The Bridge Club Ch. 12

The threesome was done. It felt like a tremendous weight had been lifted from my shoulders. I realized then that I had been dreading the entire affair, rather than looking forward to it. I didn't feel the slightest urge for a repeat with Emily. Marina was more intriguing, but she was gay, and with Carmen. I liked her, and would keep fond memories of the threesome because of her.

But more than anything, now, I wanted to win Christina back. She DID like me - at least, before Massimo revealed the bet. Somehow, some way, I would have to remind her of the things about me that she liked, and rekindle the attraction. In other words, I had to convince Christina that I wasn't a complete asshole.

I was at the fitness centre, to play a game of squash against a newcomer who had climbed the ladder rather quickly. He beat Massimo, in the 4th spot, on his first attempt, and had now challenged me.

Markus was a big guy, tall and well-built. He was good-looking, blonde, and tanned. His racquet, clothing and footwear were expensive, top of the line stuff. I was prepared to dislike him right away. Then he cleaned my clock.

This guy wiped the floor with me. I was a little out of practice, but even on my best day, he would have beat me handily. He smiled the whole time, and complimented me when I made a good shot, or dove for a return. Now I was ready to cordially hate him.

We met for the traditional beverage afterwards - winner buys. I had a beer, while Markus ordered a fruit juice. He was a vegetarian, but not a fanatic. To my surprise, he turned out to be a nice guy. He came from a Swedish family, still had a strong accent, skied in the winter, and had just moved here to take up a new job. I found myself liking Markus.

Then I remembered: "You don't play bridge, by any chance, do you?"

He gave me a huge, toothy smile. "I love britch."

********************************

I called the others, and told them that I had found a new player. Both Carmen and Beth wanted to know more, but all I would tell them was that Markus was male, and reasonably good-looking. I offered to host the next game.

When I spoke to Christina, I was tempted to ask her out. A safe date, like to see a band, or an afternoon coffee. But I held back. Better to give her a little time, to forget the threesome. I could use the bridge game to test the waters and see how she responded to me.

Markus was, as you might have guessed, a huge hit. Carmen was awestruck. Beth had a whispered conversation with her, reminding Carmen that she was still with Marina. Darren was impressed, too; I had to remind him to close his mouth, and wipe the drool from his chin.

The big Swede could play bridge, too. Was there anything he couldn't do? Markus was a hit with everyone there.

- "Where did you find him?" asked Beth.

- "Are there more like him?" Darren wanted to know.

- "How much are plane tickets to Sweden?" was Carmen's question. "I love his accent."

Abigail and Christina went out of their way to help him fit in. But it wasn't very hard. He was immeasurably more pleasant than Emily, and we finally had eight good bridge players again. The fact that he was easy on the eyes for the girls (and Darren) was an added bonus. Even Christina had something positive to say.

- "Good work, Norm." she said, with a half-smile.

I waited four more days before calling Christina. When I did, I had a foolproof idea. There was a new cafe in town, where the walls were lined with old bookcases, their shelves loaded with new and used books. The tables were set in little nooks, which offered considerable privacy for those who wanted to read, or share a quiet conversation. The books were for sale, or you could sample them and read a few chapters for free. It would be the kind of place Christina would enjoy.

"Oh, I heard about it - it sounds wonderful." she said. "But ..."

- "But?"

- "But I have plans that afternoon. I'm sorry, Norm. I won't be able to go."

- "What about Sunday?" I asked.

- "No good either. I'm helping my sister on Sunday. Sorry, Norm. I'll have to take a raincheque."

- "Anytime." I told her. But I was surprised. Disappointed, obviously, but also surprised. Yet I shouldn't have been. What did I expect: that Christina had been sitting around waiting for me to finish fucking Emily and Marina so that she could go out with me? Patience, I told myself.

I waited until the following week, and then invited her to meet me for a drink after work.

"I can't, Norm." she said.

- "How about dinner? My treat. You have to eat." I heard my own tone of voice and realized that I sounded a little bit desperate.

- "Norm - I can't. I'm sorry. Listen - I'll see you at Bridge Club, and I'll explain, OK? I have to go, though. I have to finish this before I can leave."

- "Alright. See you Saturday." I said, and then hung up.

Shit! What the hell did that mean? What did she have to explain?

**********************************

My questions were answered at the Bridge Club.

