Catching Up Ch. 01

Story Info
Now she is single, Kristen puts herself back on the market.
6k words
4.49
23.1k
10

Part 1 of the 5 part series

Updated 06/08/2023
Created 04/26/2017
Share this Story

Font Size

Default Font Size

Font Spacing

Default Font Spacing

Font Face

Default Font Face

Reading Theme

Default Theme (White)
You need to Log In or Sign Up to have your customization saved in your Literotica profile.
PUBLIC BETA

Note: You can change font size, font face, and turn on dark mode by clicking the "A" icon tab in the Story Info Box.

You can temporarily switch back to a Classic Literotica® experience during our ongoing public Beta testing. Please consider leaving feedback on issues you experience or suggest improvements.

Click here

Kristen sat on her sofa huddled into a protective ball, wrapped in a self-pity that she knew she had to shake off eventually. The afternoon dragged on endlessly, pointlessly, as every day had done for the last few weeks. All she could do was replay the same events in her mind, try to work out what had gone wrong, what she could have done better. But no obvious answers sprung out at her.

What hurt her most was that she had guessed nothing; it had come out purely by accident, and it wasn't even her who uncovered it. A mistyped date in an email, her friend Pam swinging by the house to drop something off to her when she was already away, and an unexpected, grandstand view through the patio doors of Tony and one of his clients screwing on the very same couch she was curled up on. She wondered how many more times it had happened; for some reason, instead of pressing him for more details she had grilled Pam over what she saw, despite her obvious embarrassment. But then somehow she hadn't expected to get an honest answer from him.

Kristen wondered what it was about this woman that had proved so irresistible to him. She had met her in passing at his office months before, and she wasn't exactly some teenage bimbo. She had to be at least a decade older than Kristen, and mean and scrawny-looking into the bargain. No doubt it was that mean streak that Tony had been trying to cure during his long, extended meetings with her, those extra couple of hours he'd bravely put in once a week. What a sap, Kristen thought bitterly.

She flopped over onto her back and gazed up at the ceiling, wondering if all they needed was time apart, to come to terms with it and then find some common ground again. She knew deep down there was no real chance of that. Things had been going south for some time, and she realised that the thought of ending it had already occurred to her; no more than a faint possibility, but the wish had been there. Being apart now wasn't going to bring them any closer together in the long run.

She had also learnt quickly that she wasn't going to get much support, despite being the wronged party. That was the price she was paying for a circle of friends and acquaintances that were nearly all her husband's. Most of her friends and family were a long way away, while she was trapped in this very nice house which she knew she would have to fight to hang onto. That, again, was the price to pay for spending too long living off his money, for putting her own career on the back-burner as she had done ever since they got married.

There was still Pam, in whom she could confide all these depressing thoughts, but she could sense her reluctance every time they met up now. She clearly felt awkward at having discovered the affair in the first place and brought it out into the open. Unnecessary guilt -- the age-old female trait, Kristen reflected. Pam was the oldest friend she had, but she had spent too long around her and Tony as a married couple, chatting to them about bland, safe married things. She wasn't used to the kind of intimate, searching conversations that Kristen needed right now.

When they next met over coffee, Pam perched awkwardly at the kitchen table while Kristen slouched in her robe, feeling distinctly un-house proud. She nodded towards the refrigerator. "You see that? They spent the whole weekend here, and that bitch cleared it out and put her own stuff in there. Like I wouldn't notice!" She shook her head in disbelief.

"Look, you need to get out of here," Pam advised her, fingers worrying the handle of her coffee mug. "You won't be able to stop thinking about it otherwise."

"I know. But I mean, look at me. No, listen to me," Kristen declared, realising in Pam's face that she was getting a little sick of doing just that. "I'm a total misery. I don't want to be around me, so I can't see why anyone else would."

She had never expected herself to sound quite so self-pitying. She liked to think she had always been a relaxed person; she wasn't a nagger and she wasn't a worrier, at least no more than was healthy. When they were newlyweds, Tony had never tired of telling people that she was the most approachable person he'd ever met, that he'd felt at ease within minutes of their first meeting. So approachable that he could hardly get out of the house fast enough when the truth had emerged.

Pam gave a little sigh and put down her mug. "Look, everyone has ups and downs in life. You've got plenty of time to get back on your feet. You're still young."

