Julie and Mae hated the transformation of their friend Rose. Before becoming a loud and obnoxious born again Christian Rose, Julie, and Mae had been a female version of the three musketeers. Now whenever the three got together Rose repeatedly complained about the "fallen" lifestyle of her friends.
At first Julie and Mae were happy when she met Eric. He was handsome, well-spoken and very kind to Rose. They had no idea that he would turn their friend into zealot of supernova intensity.
Rose had never been as daring or as wild as her two friends but the three made a perfect team. Mae was platinum blonde and knew all of the raunchiest jokes, Redheaded Julie knew exactly which clubs would be full of desirable men every time and sweet dark haired Rose's admiration and encouragement of the other two united them in a firm bond. Rose was the quiet one of the trio. Without her going clubbing with them Mae and Julie discovered that they liked each other less. They NEEDED Rose to balance each other out. It had been eighteen months now since Rose's very public conversion to her new faith and a year since she had married Eric.
Out of politeness, the three had tried to maintain a friendship but things were frosty between them. Rose would content herself with only one drink if they went to a bar and now, instead of attracting guys with her bubbly personality whom May And Julie could then harpoon, she was a social iceberg. Men sensed that Rose was no fun so they avoided the girl's table. There was also, when Julie and Mae were honest with themselves, a great deal of jealousy. Both of them lusted after her husband. Eric was staggeringly handsome, very well off, and doted on Rose. He was as devout as Rose but he maintained a charming air about himself.
Eric did not share his faith with anyone unless they asked him. When Eric did talk about his faith he was sincere and honest and inoffensive. Eric adored Rose but in private he admitted that he felt like he had created a Frankenstein monster. He encouraged Rose to be less obnoxious when sharing her faith but Rose did not seem to hear him.
The girls were also jealous because Rose was the most beautiful of the trio. Clear blue eyes, model tall, with long lithe legs and a perfect frame. Her brown hair encircled a lovely heart shaped face and distinctive nose. It was Rose's looks that in the past had attracted men to the three girls when they were together. Rose was usually shyer then her friends so Julie and Mae ended up taking the choicest boys home. Julie had met Eric when she had been alone.
For Mae and Julie, everything could still have worked out if Rose had not become so damn obnoxious. Mae had been raised Catholic but had fallen away, the last thing she wanted to hear were Rose's sermons. Julie had not been raised with any particular faith but found Rose's new outlook a total wet blanket. Mae and Julie had passed beyond sadness and confusion they wanted revenge. Rose needed to be taken down a peg or two immediately. Together Mae and Julie hatched a plan, the conspiracy warmed their hearts and brought them closer than they ever had been before. As Mae often said in another context, "It is GOOD to be bad!"
For several months the two girls, especially Mae, kept in constant contact with Rose, gaining her confidence. Mae had even gone to a church service with Rose in her quest to butter her up. In return Rose began to spill out every detail of her life, Both Mae and Julie's ears perked up when they learned that Eric would soon be taking a business trip out of town. Having everything well planned, all they needed to was inform their confederates that "operation rose petal" was a go.
It started innocently enough, "Rose," they said "Why don't we go out on Friday? I'm sure you don't want to spend the weekend all alone with Eric out of town. It will just be the three of us. We can chat about old times or anything else you want"
The sincere sounding invitation was exactly what Rose wanted to hear. Eric's trip marked the first time they would be apart since their wedding. She knew that she would miss him dearly. Also she was feeling so much closer to Julie and especially Mae lately. Rose was not even bothered that the other girls wanted to meet at a bar. Rose had nothing against drinking, just drunkenness. She would limit herself to one or two drinks. With Eric out of town it would be fun to hang out with the other musketeers. Carefully selecting her wardrobe, Rose donned some black thigh high stockings, a modest skirt and a tight blouse. The skirt exposed a reasonable yet modest amount of leg and the blouse, while tight, did not have much exposed decolletage. Rose wanted to look fashionable without garnering unwanted advances from strange men.
