Silver Lining Playbook

Once again, many thanks to "Aaroneous" for the great story suggestions and for all the time it takes editing my 'soap operas'. I understand the patience and length of time it takes to read through my stories and pick out the many repeated errors. Your help is greatly appreciated! Mostly by those who take the time to read our stories.

Silver Lining Playbook

"My house tomorrow. Five o'clock. And I don't give a shit what happens, don't be late," Alex yelled over the partition, from three stalls away. He was in a hurry because he had a tee time for nine holes after work and didn't want to be late.

"I'll try," I said, stringing him along. "What should I bring?"

"Red. Morgan always loves it when you surprise her with a bottle of red." He had his briefcase in one hand and his jacket in the other. "And never mind the 'I'll try' bullshit. Tyler don't fuck me on this one. Five o'clock. It's important to me."

"I won't let you down."

My smile and wave did nothing to quell his anxiety about me being late. In the past I suppose I gave him plenty of good reasons to worry about me not showing, but recently, I'd gotten better, much better and my reliability had improved. At least I Kept telling myself it had.

"Five o'clock" was the last thing I heard as the elevator doors closed in front of him.

Alex shouldn't be worried. Lately I've found that spending a Saturday night at his place was far better than staying home alone. I mean, I like, love, and hate my place. It's the perfect location, but when I'm there all alone, I don't feel normal. Probably due to all of the memories and the urges to entertain, but I have no one in my life other than Alex and Morgan.

I live in Minneapolis. So does Alex. We grew up together. We went to school together. Graduated Southwest High School together. Went to different universities, but we got our degrees on the very same day, moved home, and started our lives.

Earlier on, we shared a condo downtown by the river for a couple of years. We worked at different companies but had the same hours. Our place was always party central. A revolving door of girls, wine in a cardboard box, cases of beer, and pizza boxes. They all entered full, and most left empty, or at least feeling empty. That was until the day Alex met Morgan. I remember it well because it was the day my life also changed.

*****

Choosing beer over work, Alex and I made the short walk to our favorite place. The place he first saw the woman he would marry.

Morgan was lawn bowling upstairs at Brit's Pub. Her small entourage seemed to follow her every move, like when a flock of birds for some reason only known to them, follow the lead bird. She turned left, so did they. She stopped, so did they. Anyway, we watched from a distance. She was way out of Alex's league, but my boy had courage, a bit of bravery, and smarts on his side, so he did the unthinkable and went up to her.

"We'll play the winner," Alex said. It wasn't a question. It was a statement.

"For drinks?" Morgan looked him up and down as she said it.

"Absolutely," Alex said with the cocky swagger of a man about get a free beer from the hottest girl in the bar.

We waited our turn patiently. Morgan and her partner won the game, and we were up. I was a little disappointed as the girl that had been playing moved off the grass and started chatting with a group of her friends. Alex and I stood on the short-bladed lawn waiting, and finally from out of the crowd came another blonde. Morgan's new partner was also a smoke show. Long blond hair pulled over one shoulder and she was sporting a hard tight body.

"Sorry, I had to pee." The blonde wasn't shy about where she had been. She looked at us looking at her and told us so point blank. "What? Everyone does it."

"Ladies first," Alex called out, trying to change the subject.

"Wow. How very chivalrous of you. We usually flip a coin, but since you and your buddy must be dying to buy us a drink, we'll go first," Morgan told Alex.

"Tyler," I held my hand out to the girl that just arrived.

"Lauren." She shook my hand. I noted that her hand was damp. "Sorry, no paper towels. Don't worry, it's not pee."

I laughed and smiled. She was so funny and cute, I wouldn't have cared if it was a little bit of urine.

Alex and Morgan played hard. It was a fierce battle. Well, as fierce a battle as rolling a little ball over well-manicured grass can get, but in the end, Morgan screamed and jumped in the air. I hadn't even been keeping score. I was too enthralled by Lauren.

"Well, it looks like I owe you a drink," I said to Lauren, as the waitress neared us. "Peroni, please. And for the lady..." I looked at Lauren and waited for her to answer.

"Gin and tonic please. Two limes." With our orders in hand, she moved to Alex.

"Hi, can we get a couple of Boddington's?" The waitress began to write the drink order down when Morgan interrupted.

