February Sucks, Dinner Theater

February Sucks, Dinner Theater

What can go wrong on a couples Valentine Weekend Out?

This is my entry for the, Valentine's Day 2024 event.

A lot of writers who contribute to this site try their hand at reimagining George Anderson's classic story. So, I apologize in advance if this is something that is similar to another author's work - I assure you I haven't read it or intentionally tried to imitate it.

If you haven't read the original, or would like to refresh your memory, you can find it here - https://www.literotica.com/s/february-sucks

Note: This is not a rehash of G.A.'s story. Unlike the original, this is not a reconciliation. This is my story and how I imagine my characters behaving in my universe, which is rather dark. Also, the sex is more alluded to rather than graphically described. You have been cautioned.

This tale is quite simply about a deeply loving wife and husband who get caught up in a highly unusual situation with enormous peer pressure working against them.

I will assume that the reader is familiar with G.A.'s foreshadowing of the crucial theme of the story and the lengthy and skillful buildup of Jim and Linda's seeming deep love for each other which makes the pivotal event of the story all the more shocking. I have taken liberal advantage of his generous offer to build on his story. For a number of paragraphs I have quoted the original, 'in italics,' quite extensively. But, for the most part, rather than be repetitive, I have just sketched in a few of the more important details.

I have borrowed the original character names (nine that I used) and assigned them to somewhat similar roles to make it easier for the reader to follow along, because this story differs significantly from the original. In it there were only three named couples, of five - I have given a name (Barbara) to the wife of the fourth couple and cut out the fifth unnamed couple for narrative reasons. I have also added an extra character (Antoine LaValliere - Marc's older brother and role model) who plays a crucial part in the plot.

This is my try at reimagining the original classic story - And train wreck.

*****

"You won't ever leave me? Will you, Jim?" Linda really took me aback when she asked that curious question right out of the blue - especially right after we had just finished a languorous and satisfying night of loving sex.

"What? Of course not. Why would you even ask such a thing?"

"I don't know, sometimes I get afraid that you'll get tired of - I don't know, 'just me, the same old me as always,' and want something different and run off with another woman."

"Don't be silly, I only have eyes for you. We've had almost ten great years together and two great kids. Yes we've hit a few bumps along the road, but all marriages have those. For my part, if it's even possible, I love you more now than ever."

"And I love you more than ever too," she hastily added, to reassure me.

"Why on earth would you wake up thinking something like that?"

"I don't know. Well I guess it started with something Dee said the other day."

"Which was...?"

"Dee told me when you guys went away for a week this past fall on your, 'hunting trip,' to get drunk in that little shack in bush country north of Montreal, and then go and ogle the strippers in the little local Podunk town. She said, everybody knows the best hoes are from there, with their quaint little French accents. And who are doing some, 'hunting of their own,' to get their hooks into men with thick wallets, by selling something besides cheap beer."

"What? Yes we do some drinking - well the other three do a lot of drinking. I don't like it much, so I'm the designated driver. And from time to time we even visit the local strip joint, but it's all above board. I've been to bachelor parties in our old home town, with some of your relatives - I might add - that were more marriage threatening. We have an absolute rule that we have never broken. No booze in the bush when we're carrying rifles, and absolutely no hoes in the house."

"I might have guessed it would be Dee putting those silly ideas in your head. I think perhaps she's having a little too much influence on you. In fact, I think that since we first transferred here a year ago and the three neighbouring wives on this cul-de-sac flew over here. Each carrying a plate of welcome treats and a bottle of wine, you've fallen a little too far under their spell."

"Now who's being silly? I'm all grown up and can make my own decisions."

"Ok. Just remember, I promise: I love you; I'll always trust you; and I'll always be faithful to you."

"Oh, Jim and of course, I promise the same!"

