Dark Marbles

Chapter Six

It had been decided that they would all meet at Tony and Rachel's at four o'clock on Sunday. Before they left Sunday, Tony took Sharon in his arms and they kissed passionately. They held each other close and she told him, "It's been wonderful being with you. I don't know if I would want to go through that again or not, but if I did I'd hope it would be with you."

He kissed her lightly and added, "I've always had a special place in my heart for you, but after this last week you occupy a much larger place now. Cam is so very lucky to have you and I almost feel jealousy knowing you'll be with him before long." They kissed one last time and headed for the grand rendezvous. By five after the hour, the six of them had assembled and were back in their spouses arms.

It was almost comical the way they studied first their mate, and then the others like there would be some kind of sign on their forehead of what had transpired over the last six days. It was unusually quiet and almost awkward until Tony said, "I've been thinking about today and I have an idea. Let's go to the table and I'll explain it." He disappeared and then soon came back with two bowls and a bag of his childhood marbles. He sorted through the marbles and put a dark one and a light one in front of each person and then put the bag down. "Okay, I'll start this by asking a couple of questions. If your answer is yes, put the light marble in the yellow bowl, and if it's no, put the dark one in the bowl. The brown bowl is for your other marble so nobody will know how you answered."

All five of them looked at the marbles they had picked up and looked to Tony for the first question. "Was this more difficult to survive than you thought it would be?" Tony held the bowl high so nobody could see inside and he went around the table until he had heard six marbles drop in the yellow bowl with a plunking sound and six more in the brown bowl. Then turning the yellow bowl up he showed everybody six light colored marbles. "I guess it was a lot tougher for all of us then." Passing the marbles out again he added a third color and asked, "Is this something you would ever consider doing again with the same partner? If you aren't sure put the bright colored marble in and the other two in the brown bowl." Once again he went around the table and then showed the bowl contents. There were four yes votes and two not sure. "Next question, would you like to do it again?" Around he went listening to the plunk of the marbles and then emptied the yellow bowl. Five light ones and one bright colored one. "Here's the next one. Remember your marble color is secret so be honest. If you did this again with the same partner would you be afraid of losing control of your emotions?" Six marble votes again and again six light ones. Ray added, "Another question. If you were to do it again would you do it differently with your partner the next time?" This vote was four light ones and two colored ones.

Rachel was next asking, "Did you enjoy your week with your new partner?" The bowl showed six light marbles.

The next question came from Ray when he asked, "Do you feel guilt for what happened over the last week?" Tony tipped the yellow bowl into his hand and put down six light marbles.

There was a period of silence as they considered the results of their votes and then Tony said, "Here's a tough one so take your time and think about it. If you were to do it again would you be able to enjoy the experience if the six of us were together at some point?" They sat there in silence and looked at the others around the table. Tony held the bowl and waited for quite a while before going around the table again. Tony held up the bowl as he went around again. Then he emptied the yellow bowl onto the table. Six marbles rolled around, six light colored ones. "No dark marbles."

Tony added , "Here's the last question I have. Were you successful in controlling your emotions?" Eyes flitted around the table and it took some time before the marbles rolled out of the yellow bowl. There were three light ones and three dark ones that rolled out. Everybody looked at the marbles and then around the table.

Paula laughed and said, "I'm curious how that is possible. Is everybody being honest? Or perhaps there is a gray area where you're not sure if what you did qualifies as loss of control. Tony let's try that again." The next time around produced four light ones and two dark ones. So there was one couple that had succumbed to temptation, but who was it? The silence seemed to go on forever as eyes danced around looking at the others, before quickly moving to glance at somebody else.

Then Tony said, "Okay then, let's take this a little farther. Did you engage in anything beyond a goodnight kiss?" It was no surprise that all the marbles in the yellow bowl were light colored. Now each of them knew their spouse had, at the very, least touched their temporary mate in some intimate fashion.

Sharon had to force herself not to even glance at Tony as she asked, "Did you...did you do about everything short of making love?"

"How do you mean that," Ray asked.

