This chapter is a little different than before.
For one, it's not based on any scripts, so it's breaking tradition. A commenter on a previous chapter asked about Emma's boyfriend and it got me thinking.
So here's a collection of several mini-stories, introducing Paul, Emma's previously unnamed boyfriend.
The format is quite simple.
We see Paul's POV of what life is like dating Emma, then it ends with what dirty, depraved thing actually happened.
Cheating/NTR themes obviously, and sorry to any Pauls IRL, it was just the first name that came into my head while writing
=============================================
Phone Call Check-In:
Paul stared back at the spreadsheets and financial statements that cluttered his computer monitor. The numbers blurred together into an indistinguishable mess.
He needed a break. Thankfully, he was due to take one. Paul glanced at the clock and sighed. He was only halfway through his day, and it felt like he had already put in an entire week. He rubbed his eyes and sat back in his chair.
The work wasn't hard, just tedious. A never-ending grind of the same tasks, day after day, and it was wearing on him. As he fished out his packed lunch and began to eat, Paul's thoughts fell on those lucky people who didn't have to work a nine-to-five job. What kind of adventures did they lead?
A small chuckle escaped his lips. Paul knew exactly what kind of adventures they had because he knew exactly that type of person.
With a sandwich hanging from his mouth, Paul reached into his jacket pocket for his phone and scrolled through his contact list. A smile tugged at his lips when he found the name he wanted. Emma, the name was tailed by a heart emoji. He tapped her name and brought the phone to his ear, taking a bite out of his sandwich. Paul could guess exactly how Emma was spending her time. She was probably curled up in front of the TV watching some sort of crime drama or documentary about serial killers.
When he met her, Emma was working part-time as a barista, taking courses on the side at the local community college. Paul had laid on the charm as he ordered his latte and the rest was history. These days, Emma had moved on from the cafe and had a lot more free time. Paul didn't know how the girl could afford to have so much time off. Emma had mentioned something about getting paid to help with her roommate's website thing, but the girl seemed to know as much about that as he did.
Regardless, she had a lot more time than he did. Something that had become apparent the longer they had dated. A lot of their conversations circled around her disapproval of his work-life balance and his disapproval of her roommate.
A ringtone sounded in Paul's ear, and he perked up.
"Hey, Babe," Emma's voice greeted him. "I was just thinking about you."
"Oh really?" Paul asked, setting down his sandwich. "And here I am, calling because I thought of you."
Emma giggled. "Guess that makes us perfect for each other."
"Guess so," Paul replied, grinning. "How has your day been?"
"It's been good," she replied.
"Doing anything interesting?"
There was a pause before she replied. "You know, the usual. Watching some Netflix, there's a documentary about these two kids who went missing, it's really interesting."
Paul chuckled, his prediction had been right on the money. "Is that right? Maybe you can show me sometime."
He smiled, waiting for her enthusiastic reply. Instead, all he heard was the phone shuffling around. "Em, are you there?"
"Huh? Sorry," Emma's voice sounded mildly out of breath. "What did you say?"
Paul frowned. "I said, maybe you can show me that documentary."
"Oh. Yes!" Emma shot back with the enthusiasm Paul had expected. "You'll love it!" There was some more shuffling around on the other end. "Here, I'll pause it. We can watch it together next time."
Paul rolled his eyes playfully. He wasn't the biggest fan of documentaries and never felt comfortable on the dates at Emma's apartment. Mainly because of her creeper of a roommate.
"Oh, you don't have you stop watching on my count," Paul said, trying to sound as sincere as possible.
"It's no... problem..." Emma replied, sounding even more distracted than before. "I'm barely paying attention... at this point..." Once again, the phone rustled around.
"What are you doing over there?" Paul asked, curious as to what she could possibly be doing that was taking so much of her attention.
"Nothing, I'm just..." Her voice trailed off as another distant voice muffled in the background of the call. Emma giggled and returned to the phone. "Very funny," She said to the voice with a sarcastic smirk. "Michael's decided that I'm hogging the TV... even though he was using it... all of yesterday."
The slight panting in her voice painted Paul a picture of Emma wrestling the remote control away from her roommate. Paul shook his head, not wanting to picture the two of them tangled up together. He could tell that Emma's roommate was way too into the girl, even if Emma naively assumed otherwise.
"Ah," Paul replied, taking another bite of his sandwich to hide his pointless jealousy.
"Oh sure," Emma continued with a sarcastic huff, still talking to her roommate. "Just because you made... me watch-" The phone shuffled around again. "-doesn't mean I was using... the TV."
The muffled voice of Emma's roommate returned. Whatever he was saying, it was enough to make Emma giggle, again. The pair continued to have a quiet conversation, too far from the phone for Paul to hear. This was exactly why he didn't like Emma's roommate. The guy hogged all of her time and attention.
It's not like he was going to lose his girlfriend to the guy or anything. Paul knew how Emma felt about Michael. Yet, it was hard not to feel a little jealous when Emma laughed at whatever inside jokes they had.
"Listen, Cupcake?" Paul said, noting the time on his clock. He didn't have long left to take his lunch. "I just called to see how you were doing. I gotta finish my lunch and get back to it. But uh, I'll find time for a date night later this week. Sound good?"
"What?" Emma's voice was again distant and distracted. "Oh, yes! That sounds great. I love you."
"I love you too, Babe," Paul replied, ending the call.
As the phone went dead, a frown formed on Paul's face. Something was bothering him. His mind conjured images of the two of them. Not wrestling for the remote, but something else. Something worse.