*****

When we had arrived in this new town and bought our new home, both Linda and I were pleased that the immediate neighbours appeared to be about the same thirtyish age. After the impromptu wine and cookie event, we quickly agreed to a house warming party to get to know them and their husbands better. Plans were quickly made and that night we had the big meet and greet. Everyone got along great, Linda and I were soon feeling right at home in the tight little group of neighbours. I completed the men's golf foursome and Linda was happily soon deeply immersed in the women's clique and keeping up with their various activities: story reading club; amateur theater group; Euchre foursome; and once a month a girl's night out.

*****

It was the reading club slash theater group that started the train rolling down the tracks. The tight clique of loving wives had somehow taken up reading erotica stories on line and had come across a site that they particularly enjoyed. They would all read the same story and then get together at one of their houses and over a bottle of wine or three talk about it, laugh and giggle and teasing each other about whether or not they could ever imagine themselves getting up to some of the more outrageous goings on. It was all harmless fun - until it wasn't.

One story caught their attention and they selected it to read, because it was starting off to be a dreary winter with blustery winds and blowing snow and early forecasts predicted that February would be even worse, and the title, February Sucks appealed to them. As usual they all read the story and then got together to tease each other about actually doing the things in the story.

Somewhere about the end of the second bottle of wine, Dee announced, "You know, I came across an ad for a hotel in Las Vegas that has a three day Valentines special. It hosts an interactive dinner theater followed by a dance that sounds like it would be a real hoot. It won't be swimming pool weather, and it can even get below freezing on some nights, but at least there wouldn't be any snow. If we went we could do the dinner theatre where we could all use our acting skills to play a part."

"Then on one of the other nights we could go to a casino and lose our shirts." Giggled a half-in-the-bag Barbara.

"Or take in a professional show - maybe Cirque has a good one on, I've always wanted to see one of their shows." added the slightly more sober Jane.

They bandied the idea about over another bottle of wine and talked themselves into getting their respective spouses on board. The husbands were soon coerced into agreeing and it was done. Reservations for the eight of them were made.

*****

Jim and Linda were in their hotel room getting ready for the dinner theater. Jim asked, for about the umpteenth time, "You're absolutely sure I don't have to say any lines or do any acting, right? Because I really sucked whenever I got stuck doing any acting in the high-school plays."

"No, silly. Barbara will play the part of our designated Linda and her husband Paul will be our designated Marc LaValiere. Dee and her husband, Dave, along with Jane and her husband, Phil who is playing our Jim, have lines. I know you don't like acting so I insisted we'd just be the extras at the table. We don't have any lines to worry about. We can just sit back, hold hands and enjoy a few drinks - maybe smooch a bit, and watch the show."

Linda put on her beautiful new blue dress. All of the women were required to wear a blue dress to go along with the hokey shtick that all the women could be Linda and all of the men dressed in their best suits could be Marc for one night. Then they joined up with the other three couples from their separate four rooms at one end of the corridor on their floor, reminiscent of the layout of their cul-de-sac, and went down together to the dinner-ballroom.

They had a good - not great - dinner. Something like what Jim and Linda had at their wedding, a choice of prime rib or chicken. Predictably, most of the men went with the prime rib and most of the women with the chicken. And of course there were the typical sides and salads. Jim wasn't a big drinker, but the others sure were. The three couples, and Linda, kept on drinking a lot of wine throughout the whole meal.

Then as the wait staff cleared away the dinner dishes and brought another round of drinks, an MC took the stage and after the usual feedback got the mic under control, as a small dance combo set up on stage behind him, and announced the main event. He reminded everyone of how the rest of the evening would proceed: a first set by the band for everyone to relax dancing with their date - he deliberately didn't say spouse - followed by a brief pause, so the Marc and Linda show could begin. He encouraged everyone who was participating to review their cue cards with their scripted lines, that they had received when they checked in and declared their respective roles, in the night's fun. And also to remember to place their name placards prominently on their numbered tables so everyone would know who they were portraying because there would be a round of voting for prizes for the best performances immediately following the game. He also pointed out the rear entrance that all of the Marcs and Lindas would sneak out of only to reappear after a brief delay, allowing time for the dramatic conversation between Jim and Dee to take place, through the main ballroom doors. A regular dance would follow with everyone voting for the best Linda, Marc, and Dee etc. When the cards were collected and tabulated the missing - possibly - cheaters would be shown back in and the winners announced.