She knew that Mae and Julie would not show similar restraint but that didn't matter. Rose was completely content as a wife but she thought that a little flirting could not hurt. Eric was very good in most areas but Rose felt that he did not tell her that she was beautiful often enough to please her. Rose was a bit vain. A little a VERY little flirtation was as far as she was willing to go tonight to please her friends.
Rose was not familiar with the where the trio was to meet. Her GPS led her to a place on the edge of town. The building itself looked very nice but the parking lot was seriously under lit. Rose squinted and noticed someone waving at her. Although the lot was too dark to pick out her features, Rose recognized the form as that of Julie. She was holding a spot for her between her own car and Mae's. Rose returned her friend's wave and slid her car into the spot. It was just outside the door. Rose was glad that she would not have to walk too far in the darkened parking lot.
Julie greeted Rose with a kiss once she exited her car and led her into the bar. Mae was holding a booth very close to the entrance. The lights in the bar dimmed as the band began to play. The quartet was very loud but quite good. Rose took a good look at her friends, Mae and Julie were wearing sexy clothing but nothing like the revealing wardrobes they usually wore to bars. Perhaps they were not interested in male attention and really just wanted a nice time for the three of them.
Rose was dissuaded of that notion when both Mae and Julie accepted offers to dance from two rather ordinary looking men. The third friend of the other men had asked Rose to dance. Only to make her friends happy Rose agreed to one dance. He was personable and earnest and polite He pleased Rose by calling her beautiful. Rose loved it when ANY man said that to her, she could not hear it often enough. The polite gent was as ordinary looking as his fellows.
"Mae and Julie certainly didn't come to this place for the men." thought Rose to herself.
The band took a break and Mae, Julie, and Rose began to chat. To the other two women, Rose at first seemed to be her old self. For a brief moment Mae and Julie considered canceling "operation rose petal" but then their friend began to pontificate.
"You know girls there are some really handsome men in my church. If you want I could introduce you to them. I'm sure your pasts won't be a problem, after all we ARE in the forgiving business."
And with that and the rest of her insufferable spiel, Rose Henderson sealed her fate. Mae and Julie sweet talked Rose into ordering another drink.
"OK just ONE more girls. I don't want to get a DUI"
All three girls laughed off that comment.
"Rose you just want to get pulled aside by a handsome cop and have him strip search you." Teased Mae.
"Why Mae. Didn't your trip to church with me teach you ANYTHING?" Replied Rose with good nature and all three girls howled with laughter.
Mae caught Rose's eye and continued to engage her in conversation. Rose never noticed that Julie had added something to her drink. The concoction was given to Julie, who was a nurse, by a doctor from a hospital where she did not work. It had cost Julie three blow jobs and emailing a series of naked selfies to get the drug, but it promised to be worth it. IF it did everything the sleazy doctor promised, it would be worth every indignity Julie had suffered to obtain it. Julie made it clear to Mae that she was now owed her a MAJOR favor. (Julie's cousin was looking for an inexpensive stripper for a friend's bachelor party. Mae didn't know it yet, but she was the scheduled entertainment.)
Rose was conversing with Julie and Mae, thanking them for inviting her out and laughing when everything went black. Mae and Julie gazed upon the zombified form of their friend and then exchanged smiles with each other. When the band hit the stage for their third set and the lights dimmed once more. Nearly every bar patron was focused on the band. The few who did happen to gaze in the girls direction thought simply that two women were assisting a friend who had had too much to drink. It was something ordinary and completely unmemorable.
Mae and Julie dumped Rose in the passenger seat of her car and Mae reached for her cell phone. The three ordinary men exited the bar separately and gathered with Mae and Julie. One of their member got behind the wheel of Rose's car. Julie fished Rose's car keys out of Rose's purse and handed them to the man in the driver's seat of Rose's car. The other man rode with Mae and the man who drew the short straw was assigned to follow in the car in which the three men had arrived.
Mae led the other cars to Julie's house. Ever since the scheme had been devised Mae, whenever she visited Rose's house, familiarized herself with it layout. She knew that the long driveway would accommodate all of the cars. Eric and Rose lived a distance from their neighbors. Most likely no one would even notice that four cars had pulled into the Henderson home.
