***All characters are over 18 and are fictional. Any resemblance to any real-life persons is purely coincidental.
...
THE CONVERSATION
Bryan ordered a cheeseburger and chili fries for lunch. He hadn't had it for a while because of a strict dieting and exercising routine he's been adhering to the last few months. Sitting behind a computer most of the day tend to make you lazy and out of shape if you're not careful. But today he thought he'd indulge himself today since his best friend Carl insisted on taking out to lunch to discuss something important. He originally said he couldn't because he had too much work to do in the office but when he saw how nervous Carl was behaving, he figured it must be something urgent so he accepted his offer.
Throughout the whole time they were eating, Carl wasn't saying much and was trying to avoid whatever it was he wanted to talk to Bryan about. It was getting near the end of their lunchbreak and Bryan knew they needed to get back to the office soon so he decided to just ask Carl what was wrong.
"Carl, what's going on with you?" He began to say. "You ask me out to lunch and you obviously have something on your mind you want to talk about, so come out and say it."
"Ok, here it goes," said Carl before taking a dep breath to get himself more relaxed. "Remember the secretary I had last year, Alicia?"
"Yes, the one you had the affair with and Lauren found out."
"Yes, and she eventually gave me a second chance as long as I got rid of Alicia from the office."
"I remember, you broke it off with her and got her a better paying job somewhere else."
"It was the least I could do for her and a good way to stay on her good side to avoid a sexual harassment suit too," said Carl. "But what I didn't tell you was that Alicia wasn't the only woman I was cheating on Lauren with."
"There were others?" said Bryan, surprised by this revelation. "Why didn't you tell me you were fooling around with other women."
"Because when I told you about Alicia, you got mad and told me how stupid I was for cheating on Lauren," Carl replied. "If I told you about the others, you would really be pissed off at me."
"How many others?"
"Three," said Carl. "One is a female client of mine."
"A client? You could get fired for that," Bryan warned.
"It's ok, she's married too, she won't risk saying anything," said Carl. "The other was a woman I met online, and the last one Lauren's best friend, Megan."
"One of her friends? Are you serious?"
"Yes," said Carl. "Eventually Megan felt guilty and confessed to everything. Afterwards, Lauren did some digging around and found out about the other women as well."
"The last time Lauren found about your affair she kicked out of the house for a month."
"Yes, and she kicked me out again," said Carl. "And that was two weeks ago."
"What? You're telling me this now?"
Bryan was astounded by these sudden revelations.
"Sorry Bryan, I should have at least told you but I just thought I could handle this problem on my own. I've been living in a hotel the last two weeks and making up excuses of why you couldn't come over."
"You should've told me. I could've been there for you at least?"
"I know, but like I said I didn't want to burden you."
"Carl, I'm your best friend. Let me help you with your burden."
"Thanks Bryan, that's kind of what I wanted to talk to you about. Lauren said she'd give me one final chance."
"After everything you just told me, I'm surprised she's even speaking to you."
"So am I. But she doesn't like the idea of getting divorce, so she wants to give me one last chance to make things right."
"At least she's giving the marriage one last chance."
"Yes, but that final chance comes with a few conditions," said Carl. "First of all, she wants me to completely cut it off with the other women, which I had definitely done."
"As well you should."
"The second condition is to see a marriage counselor with her," Carl continued. "Something I've always avoided before, but now I'm willing to give a chance."
"I know a few marriages that were saved with counseling."
"But all of this is contingent if I follow through on one major condition, which is where you come in."
"I'm glad to help in any way I can to save your marriage," Bryan said enthusiastically. "Whatever it is you need me to do, I'll do it. What can I do to help?"
"Please keep that in mind with what I'm about to ask you," said Carl who was suddenly looking extra nervous, making Bryan extra concerned for his friend. "Lauren wants me to feel the same kind of pain I had caused her from my affairs and she feels that she too deserves a little... extramarital fun as she described it."
"Where are you getting at Carl?" Bryan asked, who was now himself feeling nervous because he had a suspicion of where the conversation was leading to. Because he was a stress eater, he started eating his chili faster.