"Well...I mean...okay, how about this, did you touch your mate intimately?" Again there were no dark marbles. So now they knew that one couple had been intimate and all of them had engaged in some form of foreplay.

Rachel had been pretty quiet through the whole process, but she made up for it by summarizing the whole experiment. She stood up and said, "Okay so we know one of the three couples have made love and we all know that Ray and I have at the least fooled around just as the other couples have. With all of us now aware that at the very least Tony and Sharon have seen each other naked and have...well who knows what very intimate things they have done. We know that Cam and Paula have had their hands...everywhere probably at the very least. With us all now aware of all of that and being aware that one couple has done the dirty deed, the question is again, do you want to do this again," and Rachel sat down. This time there were six light marbles. "My last question is would it be with the same partner?" The votes were cast and six light marbles spilled out of the yellow bowl. Even knowing that there was little if any doubt that all three couples would almost certainly make love, they were all ready to once again trade partners.

Then Sharon said, "I think we each need to talk privately with our temporary spouses and then go home and spend the week talking to our real spouses because we're talking about something very serious and irreversible. Be damn sure you can look at your loved one and accept the fact that he or she has made love to somebody else: Hard fast passionate love again and again, night after night."

Ray smiled and said, "Damn Sharon, you're getting me going just by listening to you." Cam chuckled softly but other than that the room was silent. The point she had made affected all of them at least to some degree.

Then Rachel added, "Let's meet back here next Saturday evening for pizza or Chinese or whatever. Now let's pair off and talk about being together again and next Saturday we'll share our thoughts and decisions after talking to our spouses." Ray and Rachel went to the guest room, Cam and Paula stayed in the living room so Tony and Sharon went to the bathroom and closed the door behind them. Each couple had their arms wrapped around each other and shared kisses and talked in near whispers. Could they not make love for a second week? Or in the case of one couple, did they want to risk getting tangled up in a serious emotional dilemma by making love for another whole week?

Chapter Seven

Tony and Rachel stood in the doorway with their arms around each other and waved to the others as they left, and with one last wave they turned to look at each other, wondering if either of them were the ones to succumb to temptation with their temporary mate. They smiled timidly but neither offered a yes or a no. Instead, they made it as far as the middle of the living room before embracing each other again and pronouncing their love for each other and shared a kiss. "Tony do you know how you'll vote next weekend?"

"No, and I don't think we should even know how the other one votes. We do need to talk about what has happened so far though. I mean we both know that you and Ray were close to being intimate assuming you weren't, and I was the same with Sharon. This whole thing is crazy. Who in their right minds would expect all six of us to sit around and live like nuns and monks while sleeping together, share bathrooms in the morning and see each other nearly naked at least, but more likely totally naked. Honey I'll tell you that Sharon and I saw each other naked by the third day."

"It was the same for Ray and me. We both tried not to, we really did, but like you say, all of us were just asking for something to happen. Maybe even hoping something exciting would happen."

"So we have to decide things like...you accepting the idea of me making love to Sharon, and the same with me about you and Ray. Can I accept the idea that you two would make love? We have to decide and be damn sure of ourselves by next Saturday."

"Another thing to consider is if we all do make love to our other partner how will it be afterward? Will we want to repeat that experience? Dare we repeat that experience? Would that mean that you would like to make love to Paula? Would I be hot to be with Cam? This could get pretty complicated and very risky."

"My first thought is if we do go through with it, we better not repeat it with the same partner, because I could see strong emotional bonds developing."

"I'm trying to picture you making love to Sharon."

"And?"

"I think we should continue this discussion in the bedroom."

While Tony and Rachel were talking, Cam and Sharon were making their way home and talking about what was happening within their little group. "Cam was it you and Paula that...that lost control?"

"What makes you ask that? I was the one most sure of being able to handle the situation. Besides isn't it better leaving that whole thing alone? I mean isn't it easier for everybody if nobody knows who weakened? What if it was you and Tony?"

"I suppose it is better and yet..."