Sounds simple enough, everyone thought - what could possibly go wrong?

*****

The evening played out as the MC had described. They all got up and danced to the first set until the pause. But then things started to go off the rails. Barbara was shit-faced by now and Paul spinning her around on the dance floor made her a definite throw-up risk. Dee and Jane hustled her off to the restroom just before the combo's set paused. The rest of the group returned to their seats as the MC announced that it was time for the Marcs to collect their dance partners.

Paul was up and off like a shot to take possession of his designated bodacious beauty. But there was no sign of Barbara. A tall dark haired incredibly handsome looking man approached the hapless couples' table. Since she was the only one of the girls left he had, understandably, just assumed she was Linda. She dropped Jim's hand as the man playing the part of Marc took her hand. The combo started up again and they danced a few numbers.

In the meantime, the missing girls had a reasonably under control Barbara steady enough to resume her seat and started pumping coffee into her and themselves. They were all disappointed that they had missed the 'Marc' moment. But they got back on track when he returned Linda to her seat. Jane's husband, who was feeling just as worse for the wear as the rest of the three heavy drinking couples passed his copy of the script to Jim and said, "Here, you read the lines - I'm too drunk." He looked as bad as Barbara had.

Jim was totally nonplussed at this turn of events, but everyone at the table was egging him on to 'man up' and play the assigned part. So, he decided to suck it up and give it a go.

*****

"Ok, the script says, 'The difference between a woman's best smile and her second-best smile isn't much. Unless you know the woman well, you probably wouldn't notice it at all. As Linda neared our table and our eyes met, her best smile faded to her second-best. I knew then that we had a problem.'"

"Oh. My. God!" said Dee. Aren't you Antoine LaVilliere the super star stud from the soap, "The Young and the Carefree?"

"Busted. You got me. But, please, my dear friends - ladies - usually just call me Tony."

All of the women at the table practically had their tongues hanging out and drooling.

"Tony, you're Marc's older brother...?" panted Dee.

"You Ladies are good, you got me again. I taught him everything he knows." Having said that he gave the rest of the girls a very broad, white teeth gleaming smile while winking at Linda, and left to return to his own table and the mountainous bodyguard that crouched there like a medieval gargoyle.

I pondered that little scene for a moment. "Do we have an actual, real problem here?" I asked Linda.

"I just have to go to the restroom right now. Linda, come with me?" abruptly, announced Dee, reading from the script. "Sorry, Jim. I can use some freshening up, too." Read Linda. She rose and left, without answering my question.

As all of the designated Lindas and Dees began rising from their tables they were joined by their respective Marcs. The Lindas with their companion Marcs were then ushered out through the back doors of the ballroom by a couple of the show's ushers.

By now, I was starting to clue in. The rest of our little 'group' had all read the story and knew what was going down - I was the only one that hadn't read it, and was just scripted as the clueless husband.

Dee came back. Alone..."Relax, Jim," She read from the script..."Linda is fine, she just has something to do. You don't need to worry about her. She is a grownup woman, you know."

I was totally confused and had no idea what was coming next in the play.

"Read the next line, Jim." Said Dee.

"Ok, I'm supposed to go to the bar, with the excuse of, taking back an empty plate of chicken wings - we didn't have any chicken wings, and look at the crowd of Jims and Dees at the bar. I'm not going. Let's just read the lines here, and I'll find out what the grand finale is."

"She's all right, you don't need to check on her." "Everything's fine. I'll take care of this."

"Jim, she's not in the restroom. She has left the club." Read Dee.

I must have had a really confused, clueless look on my face as a bad feeling slithered down my spine.

"Jim, your line..." said Dee pointing to the script I held in my hands.

"Left? Without me? Why? What's the matter? Why didn't she tell me? Where did she go? Is she all right?" I still didn't get it.