Christina arrived late, as she often did. With Markus. And they were holding hands.

I was very proud of myself, for how I acted that evening. I smiled, and greeted them warmly. I shook Markus' hand (once he had let go of Christina's), and I kissed her on the cheek. I acted like nothing was wrong.

Abigail was hosting the game, with an assist from Pete. His own apartment was a one-bedroom bachelor pad, so he wouldn't be able to have us all over. But they were a couple, and appeared quite happy to co-host at her place.

I concentrated on playing cards, and tried to be as pleasant as possible to everyone. I don't think I fooled anybody.

After the first rubber, Carmen asked me if I was alright. Beth gave me a hug, for moral support. Abigail just looked sad. Even Darren patted me on the shoulder.

"Tough luck, man." he said. "You OK?"

- "Fine. I'm fine."

Markus smiled a lot, and did his tall, good-looking, blonde and tanned thing. I really couldn't hold it against him. He was a nice guy. He wasn't deliberately trying to cut in on me. How could he have known? Even Edgar Allan Poe couldn't find fault with him.

As for Christina ... I wasn't angry at her, either. How could I be, if I was truly in love with her? Sure, I wanted her. But didn't I want her to be happy? If he was the right guy for her, then good luck to both of them.

And if he wasn't, then I could wait. There was nothing else to do in the meantime, but grin and bear it. She looked so good, though, wearing a lilac-colored outfit that suited her dark skin perfectly. Her hair had been done in corn rows, which somehow complimented her exotic features. She had on a little more makeup than usual, and she was showing a bit of cleavage. Christina looked good enough to eat.

As I say, I behaved myself. I played reasonably well, aided by a series of remarkably good hands. My cards were so good that everyone noticed.

"You're getting the cards tonight, Norm." said Darren, my partner. "That's some run of luck."

And then Carmen put her foot in it. "Lucky at cards, unlucky at - " Then she realized what she was saying, and froze. Her partner was Christina.

We sat there for four very uncomfortable seconds of absolute silence.

My partner bailed us all out.

"Well, he deserves a little luck." said Darren. "If I recall correctly, you had terrible cards the last two times we played. You couldn't buy a decent hand."

Carmen shot Darren a grateful look, but Christina didn't raise her eyes. I just smiled.

-"All good things come to those that wait." I said. Let her make of that what she would.

Later that evening, Christina found me in the kitchen. She smiled sadly.

"I'm sorry, Norm." she said.

- "It's cool." I told her. "Happy for you. He's great."

Somehow I managed not to embarrass myself. I waited until I got home to howl at the moon.

**************************************

Carmen texted me the next day to apologize for the 'Lucky' comment, and to ask me how I was. Beth phoned me to ask the same thing. Neither of them had known that Christina and Markus were an item. Both were as surprised as I was.

Christmas was upon us. I managed to swing a few days off work, and went home to spend some time with my folks. Some old friends got together, and treated me to a night out. One or two asked me how Massimo was doing. I admitted that I hadn't seen him in a while. I did my best not to think about Christina. And failed.

The next Bridge Club was held the second week of January. At Christina's house.

It was excruciating. She and Markus spent the whole evening close together. She frequently reached out to touch him on the arm, or the hand, and smiled at him non-stop. I could handle that. Mostly.

Christina had never once given me a dirty look, or uttered an unkind word when I was sleeping with Carmen or Abigail. She had given me permission to have sex with Beth, and then never said anything about it to either of us. I was determined to be as classy as she was. She would have no reason to reproach me.

The hardest thing to bear were the pitying looks I got from Beth, Abigail and Carmen.

Pete invited me out to a sports bar, to watch a playoff game.

"It sucks, Norm." he said. "I mean, you go and find me, and I start going out with Abigail - for which I will be eternally in your debt. Then you bring in Marina, and she hooks up with Carmen. And now Markus ..."

- "I know." I said.

- "It's like you're cursed, you know? I mean, you should stop inviting new players, if you have any interest in Beth. I mean -"

- "I get it, Pete. Thanks."

The girls took me out, too - well, Beth, Carmen, and Marina did. They chose a ritzy supper club with a small dance floor. All three took a turn at consoling me, despite my protestations that I was fine.

- "You don't look fine to me, Norm." said Carmen.

Marina had her own suggestion for cheering me up. "You know, you could come home with us later. If you want to, that is. It might ... make you feel better."

