Starts a bit slow. Will do a part two and perhaps a three if it seems to work. All characters above 18.
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"Val, what's going on?" Brent asked loudly.
He was startled by how nervous and broken his voice came out. Trying to catch-up with Valarie, his partner of six months, he felt his heart throbbing. He had messed up tonight. Big time, he thought as the perfect figure encased in a body hugging rose-gold short dress walked away from him at a speed that should be impossible in those four inch nude heels.
"Come on Val, let's talk about this" Brent begged.
Valarie stopped dead. For a moment Brent couldn't help but admire the bunched-up dark hair, the sensual neck, the elegant back, the impossible bottom and the athletic legs. Then she turned around. The deep green eyes burned with anger.
"If you want to talk to someone get a cab and talk to the driver" she shot before turning and walking away.
He caught up with her just as the elevator doors opened, stepped in with her, and endured a silent decent to the basement car-park. He followed the loud echoing rhythm of her shoes to their SUV. She usually drove back from night-outs, and went straight to the driver's door. As she was about to step in, he tried one more time.
"This is absurd Val. You can't be a child and not talk." He knew he shouldn't have said it. She slammed the door shut and walked around to face him. She was as tall as him, in her heels and her look pierced through to the back of his skull.
"A child?" her calm but deadly words hit him hard. "Me? What the fuck was going on up there Brent? You call yourself a man? I know you saw everything? Have you no shame?"
The evening had started well. The two of them and Kate, Valarie's best friend, had come out to the new roof-top bar, liked it much, and had been in a great mood for an hour working up a nice buzz. Friday night-outs were a ritual even six months in to their relationship and was often a welcome break from their hectic work lives. They had met at one of Brent's colleagues parties, and had hit it off immediately, but Brent, and most others, thought Valarie was a tad out of his league even though he was by no means a bad catch. Even after all this time he had a nagging sense of insecurity, with men hitting on her everywhere they went. Valarie would flirt with them but would never cross the line. Tonight's unpleasantness had started when a random guy had walked up to Brent, Valarie and Kate, and had started chatting up Valarie, assuming Brent was with Kate. Valarie had indulged the man politely for a few minutes. Brent's insecurities had gotten the better of him after the guy had left, leading to him crudely telling off Valarie, and then Kate who had tried to reason.
"Look, I'm sorry I said those things."
"Brent, you know that's not all I'm talking about."
He did. After the two girls had stormed off, he had slowly nursed his drink at the tall cocktail table on his own, indulging in resentment. Deep down he knew he was being unreasonable but months of him being jealous had worked up to a simmer. Returning from the ladies' room Valarie had gotten herself a drink at the corner of the bar and had stationed herself there determined not to join him. He was too stubborn to go join her, and soon saw the guy who had caused the ruckus joining her. After a while the rando had slowly gotten himself closer and closer to her and Brent could see Valarie looking at him to see if he would come intervene. Brent had stayed stubborn, unwilling to let go of his ego. She had frozen when the guy had intentionally brushed a hand against her breasts. Brent had frozen too. He looked on as the man got more and more bold, reaching around to lightly squeeze her butt and then casually flicking her nipples over her dress a few times. Brent didn't know if it was residual anger, cowardice or something else that made him not do anything. At one point the man had held her hardened nipple between two fingers as he nonchalantly talked to her. That's when she had stormed out.
"Did you enjoy looking at that that man playing with me?"
"No of course not! Valarie I'm really sorry, I was just mad and I didn't think..."
"That's the fucking problem, you don't think. May be you can't. This is not going to work Brent, we are done."
Brent felt as if he was punched in the gut. He knew he just couldn't lose her and spent the next few minutes apologizing profusely and promising to make up in any which way he could. She wouldn't budge.
"But what do you want me to do Val. I've said I'm sorry. I'll do anything. Just don't end this like this."
"I don't think you understand Brent. It's not just some fight. I can't trust you. You let me down. You watched as that..." her anger intensified as she recalled. "Do you know how embarrassing it was for me?"