And I really didn't.

"So on what was supposed to be our special night, she left me for some asshole jock." I glared at Dee as I growled the words.

"Jim, she hasn't left you. She'll come home to you tomorrow, and you'll have plenty of other special nights together."

"She didn't even have the guts to tell me to my face that she was leaving me. She just snuck out the back door."

"Jim, listen to me. She hasn't left you..."

"Well, if she hasn't left me, then where the hell is she? She sure isn't with me now, is she?" I was getting loud, and didn't care who heard me.

I practically shouted those lines for real.

"Please settle down, people are looking at you."

"Jim, keep your voice down - stop being overdramatic," chided Dee.

"I told you guys I sucked at acting - that's why I didn't want any part in this little party game."

"You're doing fine," soothed Jane. Just read the lines in a normal voice. The rest of us will just imagine the thrill."

Barbara, who had sobered up enough to focus on what was going on had big round eyes as she scanned the group. "Where's Paul?"

Dee totally ignored her and continued reading from the script. "Listen, I know this hurts for you, but it's just tonight. Linda knows, we all know, that you're the only man for her and you always will be. You're the good guy."

I just threw my hands up and then decided to just play along and read the lines and get this farce over with as soon as possible.

"Yeah, and we all know where the good guy finishes, don't we?"

"Jim, it isn't like that. You're making way too big a deal out of this. It's only tonight, then she'll come back to you tomorrow and everything will be just like it was before." I snorted at her. If she really believed that shit, nothing I could say would make any difference anyway.

"So, Friend, what was your role in all this? You didn't really need to go to the restroom, did you? My wife gave you the signal, right? She told you to stall me and keep me out of the way long enough for her and Asshole to make their getaway?"

"Yes, she asked me to do that, because she didn't want you to embarrass yourself by making a scene while Marc was here. She also asked me to make sure you remembered that she loves you, and she will always come home to you."

Yeah, I'd remember exactly how much she loved me tonight, for a long time to come. "More like she didn't want me to embarrass her as she walked away from her husband to spend the night with an asshole jock."

"Or TV star!" interjected Jane.

"Have you seen some of the Babes he's bedded on that show?" threw in Dave.

"And off it..." added Barbara.

Jane gave her drunken husband a jab in the ribs, but he was on a roll now. "I read that he has been quoted as saying that, 'seducing wives that have been married for ten or so years that are feeling unattractive with the weight of jobs, kids, mortgages, and are thinking, 'Is this all there is?' all just want to bust loose and relive their, 'Carefree,' glory days, even if only for one night."

"He went on to say that, 'seducing them was like shooting fish in a barrel.'"

"And every time there's a scandal about him cuckolding some hapless husband, published in the tabloids, his show's ratings go up!" added Jane.

"Can we, please just finish the script - they'll be coming back in soon," scolded Dee.

"Jim, your line."

"I don't suppose it occurred to you, Friend, to remind her that she had a husband and a marriage, and she might lose them over this?"

Dee looked me in the eye. "No, it didn't, because I know she won't lose you over this. You're too good a man to let that happen. I told her how lucky she is. She's lucky because the man that every woman in the room wanted, wanted her; but she's even luckier that she has a husband who loves her enough to get past his hurt feelings and not make this a bigger deal than it should be. You know she'll be willing to do whatever it takes, for as long as it takes, to make it up to you."

"What if it isn't possible to make it up to me? What if there is no way to make this right?"

That line gave me pause. Something began to niggle in the back of my mind.

"Jim, I know how much you love Linda, and how much she loves you. This doesn't have to be a big deal. It's just one night, a one-time experience, compared to all the years and all the love you two have together. It isn't a big deal, unless you make it one. I know she'll come home to you, and I know eventually, you'll be fine." Dee spoke gently but confidently. It was all I could do not to grab the stupid woman and shake her until her teeth rattled for spouting such nonsense. She must be living in some sort of alternate universe if that's what she really thought.