"Are you drinking both of those?" she asked.

"No, I thought..." Alex stated. He was trying to show a bit of machismo by ordering for the girl who had just kicked his ass at the very physical sport of lawn bowling.

"Macallan 18 for me please." Morgan's request stopped him in his tracks. After taking the order, the waitress left a shocked Alex standing with his mouth open.

"Macallan's! What the hell do you order when you're the one paying?" My friend was losing his mind.

"Water," was her simple answer.

The four of us found a table and waited for our drinks. Like us, Lauren and Morgan were roommates. Both worked at the same office and had been friends since they met at college.

With lively conversation and lots of laughs, we seemed to be getting along well. So well, that we lost track of time. The girls had switched to water when we ordered some snacks, so Alex was only on the hook for one Macallan shot. We exchanged numbers and made promises to stay in touch as we walked out of Brit's, knowing full well that similar things are said daily in every pub and bar around the world but only a handful ofpeople keep those promises.

The sun started to dip behind the taller buildings of downtown. The evening hours set in and threatened to turn daylight to dusk. A different crowd would soon take over the bar. A younger, more boisterous crowd. We all agreed we made the right choice to call it an evening but, as we stood in front of Brit's Pub, there was an uneasy silence as nobody seemed willing to go their separate ways.

"Walk us home?" Finally, Morgan broke the ice.

Alex stumbled out a "sure" and looked at me as if begging me to agree.

I looked at Lauren and made my own play.

"Do you like baseball?" I asked.

"Sure. My whole family are Tiger fans." I forgot that upstairs she told me she was from Detroit.

"Feel like going to watch the Twins?" I pointed in the direction of Target Field.

"Hasn't the game already started?" She looked as if she could see the game from where we were standing.

"Yeah, but I have a buddy that's a grounds keeper. He gets me in for free."

Two minutes later, we climbed into a cab and watched as Alex walked away on the sidewalk with Morgan.

*****

"Beer?" I asked Lauren after my grounds keeping friend (Thomas) showed us our seats.

"And a hotdog", she called after me as I headed to the concession stands.

I wish there was a magical moment where I caught a foul ball and gave it to her as a gift. Or I saved her from being hurt by stepping in front of a line drive, but nothing like that happened. We enjoyed the game. The seats were good. They were always good. Thomas put us in the unused seats which were normally reserved for the opposing team's family and friends. Today, we sat alone.

Nothing truly spectacular happened until my phone began to ping with a series of incoming texts.

I read the first few and then put the phone away.

"Anything important?" Lauren asked.

"Not really. Just Alex letting me know he's staying the night at Morgan's place."

"Which is also my place. I guess church is out of the question tomorrow," she said with a chuckle.

"I guess so. He also asked me to keep you company for a while."

"How long is 'a while'?" she asked. "When your buddy says he's staying the night, does he mean the entire night?"

"Maybe. I mean, I'm sure he would want to stay over, so probably, but he's a deep sleeper. You don't have to worry. He wouldn't hear you if you wanted to go home."

"Why would I worry? I live there. But thanks, I'll sleep on your couch if you don't mind."

"I don't mind, but you haven't seen our couch. Two single guys, equals a couch that has seen its fair share of couch surfing."

"I'll take my chances. It has to be better than listening to Morgan howling all night."

It wasn't very far from the park to the Freight Yard where Alex and I lived, but we took a cab anyway.

"Holy shit. How cool is this place? You hike along the river much?" Lauren asked. She knew where we lived wasn't that bad of neighborhood.

"Yeah, we like it," was all I said while I punched in the code for the keyless entry.

The place looked better on the outside than it did from in. I mean, we kept it clean, but it was a guy's place. Pool table where the dining room should be. Vintage Playboy pinball machine in the third bedroom. Those were the small things that proved no women lived with us.

"Beer?" I yelled as Lauren walked the hall in search of the restroom. When she didn't answer, I stepped out of the kitchen and looked down the hall. Lauren stood with her still wet hands in front of her. "Everything okay?"

"Not really. I was afraid that my hands would be dirtier after a dried them on the towel in there." I laughed and guided her to my room.

"There, you pick." A pile of neatly folded towels sat on to top of my hutch.