"So what do you want to have happen now? Do you want to be with Tony again?"

"I'm not sure that would be a good idea."

"Care to elaborate?"

"I guess not. It could be a real problem for any of us. The more time we spend with our second mate, the more risk there is for...for bad things to happen."

"So you and Tony got along very well."

She smiled and agreed saying, "We did get along very well. You see Tony used your computer to check his e-mail."

"That's okay I don't...oh. Your photo, he saw you naked. Well, I'm sure he saw you naked anyway"

"When I saw what he was looking at I about died. But after that it just didn't matter much if I was dressed or naked around him, and as you know by the marbles I saw him naked too, about everyday in fact after the computer event."

"Okay, all of what we did aside, and assuming you had my blessing, would you like to make love to Tony?" She studied him for several seconds but she was sure he knew the answer.

"Yes I would, and you'd like to make love to Paula with the nice tits." He smiled and just nodded his head as he kept his eyes on the road ahead. "Okay, so does this mean we don't need to talk about all of this after all?"

"We'll have to decide that as we go along I guess. We have until next Saturday. What do you think Ray and Paula are saying right now?"

"I'd imagine about the same thing we're saying. Think about it and decide by next Saturday. I'll guess that Paula will say yes, but Ray...no, I think he'll say yes too."

"Of course the way Paula acted after Tony's massage, she may want to have a chance at him next."

"Maybe so, we both know that this has been building for a long time, touches here and there, so called innocent kisses and comments, a pat on the ass or a blatant look down blouses."

"I think you're right. Do you suppose Tony knew he would start something when he groaned about the reality programs?"

"Of course not, but as that progressed, it was like all of us could almost see where it would end up once we started talking about trading partners, both on that show and then for us."

"It sure as hell was an adventure. More excitement than I've had in a very long time."

"It was for me too. Were we getting bored with our lives?"

"I never thought so, but now I have to wonder. Honey, I want you to know that I love you more than anybody in the world."

"I love you too. Is it possible to have sex just for sex, and you and me make love because we love each other?"

"Are you afraid I'll fall in love with Paula, or whoever just because we screwed?"

"The thing is, we've all been together for so long, I don't see how it's possible for it to be that simple. We won't be able to just screw as you put it. There will be an emotional bonding make no mistake about that. In fact, that's where the danger lies. I can see you making love to either of them and that's okay I guess, but only if I can feel assured that you...or I, will end up getting in way over our heads."

Chapter Eight

Late Wednesday afternoon, as Tony cleared his desk before going home, Sharon called him. "Hi, Tony, sorry to call you at work, do you have a minute or is this a bad time?"

"This is a good time, how are you doing?"

"Fine...I think. I'm not even sure why I'm calling." She sounded hesitant like something was chewing on her but she was afraid to talk about it. "It's just that we..."

"Take your time love."

"It seems so strange that after we lived together and shared so much in that short week and now...Tony, I really enjoyed being with you, and you were so loving and, for the week at least, were so devoted to me. Tony, I don't know what to think about Saturday."

"Do you mean about should or could we go through that again?"

"Yes. I can't go through that again unless we can be intimate. I mean truly and completely intimate."

"I can't either, Sharon. I've thought about us so many times since Sunday. At the very least, we already have some sweet memories, and I can never look at you again without remembering how it feels to lie naked next to you and touch you."

"Oh God, Tony, that's what I mean, just hearing you talk like that makes my heart go crazy."

"Are you planning to vote against another week of...well swapping."

"I don't know. I want you so much, but I'm afraid."

"I hate to say this, but if you're not sure come Saturday night you have to vote no."

"I don't have anything more to say, but I hate to hang up. I like hearing your voice."

"It helps to hear your voice, but at the same time it makes it harder for me to think straight."

"We can only wait and see what it's like Saturday when we're all together again."

"Have you decided?"

"Sharon, you had such an impact on me, that if there is a chance we can be together again I'll say yes. I'll beg if I think it might help."

"Sorry to bother you at work, Tony."