"Bryan, the only way Lauren would take me back is if you would have sex with her."
Bryan almost choked on a piece of his chili fries and he started coughing. He saw what was coming but it still surprised him, nonetheless. After drinking some of his soda to help clear his throat, he began breathing normally again, then looked at Carl and tried to think of what I should say. But only one thing came to mind.
"This has got to be some kind of joke," said Bryan.
"Trust me, I wish it were a joke. But unfortunately, it's not. My wife wants to have sex with you."
Bryan didn't know what to say. All sorts of thoughts came to his mind at once and he had no clue on how to respond to what Carl had just said to him. He couldn't even continue eating his cheeseburger.
"I know this is too much for you to process," Carl began to say. "And trust me I didn't agree to this right away. I tried to convince her to come up with another way for her to forgive me. But ultimately it came down to this one subject. She would only take me back if you, my best friend, would have sex with her."
"But why me? Why not one of our other friends?" Bryan asked. "At least with one of them, it wouldn't be so bad since they're not as close to you as you and I are."
"I asked that also," said Carl. "Besides the ones who are already married or dating someone, she just wasn't interested in the few others who were single for a variety of reasons that I couldn't refute. Ultimately, it meant you were the only viable option."
"I still don't know what to say," Bryan replied. "You're asking me to fuck your wife."
"You don't have to decide right now. Just give it some thought."
"If I do agree to this, would you be ok with it?" Bryan asked.
"To be honest, I absolutely hate just asking you about it," said Carl. "But if I had to choose between getting divorced or this, I'd much rather have not get divorced."
"What about our friendship?"
"It would still be ok. It wouldn't be ideal and I can imagine a long awkwardness between us at first, but I could live with you having sex with Lauren just the one time."
They noticed their lunch break was almost over and it was time for them to get back to work.
"Can you give me an answer tomorrow?" Bryan asked.
"Sure, tomorrow should be enough time to think about it."
LAUREN
For the rest of the day, Bryan had trouble concentrating on his work. Some men would jump at the chance to sleep with one of their friends' wives, especially one as attractive as Lauren. Bryan admitted to himself that there was some appeal to it; he had always thought Lauren was a sexy woman, and had a few fantasies about her in the past. But ultimately, she was his best friends' wife; even with permission, he didn't think he could bring himself to go through with it.
Eventually, he thought the best thing he could do was to talk to Lauren directly. Hoping he could talk some sense into her. He sent her a text and asked if he could talk to her about her and Carl's situation; a few minutes later replied with a text agreeing and asked to come over to her place after work. Her text was followed by a winky-face emoji which did not seem like a good sign to Bryan, because it sounded like she was expecting a lot more than just talking. He didn't respond to that emoji, figuring it was best to let it go so she would still agree to talk to him later.
Later on in the day, he got to her place at the time she suggested. The whole ride there he practiced what he should say to convince her to change her mind. He prepared himself for whatever questions or arguments she may have so he could be ready to counter them.
When he rang her doorbell, she answered back that she'd be there in a minute. It was a long, frustrating minute for Bryan. He never thought he'd be in a situation like this.
Lauren finally opened the door and Bryan was stunned to see her standing there wearing a black silk robe that came down to just above her knees.
"Hello Bryan," she said with a big smile on her face. "I am so glad you came to see me."
"I'm glad you agreed to see me," said Brian. "I'm hoping we can talk about this situation."
"Of course," she said. "Come on in."
Bryan walked in and Lauren locked the door. She then dropped her robe and revealed the wearing black negligee she was wearing underneath.
"Wow," was all he could say.
"I'm glad you like it," she said
She immediately tried to kiss Bryan on the mouth but he moved away from her just in time. As tempting as it was for him after seeing her in the negligee, he needed to stay firm with the reason he was there.
"Lauren, I actually came here to talk," Bryan told her.
"You really came here to talk?" she said as she rolled up her eyes in annoyance. "So, you're not here to fuck me?"
"No, just talking, nothing else.," he said.