Putting the towel over my doorknob, Lauren looked my way and said, "Sure, a beer sounds great."

Tossing the latest edition of Sports Illustrated from the burgundy leather sofa, I offered her a seat and turned to put some music on.

A series of lights kicked on and the speakers hummed for only a second. Lauren pointed to the neon "Off Limits" sign that hung over the stereo that was surrounded by vinyl albums.

"I'm guessing you don't like anyone touching your sound system," she said.

"Not particularly."

Lauren strolled around the large loft and eyed our collection of sports memorabilia. When she finished, she swayed to the music as she flipped through the hundreds of vinyl records that had caught her interest.

Pulling her phone out of her back pocket, Lauren looked at the time and set the phone down.

"Look, I don't want to rush things, but I work some weekends, and this is one of those weekends, so do you have a t-shirt I can borrow?"

"Yeah, sure. Follow me." I led her back to my room and opened the closet.

"Really. Your condo looks like a frat house, but you hang your t-shirts up?"

"It's easier than folding them. And it keeps them wrinkle free."

Lauren laughed, pulled one off a hanger, then stopped me.

"I don't need those." I was pulling a pillow and blanket off the top shelf. "You were right about your couch. I certainly haven't had enough to drink to want to sleep on it." I smiled and nodded in agreement.

"Do you mind if I shower?" she asked.

"No." I handed her the best towel I owned.

She walked out of my room, turned, and stopped.

"Do you want to join me?"

"Yes" came out way faster than it should have. So, I waited a second before nodding my head.

Her grin was infectious. "I like a man of few words." And she started toward the shower.

Few words indeed.

The fact that I wasn't speaking could probably be contributed to being in awe of what was happening. Lauren, a girl I had only just met, turned on the water and was stripping down so she, I mean we, could get into the shower.

The beautiful blonde pulled her t-shirt over her head and shook so that her shiny locks spread out over her shoulder. Her hair was long, but not nearly long enough to hide the blue bra that kept her perky tits in check.

Knowing full well that she had my attention, she toyed with her shoes and short socks. Kicking them off, one at a time.

Slowly her fingers undid the buttons on her jeans.

Moving her hips, she pried the tight denim down and over her hips. It wasn't until I noticed a short-groomed tuff of fur that I realized she wasn't wearing any panties.

This girl was very graceful. Standing on one foot, she made a weird yoga move and pulled her tanned leg from within her jeans. Then she lifted the other leg higher than I'd ever seen someone do in person and pulled it free. Tossing the garment carelessly on the floor, she smiled and reached behind her back with both hands. Seconds later, she stood before me, naked.

"Your turn baby."

Trying to mimic her moves got a belly laugh from my naked, soon to be lover. When I lifted my second leg, I stumbled into the wall and Lauren came to my rescue.

Wrapping her thin arms around my neck, she pulled me into her for what would become our very first kiss.

Her hard titties pressed into the hairs of my chest, and she moved her hip forward so that our lower regions touched and connected.

"You're not very good on your feet big boy."

"I know, but I make up for it when I'm in bed." My hands moved down her back and cupped her firm ass cheek.

"Promise?" She pulled me under the stream of warm water.

"Promise, and if I don't, let me know and I'll keep trying until I get it right."

With Lauren, I would learn there would be no chance of getting it right. Unless you meant, right to the point.

Reaching between my legs, she took hold of my manhood and aligned me to the center point of her propped up leg and eased herself down until I sank into her depths.

Connected at the mouth and groin, I cupped both cheeks of her cute little ass and lifted as much as I could.

Lauren had no problem with me doing all the work. She kept her back pressed to the shower wall and looked down. She was watching my cock as it dove deep, then retreated, only to do it over and over again.

"That's it, baby. Pound me," she grunted in rhythm with my thrusts.

Setting her down so that her feet were back on the floor, I pulled out and turned so she was facing the wall.

When the flat of my palm pressed the middle of her back, she knew exactly what I wanted and leaned forward to give it to me.

Grabbing her hips and ass, I moved myself into opposition and pushed back into her. We were now fucking in a standing doggy.