"Call me anytime and if I'm not at my desk, I'll call you back as soon as I can."

"What will you say if they all decide we should switch and be with somebody else?"

"I'll vote no. We're already confused enough and for us to change partners would be too much to deal with."

He could almost see her smile appear as she said, "I'll bet Paula would love to be with you."

"What makes you say that?"

"When you massaged her she about melted into a puddle, you and your damn magic hands."

"I'd like to finish the massage that you and I started."

"Oh God. I better go hon...Tony. See you Saturday."

"Sharon?"

"Yes?"

"Don't hesitate to call me okay? I mean if...you know, you're feeling troubled or whatever."

"I will, but I think I'll make it to Saturday now. Bye." Tony sat there staring at his desk and then out through his window to the parking lot but he wasn't seeing cars. He saw naked Sharon and felt her in his arms. How the hell was he going to vote. A yes vote could be so damn dangerous, but a no vote would be the ultimate test for him. Was he strong enough to reject the opportunity to make love to her?

Saturday morning, Paula and Ray talked yet again about what their thoughts were about their coming event, but neither would say which way they wanted to see things go. Ray smiled and told Paula, "I'll bet I know what you'd like to see happen."

"Oh, and what is that?"

"You with Tony."

"Okay, and why do you think that?"

"Don't even tell me you don't remember that massage."

"Oh that. That was just on my shoulders, neck and upper back."

"Uh huh, and you almost drooled on yourself. You have imagined what it would be like to have him do that to all of you."

"I've had full massages before."

"Not by somebody you know very well, and not by somebody that could potentially be your lover."

"So you really aren't bothered by any of this then."

"Not really."

"So I could ask Tony for a full massage at some other time, no matter what happens tonight."

"Well that might be different then."

"How? We all know what will happen tonight assuming nobody drops a dark marble in the bowl anyway. So how is it different if he and I made love tonight or some other night?"

"I don't know, but it is. Now he could give you a total massage whenever of course."

"Honey, if I get naked for him and he has his hands all over me and rubs me with warm oil, I can just about bet stopping won't be something I'd want to even consider, and probably not him either. Besides, I just might end up with Cam." They were quiet for a second and then she added, "You'll want to be with Rachel again I'll bet."

"I certainly wouldn't mind, but either her or Sharon, I don't really care." Without a doubt, neither of them was going to have a problem with swapping.

Since the whole thing about swapping had developed, Tony and Rachel's had become the default gathering place and this Saturday was no different. The air was heavy with anticipation and wonder, and the first little while was almost awkward for all of them. They tried to make small talk, but the only thing that was really on their minds was would they be trading partners for the next week. They didn't even sit down, but instead each of them mixed their own stout beverage and talked standing up. The tension suddenly went up and room went quiet when Tony reappeared with the two bowls and the marbles.

"Well," Tony began, "It's time to find out our futures. Well at least for the next seven days anyway." He handed out a dark and a light marble to each and then holding the yellow bowl high continued with, "Okay, the question is, do we trade partners again or not?" He went around with the bowl and then paused and looked at each of the five. "The outcome of this vote could certainly change our lives, all of us and forever. With that said, let's find out what our future holds for us." The vote was taken and everybody's eyes focused on him as he knelt and emptied the contents onto the carpet. Tony looked up at them as they all unconsciously let out a breath. There was one dark marble.

He stood up and said, "Well, I'm sure we all wonder who voted no. That brings our experiment, or whatever you want to call it, to an end." The tension and mystery was gone and their glasses were suddenly drained as they looked at each other. Who voted no and why did they vote that way? A sudden change of heart was the logical guess, but a guess was all it would be.

With the suspense now eliminated, everybody relaxed and only talked about their near life changing event for a few more minutes, but there wasn't a lot more that they could say about it. The next time Tony disappeared into the kitchen, Paula joined him and mixed herself a drink before turning to him. She put her hands on his hips and with what could only be called a sultry smile she said, "I was hoping you and I might get to spend a week together and I was going to demand one of your full massages: Oil, towels, the whole thing."