"I'm thirty-two. If I was a Hollywood actress I'd be starting to panic already."

"You don't look it. How old were you when you married Tony, twenty-six?"

"Twenty-seven." Kristen thought of the fifth anniversary plans they'd made that would have to be scrapped - at least that would be a handy saving for both of them.

"You look exactly the same as your wedding photos. You always had a young face." Kristen murmured a thank you to her. She mused on those pictures of herself in her dress, the light orange hair, sharp cheekbones and dimples beaming out at the camera as she grinned from ear to ear. It was true she still had those looks, but she wondered if she came across as too much of a kid. At least she was no longer asked for ID like she had been through most of her twenties, but whenever she dressed down in jeans and a T-shirt she had the sneaking feeling she resembled a teenage boy.

"Anyway, it's not the looks. I feel old. Being with Tony put years on my life. Listening to him go on about how we were going to save up enough to move here, and then invest in this, and choose the right schools for our kids, blah blah blah. Didn't you get bored listening to all that?"

"He did like the sound of his own voice."

"Yeah, exactly. Everything had to be part of the big plan. I should have said something, told him that maybe I didn't want it all so quickly, but I never felt I could." Kristen gave a hollow little laugh. "And we're the ones who are forcing them to commit!"

"Well honey, if you wanted someone fun and spontaneous..." Pam shrugged. "He was never going to be that kind of guy. Lawyers like to read the small print before they do something wild."

"He was a little bit wild, when I first knew him. Dunno where all that went."

"Do you miss that, then? The reckless twenties?" All of a sudden Pam seemed interested again.

"I miss what I should have been doing back then. Not what I actually did, which was a whole lot of nothing." Kristen leaned forward against the table, a hangdog expression on her face. "I never enjoyed myself half as much as I should have. I was too busy looking at other people and wondering what their secret was, how I could be more like them." A thought occurred to her. "They were probably thinking the same thing about me, of course."

"Well, you've got a chance to get all that back again now. Nothing tying you down."

"Yeah, I just..." Kristen shrugged. "I don't know if I've got the patience to start playing the game again. Y'know, the dating rules, swapping numbers, waiting for him to make a move, all of that. And I certainly don't have the confidence to start hooking up randomly here and there."

"I don't think you have to worry about that!" exclaimed Pam. "You've got the looks to attract anyone if you felt like it."

"You think so?"

Pam shifted awkwardly on her seat as though she'd been caught saying something obscene. "Well, yeah," she said hastily. "I mean if you really wanted to pick up some guy, just to get it on, you could definitely do it. I'm not saying you would or anything, you're not the trashy type."

Kristen looked back at Pam, watching her finish her coffee, and let an awful lot of words go unsaid before she finally spoke. "So... did you have anything in mind, then?"

"Nope, but we could always go out together this weekend. Chris is out of town for a few days, so while the cat's away..." Her sentence died in her throat and her face contorted into a grimace. "Sorry."

Kristen smiled, pushed her chair back and stood up. "Come on Pam, even I can see the funny side to that one. Make sure he's still away if you're thinking of inviting a guy back home, won't you? You might be the one who gets lucky, not me."

Pam passed her empty coffee cup to her. "Don't worry, there's no danger of that. I'm definitely off the market. I'm allowed to look, though," she added with a tinge of defiance. "I can always do some scouting for you. We can go to that new bar in town that's just opened. I've heard they're so desperate for customers that they're paying young people to come in and glam up the place."

"Sounds good. They might even be desperate enough to let us in as well."

As Friday night drew closer, Kristen's cynicism was gradually replaced by excitement at the thought of meeting someone new. She realised she was feeling nervous at the prospect of it going well, rather than of it going badly, and that was a good feeling to have. When she got home from work that afternoon she wasted no time relaxing and went straight upstairs to prepare herself. Putting on the war paint after so long was tiring work, but she had to admit she felt ten times better once the effect was complete. By the time she slipped on her earrings and glanced at herself in the mirror, she was ready to go into battle.

She heard the doorbell ring and trod gingerly down the stairs in heels that she hadn't worn since her twenties. When she opened the door, she barely had time to look into Pam's eyes before they bulged wide and swept downwards across her entire body.

