my mind was the deception. I thought Trish didn't not like Gary! That was misdirection so I'd not be suspicious of their relationship!

Shit! Fuck! I pounded my steering wheel in anger.

That's where the self-blame started, that this must have been my fault for so many reasons. My fault because I should have recognized the misdirection. My fault because I might have been working too much, or wasn't attentive enough.

But working on job sites, trying to move them forward on schedule, I hear all kinds of accusations of why I'm supposedly the bad guy holding up jobs, or screwing up scheduling, or not having the right material available, on-and-on the excuses.

But the reality is, it's the responsibility of those in the trades and their supervision to let me know these things. If they don't tell me, then it's on them!

How is that any different from my fucking cheating whore slut wife? Huh? If I was the problem she should have told me, communicated. Fuck! It was her responsibility to tell me, not cheat on me!

I resolved right then not to get into this self-blame and self-loathing crap.

But then the incredible sense of loss hit me. The loss of the dreams we had and shared, the hopes for our future, the loss of relationships with our parents and grandparents and friends. The loss of being the couple we thought we were, or at least, who I thought we were. The loss of the visions we shared together.

And, I was certain, the loss of my partner. Yeah, you heard that? No fucking way I'm going to agree to her affair and be a willing cuckhold. In fact, I wonder if they thought they were cucking me all this time? I wonder if they disparaged me during their fucking? Was that part of their excitement?

The truth is, you can't be a cuck if you don't know about it. And that, my friends, makes her a cheater.

Now what's hitting me as I sit here? No, I'm not blaming myself and I do have that sense of loss but none of that is my fault. But there's a lot for me to do and damn, there's a lot of anxiety with that.

How many what-if's and what-abouts are going through my mind? Money, divorce process, how do we split stuff, who tells the kids, what do we tell the kids, should we do counseling (fuck that!), do we even try to get back together (I can't believe I'm even asking that!), what do I do with Gary, my former best friend?