The Best of Friends Ch. 01

First off, thank you to everyone who left me both positive and negative feedback about this story via e-mail. First, I changed the title so that readers will know that this is only the start of a larger story. Second, I added some additional information to this first chapter. Third, I changed some character names. I suffered from some serious writing malaise after putting this first chapter on Literotica, and I'm currently working on Chapter 2.

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The first buds of spring gently swayed on the tree branches as the sun kissed the manicured lawns along Elmwood Drive. Despite her usual routine of partaking in the joys of spring as they unfolded, Keely didn't give a moment's notice to the sights around her. She was in too much agony to notice much of anything. All she wanted to do was to get home and crawl under her covers and shut out the world.

It had all started that morning when she woke up feeling out of sorts but thought it would eventually pass. Thinking it must be the "Monday blahs" getting to her, Keely kept working even though she was feeling under the weather. Unfortunately, her nausea had gotten worse and her naturally tanned skin had taken on an unusual pallor. Her teaching cohort had insisted that she immediately call her doctor and let someone else handle her students. Had it been anyone else, Keely would have paid them no heed and said she was feeling good enough to forge right on until the end of the day. Instead, with graceful acquiescence and a churning stomach, she went to her doctor.

Good thing she had, for Keely was spiking a 101.7 fever along with the standard flu symptoms. Her doctor explained that there was a very active new strain going around and that most of his patients had been out of commission for a week. With that, the doctor sent her home with specific orders to do nothing but rest.

Keely rounded the corner nearest her house and noticed a blue Ford Focus blocking her garage door.

"What the hell?" she thought. Upon further inspection, it dawned on her that it was a brand new car and that Jessica had spoke of buying a new car the night before. Although she loved Jessica like a sister, she could not wait until Saturday for her cousin to move into her first house with college roommates, so she would have her home back completely. Keely couldn't wait to be able to spend time alone again with her husband, Paul.

Parking her car on Paul's side of the driveway, Keely slid out of her Jeep and grudgingly trudged up the walkway towards her front door. "I really don't need this right now," she thought. "I just want to go to bed."

Upon opening the front door, the lilt of Jessica's laughter along with a deep murmur from a male filled her ears.

"Oh hell, she's entertaining," Keely muttered to herself. At that moment, she was regretting telling Jessica to do the things she would have done had this been her own home. She was never one to dictate the life of a twenty year old, and as much as it inconvenienced her at this moment, she wasn't going to do so now.

Keely gazed up the staircase and mulled over the best way to handle this because nothing was stopping her from going to her bed. As long as Jessica had her door closed, she could slip by undetected into her own room and turn on her air purifier to block out any noise. Although with the way she was feeling, she doubted she would hear anything once her head hit the pillow. Despite the protests of her achy body, she headed up the stairs.

It wasn't until she had stepped on the top landing that she realized Jessica did not have her door closed. "Screw it. It's my home, I'm sick, and it's not as if I've never seen people having sex in my thirty-one years on this planet. I'll just walk right by and keep looking straight ahead," Keely thought. With that, she pressed forward, intending to make a straight line to her bedroom.

"K-k-keely?"

She turned her head towards the familiar voice, and her eyes widened. Her stomach quickly did a somersault, and she wretched.

********

One week later...

"This is Paul."

"What the fuck have you done?" an angry voice bellowed into the phone.

"Nice way to greet your brother, Craig. What the hell are you talking about?"

"I just got off the phone with Mom. She informed me that you and Keely are getting a divorce? I know how Keely feels about marriage, so the divorce must have been your dumbass idea."

Paul took in a ragged breath and replied, "No, it wasn't my idea, but I will admit I gave her a damn good reason to file for divorce."

"The only thing that would make Keely walk away is if you –"

Not giving him a chance to finish, Paul interrupted. "You're probably going to hear it from her anyways, so I might as well tell you. Yeah, I cheated on her and got caught."

"No, I'm not going to hear it from Keely because she isn't returning my calls, you peck! Now I know why. I can't believe you were so stupid!"

"What does our divorce have anything to do with your best friend not calling you back?" sneered Paul. There had always been jealousy in his heart that Keely and Craig were so close. It didn't matter that they had been friends for years before he stepped into the picture.

"You know what, Paul?"

"What?!?"

"Forget it!" roared Craig as he slammed down the phone. "You're not even worth my time or anger," he muttered to the phone in its cradle.

"He has always managed to piss me off," spat Craig. "I should have known that he'd fuck things up with Keely."