She was wearing an incredibly short, tight silver dress that glittered at the joins where stones had been sewn into the material. Her cleavage was pushed up and forwards, and the hemline clung rigidly to her backside. Pam took it all in with a lingering gaze that would have been uncomfortable had it been a man watching her, and finally let out a deep breath. "Whew... you're sending out the invites early, aren't you?"

Kristen cocked her head to one side and gave a wry smile. "God, I hope so. 'Cos I'm not wearing this for comfort." She picked up her handbag from the hall table and stepped over the threshold, taking some time to look at Pam's elegant red blouse and black skirt. "You look really nice, by the way."

"Oh, thanks." Pam shook her head in disbelief. "I look like an old maid next to you!"

"You're still young Pam, still young," Kristen reminded her, locking the door behind them. After a short journey into town they pulled up across the road from the club.

"That's it right there," said Pam, pointing to the bright neon sign and the crowds of people steadily filtering in. She looked across at Kristen, eyeing up her dress again. "Somehow I don't think we'll have trouble getting in."

Kristen opened the door and stepped out, leaning back in across the open window. "Aren't you glad I dressed to impress, then?" She enjoyed Pam's long-suffering shake of the head, and reminded herself that they had teased each other like this plenty of times in the past, when both were single and looking for help from each other in finding that special someone. Now she was a little older and wiser though, she wasn't sure she wanted to rely on Pam's advice.

They crossed to the entrance, and sure enough they were in so fast their feet barely touched the ground. Kristen felt the gaze of the doorman linger on her long after she had walked past him, and realised that she could expect a lot more attention like that. She just hoped she'd find someone for whom she could return the favour.

As they moved deeper into the club the looks came thick and fast from all sides, men and women, and the latter were far more blatant. Just sizing up their competition in the cattle market, Kristen thought. They didn't have much to worry about: most of the women were dressed just as revealingly as her, and far younger into the bargain. The main difference was that they hunted in packs, keeping their eye in with regular trips to the bar. She began to wonder as she settled down at a table whether she would be wasting her time tonight.

Forty minutes or so later that feeling was starting to becoming fact. There was a steady stream of people filing past them, and plenty of long admiring glances in her direction, but nobody seemed to want to risk approaching her. Kristen sat and sipped at her drink, a grotesquely overpriced drink too, she had noticed with no surprise. She did her best to make it last as long as possible, unable to shake off her housewife's sense of thrift that she had acquired over the past few years.

It occurred to her too that perhaps Pam, nice thoughtful Pam, was an unintentional deterrent as well, sitting across the table scanning the room like a mother trying to find another kid for her child to play with. She was pretty sure she could arrange that by herself, and she might be a more appealing prospect if she was on her own, waiting for someone to come along and spark her interest.

"Listen," she said at last, leaning across the table conspiratorially, "I'm gonna go sit round there for a while." She pointed to a dimly lit corner of the room where the bar moved off at a right angle, out of sight of the main area.

"Give me more of a chance, huh Kris?" said Pam indignantly, guessing correctly that she wanted rid of her. "We've not been here long."

"You said you can still look," Kristen reminded her with a twinkle in her eye. "So, go on looking -- for yourself. I'll be just fine over there. If I'm not back soon... well, you can work out the rest." She picked up her bag and drink and ambled across the room, giving Pam a little wave goodbye. She knew there was every chance she'd come back soon having had just as little success, but at least she wanted to try on her own.

She perched on the stool at the far end of the bar, the spot where the hardened drunks would take up residence in a more affordable watering hole. The paint and the lighting were a little less polished here, and she could see traces of the old bar that had been torn up to make this glitzy version. After a few minutes, she had almost finished the dregs of her cocktail when she heard cautious footsteps to her right.

"Don't worry, they're cheaper round this side of the bar." Kristen smiled and turned to face the newcomer. He was young, a little baby-faced, with untidy blond hair and a shirt that was open far enough to reveal the lack of hair on his chest. He had obviously made an effort to look presentable, with his designer jeans and a bright sheen on his shoes, but there was a slightly unfinished look about him that was rather endearing.

"You've been here before, then?" she asked him, sucking up the last drops through her straw.

"Um, a few times, yeah," he said, leaning back against the bar. "Enough to know that it burns a hole in your wallet."

"I'll say. You'd need to be rolling in it to be a regular here." She leaned towards him, cradling her chin lazily in one arm. "Do you think it's worth it?"