Beth helped me talk it out. "I don't know what's going on with her, Norm. She never even dropped a hint that she was interested in Markus. That's not like her. What if I was interested in him, too? She should have told me, so that we weren't competing."

- "Were you interested in Markus?" I asked her.

- "No. Not really. But that's not the point. And then ever since they started dating, she hasn't said a word to me. To any of us." said Beth.

- "Maybe it's private." I suggested. "You said yourself that you girls don't always share all of the details."

Beth shook her head. "That's not it. She doesn't have to tell us ... what they do in private. But Christina doesn't keep secrets. And we always introduce new boyfriends to each other. We should have gone out as a group, to welcome him - you know what I mean? That's how we met Massimo. Carmen brought him out to meet us. That's how he ended up in the bridge club. And Abigail brought Pete out with us one night, even though we had already met him."

- "Maybe ... I don't know. Maybe her relationship with Markus is different." I offered.

- "I don't care! She's treating us differently. That's the part I don't like!"

Beth cooled down a bit later.

"Sorry, Norm. This was supposed to be about you - not about my little complaints." she said. "So tell me the truth: how are you doing?"

I told her the truth. "Not good. But I don't know what to do about it. Just endure, I guess. Wait and hope."

- "You're still in love with her?" she asked.

- "Yeah."

She reached out to ruffle my hair. "Poor Norm."

************************************

I was feeling pretty low, but I didn't seriously consider skipping the next Bridge Club. Everyone would have known why, if I wasn't there. Beth was hosting, too, and I didn't want to let her down. Most of all, I was just sick of feeling sorry for myself.

Beth couldn't help herself. She set me up with Christina as my partner, against Abigail and Pete. Markus was at the other table.

Christina was wearing her hair long, so that it cascaded over her shoulders. She had on a dark dress, and a light cardigan over that. She was smiling at me, too, with a slightly amused look on her face. I knew exactly what she was thinking.

- "I didn't." I told her.

- "Sure you didn't." she answered.

- "Beth drew up the schedule. I had nothing to do with it."

Christina just smiled again. "If you say so."

I could only shrug.

Playing with her was so easy, so natural. We understood each other perfectly, and got decent cards to work with. It wasn't long before I was smiling, too. We won the first game easily.

Pete tried to over-compensate, making some very aggressive bids. He went down hard twice. Abigail chided him gently for it.

- "What can I do, Babe? They're too good if we just sit back and let them call it."

Abigail smiled at Christina, and then at me. "They do make a good team, don't they?"

Bless her heart.

Christina gave me a suspicious look, with narrowed eyes, but she appeared to be laughing, too. I gave her best my best impression of a completely innocent man. At that, she did laugh.

We won the next game, too. The other table had finished before us, though Beth and Carmen were still sitting there, arguing about the last hand. I got up from our table first, needing to use the washroom.

As I passed Beth's kitchen, I saw something that stopped me dead in my tracks.

Darren had the refrigerator door open. He was holding it with one hand. But his other arm was around Markus' waist. The big Swede was leaning over Darren ... and was kissing him. On the lips.

I was rooted to the spot. I'm not sure that I completely understood what I was seeing. They were kissing. Markus was kissing Darren. I knew that Darren was gay.

Darren saw me first. He went completely red in the face. Markus finally caught on that I was there. He just grinned.

-"Aww ... isn't that cute?" said Abigail, behind me.

- "You knew?" I asked her.

- "No. But aren't they a cute couple?" she said.

Pete didn't know what to say.

-"Who's a cute couple?" roared Carmen, as she pushed past Pete to get a good look. "Holy shit!"

Beth was there, too. She looked absolutely stunned. Her mouth was open, and her lips were moving, but there was no sound coming out.

I managed to extricate myself from the kitchen. Christina was still sitting at our table. She was still half-smiling, and then she executed a near-perfect replica of my innocent shrug. It was so good, I had to laugh.

Beth was in no mood for laughter. She stormed out of the kitchen, and came over to confront Christina.

- "How could you?" she yelled. "How could you do that to Norm? How ... how could you do that to us? I thought I knew you."

I took hold of Beth's arm, and steered her to a chair at the table. "It's OK, Beth. Have a seat."

She sat, but she didn't agree with me. "It's NOT OK! She lied to us!"

- "I didn't lie." said Christina.