Whereas Craig believed in honoring commitments to the fullest, Paul was a complete flake. He couldn't believe they had shared the same womb. Sharing it was about the only thing the two fraternal brothers had in common. In every area, they were diametrically opposed.

As he thought of what a screw-up his brother was, he absently tapped a solemn tattoo on his desk with his pencil. "How do I fix this," he wondered.

********

Six months later...

The incessant ringing of the phone brought Keely out of her slumber. Groggily, she reached for the phone on her nightstand and managed to knock off her bottle of water along with her alarm clock.

"Yeah?" she groaned.

"Keely, did I wake you?" cooed her sister-in-law.

"What do you think?" she snarled into the phone. Keely always hated that her sister-in-law had managed to be a peppy morning person while she remained a dedicated night owl.

Darbie giggled into the phone. "Did you forget that we had breakfast plans this morning?"

Keely dangled her arm off the bed and groped along the floor for her clock. "Uh...um..." Grasping her clock with her fingers, she dragged it up onto the mattress and peered at the readout. Any other person would have gotten an earful. However, Darbie was not only her sister-in-law; they had been best friends since the second grade.

"Darb, I know for a fact that we do not have breakfast plans at 6:00 A.M. in the morning. I also know for a fact that you are well aware I don't get up this early, and I would think considering how long you've known me, you would know better by now."

Muffled giggling on the other end was her only response. Flopping onto her back, she threw her arm over her eyes and expelled another heavy sigh. Trying to argue with Darbie was pointless, and Keely knew it. All she could do was mutter an exasperated, "Where and when?"

Thirty minutes later, a beaming and effervescent Darbie slid into the booth with Keely's brother, Alan, only to be greeted by a pair of slate grey eyes that narrowed at her. Darbie's smile widened. She knew that Keely could never be mad at her for long. Even as kids, she could make Keely smile; although, it had been harder to do so these past few months.

"You couldn't have given me two more hours of sleep? Why the hell are we here this damn early?" griped Keely.

"And good morning to you," smiled Alan.

"Well I can honestly say it's not because of your bubbly morning personality," goaded Darbie. "Honestly, it's because your schedule has been so hectic the past few months. If I didn't get to you early, you would have been booked solid for the day, and by the time you were done, I would be in bed."

"Actually, I don't have clients today or tomorrow." At her brother's cocked eyebrow, Keely quickly added, "I'm flying out for a one-week conference tomorrow."

"And which kind of conference is this?" queried Darbie. She always found it amazing that Keely had spent the last few months utterly swamped between two jobs.

"You should know by now that any summer conference I attend is most likely going to be to further my massage therapy experience," Keely stated before taking more sips of her coffee.

Darbie thought back to two years ago when Keely had first started massage therapy school. Everyone thought it was insane that she was even attempting to go to school part-time while also teaching full-time science at a local high school. That is everyone but Darbie. She knew from experience that once Keely threw herself into something, one hundred percent would be given until completion. It turned out to be the best thing for Keely because it kept her mind off Paul and the divorce.

Darbie snapped back to the present to find Keely staring at her intently. "Spill it" was all she said to Darbie, who stole a glance at Alan.

"Aunt Linda called me last night."

Every muscle in her body tensed up as Keely heard her brother mention that name. "And this has to do with me why?"

"Because Jessica flew home and dropped the bombshell that she is about six months pregnant. Aunt Linda blames you." Alan looked up at Keely but not in time to see her reaction. Darbie, on the other hand, had watched as she looked stunned for a second. Then some unreadable emotion flittered across her face, but it was so fleeting that Darbie wasn't even sure what it was.

"What?!? How the hell am I responsible for what Jessica does?"

"She thinks that if Jessica had been able to live with you after you left Paul, she would have had a role model to guide her to make better choices. Now she's pregnant, refusing to say who the father is, and Aunt Linda wants someone to blame." Darbie tried to put her words as delicately as possible because Keely's reaction to the news had her worried.

Not one word was uttered by Keely as she shakily reached for her purse and took out her planner. Anger coursed through her veins like molten lava. She flipped through a small stack of business cards. Handing Alan one, she coldly spat out, "If she wants someone to blame, have her call this number. I have no doubt he's the one who got her darling Jessica pregnant."

Still in shock over the vehemence in Keely's voice, Darbie took the business card from Alan before he had a chance to look at it then glanced down. What she saw there shocked her completely, and she was almost afraid to ask. She feared how Alan would react when he saw it. He was very protective of his younger sister.