The walls of my lover's pussy gripped and caressed my shaft like a velvet vice. I swore I could feel every ripple and crease of her inner skin as it held me tight. I wanted everything all at once as I changed my grip on her hips and pushed the tip of my thumb toward her puckered asshole.

"Nope," was all she said.

She may not have wanted my thumb, but she wanted my cock.

Every time I moved forward, she slammed backward to meet me. And when I reached between her legs and started to massage her clit, she gave into her lust.

"Fuuuuu...oh yeah...just..."

Her body stopped moving under her control. She was no longer pushing back onto me. Instead, she was standing still. Vibrating from her orgasm.

"Lauren, I'm..."

There was no need to explain to her what was about to happen. She knew.

"Do it."

And I did. Like some horny highschooler, I came in the unprotected pussy of a woman I'd only known for a few short hours. And if once wasn't bad enough, I did it twice more before morning. A second time on the kitchen countertop and again in my bed.

It wasn't bad considering we were strangers. But sometimes with someone you don't know, you're able to open up and express yourself more.

So, it turned out to be a great day, and an even better evening, because even though Lauren wasn't the first girl I had sex with on the day I met her, she was probably the hottest one.

*****

Lauren moved in the following weekend, and it went very well for almost a year. Or at least I thought it had.

We both worked lots of hours, but we always found time to please one another. In my opinion, the sex was plentiful, and good.

Any free time was spent going out with Morgan and Alex, or to flea markets and antique shops to find treasures to decorate the loft to Lauren's liking. The old sofa was the first thing to be removed. I took her home to meet my parents, but in the entire time we were together, I never met her folks. She flew home three or four times for family functions, but I was never invited. Lauren always seemed to have an excuse as to why it wouldn't work out for me to go, and I was too dumb to connect the dots.

The signs may have been there, but I missed them. Morgan was the first clue. At first, we had great times together, but as things moved forward, she started to separate herself from us. It was like she knew her friend and I weren't right for one another.

There were times when Lauren and I disagreed, but we never, not once, had an argument where either of us raised our voices, but in retrospect, I wish we had.

It hurt when I came home to an empty home, but the hurt had only just begun.

Before I even noticed that she had taken all of her belongings, I found a short, hand-written note.

"Tyler, there are so many things I have wanted to say to you, but I just couldn't bring myself to do so. I'm moving back home (Detroit) for a while. I don't expect you to wait for me and it's probably better I'm leaving this way. This should cover my half of this month's expenses."

No signature, initials, or even a heart. Nothing. The unsigned note lay on the table with her key holding it in place.

Empty and stunned, I stared at the plain piece of lined paper. The girl I thought about making a life partner had ripped a hole in my heart and thought she could fix it by leaving ten fifty-dollar bills on the table.

Morgan insisted she knew nothing. She said she was unaware Lauren had planned on moving home and when we found out she was engaged to some guy in Detroit, she claimed she had no idea, until she read it on Facebook.

That was it for me. Every emotion I had ever known surged through my body for the next two weeks.

My mind played tricks with me. I could picture Lauren on one of her trips home. She would be sucking some guy's cock, then he'd pump her full of cum, only to put her on a plane and send her back to me. Was I the butt of their jokes? Did they have a laugh at my expense while they made love? Did he make her feel better than I could?

I laughed. I cried. I screamed. I was silent. I was aggressive. I was passive. I broke every knickknack she had brought into our home, and then I tried to fix them. It was as if repairing them would show her how much I loved her. On the day she returned, she would see. She would instantly recognize the love I had for her. But once they were semi repaired, I would only smash them again, so they were finally beyond repair.

My life was a vortex. I was living in a downward spiral that became more turbulent and picked up velocity with every single moment I was awake. I knew it had to stop, but my pit of despair had no bottom in sight.

As the days floated by, there are things I can't, or maybe refused to remember. My work life failed. They sent me to the company psychologist. She called me "damaged" and put me on short term disability. Those things, I do remember.

Two months later, Morgan and Alex took me out for lunch and told me they had been invited to Lauren's wedding in Detroit. Apparently, while still at the table, I went on Facebook, told the world what a whore Lauren was and threatened to beat the shit out of her future husband. Then I swiped the table clean with my arm. A senseless act. One that got all of us tossed out of the restaurant. I don't even remember doing it.