- "Did she ever tell you that she was dating Markus, Beth? Did she ever tell anyone? Or did she just show up with him, and let us all jump to conclusions?" I asked.

- "But - what a horrible thing to do! She knew what you would think. She knew what we all would think!" Beth was still upset.

- "It's OK, Beth." I told her. "I had it coming. She owed me one."

- "It wasn't all about payback." Christina said, to me. "A little lesson, sure. But there are still two months to run in your stupid bet. And I haven't decided yet if I'm going to sleep with you or not."

- "The bet is over." I said. "It's been over since before Christmas, before Markus."

Christina shook her head. "It's not over. What if Massimo persuades Marina to sleep with him?"

- "She wouldn't." said Beth.

- "Maybe not." said Christina. "But what if he offers $2000? Or more? And then there's me - and Norm." She looked at me. "If I sleep with you, doesn't Massimo owe another $1000?"

We never did play a second hand of bridge that night. Carmen wanted all of the details. Then Darren asked me for a private word, in the kitchen.

- "I'm so sorry, Norm." he said. "Christina got to me first, and she made promise to keep it a secret. I was really, really tempted to tell you. Now I feel terrible. You've always been straight with me."

- "No harm done." I told him. "You and Markus, though? When?"

Darren blushed again. "I suspected the second time we got together. Christina was flirting with him, you know - and Markus was smiling, but he wasn't flirting back, if you know what I mean. In fact, I got the feeling that he was interested in me. That we were both interested."

"So I confronted Christina over the Christmas holidays. She told me what she was doing, and swore me to secrecy. I should have said no, but I was so happy to know that Markus really was available. I agreed to keep my relationship with him a secret, and to let Chris continue pretending. I knew that it would make you jealous - that it would hurt - but I did it anyway. I'm really sorry, Norm."

- "It's OK, Darren." I gave him a hug, to let him know I really meant it.

Markus wanted to apologize, too. In his case, his parents still didn't know that he was gay, so the experience of having a "pretend" girlfriend was nothing new to him.

- "It was not until Darren explained your 'history' with Christina that I understood." said Markus. "So I ask her: how much longer? She said today was the last day."

I shook hands with him.

Abigail gave me a big hug. Carmen waited until I was sitting down, and practically smothered me with her tits. Beth was still ticked off at Christina. But she did a remarkable job of convincing everyone else that they wanted to leave early, and then pushing them out the door. Carmen didn't want to go, but Beth was adamant.

Then she loudly announced that she felt a bad case of diarrhea coming on, and that she would be in the bathroom.

"Help yourselves to anything in the fridge." she said, slamming the bathroom door behind her.

Christina and I sat across from one another at the card table. I just looked at her. She was so beautiful. How had I survived, thinking that she was lost to me forever?

- "I got you good." she said.

- "You certainly did." I agreed.

- "And you deserved it."

- "I had it coming." I said. "You were very devious."

- "Just so you know: I can be devious when I want to. But I never lied to you. Not once."

I nodded. "I see that. I never lied to you either. But I didn't tell you the whole truth, either. And that's when people can get hurt. But tell me now, Christina: weren't you worried about Darren? And Markus?"

She had the grace to look a little bit embarrassed. "I know. That's the one part of my scheme that I felt bad about. I didn't think about that enough when I started my 'tangled web'."

- "How much longer were you planning to continue?" I asked.

- "I was going to tell you today."

We sat in companionable silence for a few moments. Then she asked me: "I meant to teach you a lesson, Norm. What did you learn?"

- "Other than 'Don't mess with Christina'?"

- "Besides that."

I looked her in the eye. "I learned that I am more susceptible to jealousy than I ever thought I was. That Markus is a really nice guy, because I couldn't hate him, even if I did wish him deported or transferred to a remote city. Can I keep going?"

She nodded.

- "I learned that your friends are my friends, too. Abigail, Carmen, and especially Beth were kind and supportive. I didn't break your rules, and neither did they, but they were there for me, and I really appreciate that. Most of all, I realized how thoroughly miserable I am without you."

She smiled. "You don't have me, Norm."

I could have sworn that I almost heard a 'yet' at the end of that sentence. "I know that, Christina. But as long as you aren't romantically involved with someone else, I can live in hope. I can dream that one day, you'll forgive me for what I did. I know that there was a strong mutual attraction between us, and I can hope that it survived."