In spite of that, Darbie gently asked, "This is Paul's business card. Why would Aunt Linda need to call him? What would he know of that?"

Slowly expelling air from her lungs, she glanced at her brother who was fuming, and then her eyes rose to meet Darbie's. Not once had she mentioned to any member of her family the reason for her divorce from Paul. Even Darbie didn't know, and she knew everything about Keely. They had all assumed that she had valid reasons for the divorce since nothing she did was half-cocked, and they respected her privacy. That was the great thing about her family: they were always supportive without prying.

"I know you've wondered why I decided to leave Paul out of the blue and why I have refused contact with Jessica. I know that you have all tried to figure out what it could possibly involve but none of you assumed that the two issues were related. I didn't want to tell anyone partly because I didn't want to cause a rift in this family and partly because I was embarrassed." Keely bowed her head over her cup of coffee and continued shakily.

"Six months ago, I came home early from school due to the flu only to find Jessica on her knees in front of Paul. You can figure out the rest." Looking up, Keely noticed that for the first time in their friendship, Darbie was speechless. "Now you know," she added with a shrug.

Puzzle pieces started to fall into place for Darbie. "Oh my...that explains...I can't believe..."

"Darbie, finish a complete train of thought please. You're speaking gibberish," teased Keely.

"How can you be so glib about this? It all makes sense now - why Jessica seemed to walk on eggshells around the rest of the family; she wasn't sure if you told and was on her best behavior. Why you told Mom that there was no way in hell that she was staying with you when her living arrangement with her friends fell through. Why you stopped coming to Sunday dinner and why Jessica was able to still move out on her own."

"I'm going to kill him," fumed Alan.

"Alan, you will do no such thing. Am I hurt? Yes. Am I angry? Yes. Do I want you to step in on my behalf? NO! In order to heal, I have to do so on my own. Please don't step in. It's over and done with."

Alan glared at his sister. He didn't like the idea of anyone hurting his sister. However, he had always respected her wishes even if it killed him to do so.

"Fine." muttered Alan. "Aunt Linda going ballistic on Paul should be punishment enough."

For the first time in months, Keely found herself giggling at the thought of Paul having to deal with Aunt Linda's ire. She quickly explained when she saw the looks of shock on Alan and Darbie's face, and they, too, started laughing because they knew exactly how Aunt Linda could be. To describe her as overbearing would be an understatement.

Darbie and Alan convinced Keely to spend the rest of the day with them, and it was a much needed respite from her normal routine. The ringing of her phone greeted her as she closed and locked her front door. Most people would rush to pick up the phone; yet Keely went to the machine and listened. It could have been Aunt Linda and that was a conversation she did not want to have at the moment.

"Keely? It's Craig." Every muscle in her body tensed. Craig was Keely's best friend since college, and Paul's brother. She had been avoiding him for the past six months. Although it broke her heart to not speak with him, Keely was a firm believer in not dividing families.

"Okay, so you're either really not there or you're avoiding my calls. Personally, I think you're avoiding me. Why? One: because I know you're a homebody when you actually aren't working. Two: because I know you're usually conscientious about returning calls even if it takes you a while. Three: because I know you have this odd notion that staying friends will have an adverse impact on my relationship with my brother and the rest of my family. Honestly, I think he is the one to blame for that, but I'm the one being punished. Do you realize we used to talk every day before this snafu? Keely, if you're there, pick up..."

Just as her fingers touched the phone, Keely heard, "I miss talking to my best friend," followed by an exasperated sigh then a click.

********

"I miss talking to my best friend." Craig disconnected, but his cell phone sat in his hand like a dead weight. The feeling that Keely was listening didn't lift his spirits. Instead he was hurt. It was Paul who cheated on her, yet he was bearing the punishment. He and Keely were the best of friends until Paul couldn't be faithful. "The sins of the father should be changed to the sins of the brother," he thought ruefully.

Craig lived with many regrets since learning that his brother had betrayed Keely. The one that weighed the most on his soul was that he was the reason Keely ever met Paul. It still stung him to think that their paths would never have crossed had he not invited her home for Thanksgiving eleven years ago. He felt like he somehow had a direct hand in betraying his friend.

As a shudder of regret rippled through his body, a new determination gripped him. He punched a few numbers into the phone and waited for it to connect.

"Hello."

"Hey, it's Craig."

"It's about time. Did it take Keely pushing you out of her life for you to realize that you love her?" barked Darbie.