"I think so," he nodded, returning her gaze levelly. There was a pause, and another thought occurred to him. "You're asking me if I'm loaded, right?"

"I'm not that much of a gold-digger," Kristen laughed. "I'll wait to see how much you throw down in a night here before I start climbing all over you."

"Better not waste any time, then." He nodded to the nearby barman.

"Oh, come on," she chided him, waving the man away. "What's your name?"

"Ed."

"Kristen." She extended her arm and gave him a rather firm handshake as he sat down on the stool next to her. "Everyone's out on the warpath tonight, aren't they?" she observed, nodding to the room around them.

"Yeah, there's plenty of options," Ed agreed as he followed her gaze. "It's just..."

"They're all busy thumbing through their phones," she said, finishing his thought for him. "I noticed that as soon as I got here. Call me old fashioned, but I prefer looking at what's in front of me, not what my browser tells me is a good match."

"Not surprising. You can't have any room to hide a phone in that dress."

Kristen shook her head and looked down at the bar with a little smile. "You guys are such prudes deep down, aren't you? You like to look, but if a girl makes an effort then suddenly she's being too obvious."

Ed held his hands up in surrender. "Don't get the wrong idea. Believe me, I'm not complaining." He cast his eyes down over her figure as he spoke, and Kristen felt an unfamiliar thrill of adrenaline surge through her, distant memories of life as a single woman resurfacing.

"Thanks," she smiled politely, trying to play it cool, but her little exhalation of breath betrayed her nerves. He certainly seemed to have more experience with these pick-ups than his youthful features would suggest. For a brief moment she wondered if she was trying too hard, whether she came across as desperate, but she put it out of her mind quickly. If anything he seemed worried that he'd been too forward, and was now sitting there cautiously, waiting to see how she would respond.

There was an awkward pause as they both looked anywhere but at each other. Kristen stared away at the edge of the bar, at the dust gathering on a fire extinguisher in the corner, wondering why it was so grimy when the place was brand new. She was about to bring it up as a nice conversation filler; then she thought of asking him what he did, and her brain got bored even as she formed the words in her mouth.

She felt her heart leap up in her chest and hammer her insides as she stared down at the bottom of her empty glass. Then, slowly and deliberately, she turned to face him and asked, "So, you wanna get it on tonight?"

Ed stared back at her, his mouth forming into a half-open shape of puzzlement. Her heart was still pounding, a giddy sensation running through her head, but she knew she could suddenly back down, pretend that she'd said or meant something different. Instead, she flicked a strand of hair back from her face and asked him again, slower and more carefully, "Do you want to get it on tonight, with me?"

He stared at her again, and finally said, in a dry halting voice, "I hope you're not pulling my chain."

"Listen," Kristen replied, reaching a hand out and placing it lightly over a shirt button just below his chest, "I reckon you've had this offer before. It wouldn't surprise me, you're a good-looking guy. The girl probably needed a few shots in her first to loosen her up, that's all." She pointed at the rim of her glass. "This is all I'm going to need. I'm loose enough already, you know what I mean?"

"Sure I do," Ed breathed, trying hard not to look like a man whose Christmases had all come at once. "But I mean, where...?"

"Let's work that out later, shall we?" Kristen's hand dropped down his stomach, towards his waistband, and she relished the sudden sense of power she felt as he bucked forwards in excitement at her touch. She paused, and nodded behind her, towards the door that led down a connecting corridor to the rest rooms. "Why don't you go in the bathroom for a minute or two, then come back out into the corridor and I'll be waiting for you."

"OK," he nodded, and got up off the stool with, she noted pleasingly, a slightly awkward shuffle. "You know, this is a little risky."

"Yeah, it is," she agreed. "But, you know what they say. No risk, no reward." Carefully she uncrossed and re-crossed her legs, scrutinising his body as shamelessly as he had done hers. She could see some magic beginning to happen down there, and without another word he hurried through the door.

Kristen gave a long sigh, releasing all her pent-up nerves. She sat there for a few seconds, wondering where her boldness had come from. As she thought about him standing there in that bathroom, wondering what was going through his mind, she felt more brazenly confident with each moment. She gave him little more than a minute, then she stood up, slung her bag over her shoulder and strolled over to the door, ready to do just about anything.

12