The Descent Ch. 01

It was a cool, clear day that brought even the most resistant home-dwellers out of their suburban hovels to enjoy the blue skies and sunshine. Sharon enjoyed the light breeze as it cascaded along the bare skin of her shoulders, arms and legs. It was the perfect day to wear her new sundress and she looked a vision of class and reserved beauty as the long, flowing white and yellow frills rippled softly in the summer air. A large white sunhat shielded her face from the rays and sat atop her shoulder-length reddish-brown hair, finishing the outfit off with oversize white sunglasses that hid her beautiful sky-blue eyes behind their tinted lenses.

Sharon glanced at her small, understated gold watch and creased her brow at the time—1:16pm. Barb was late. It was their tradition to have lunch on the patio of a local café every Thursday and it was not unlike Barb to be late for their one o'clock reservation but it still unnerved Sharon every time. Barb was always a bit frazzled and prone to catastrophizing typical life events—she'd likely have a dramatic story to tell that kept her from being on-time. They'd been friends for the better part of 30 years, and while Sharon was low-key, calm, and a bit reserved, Barb was boisterous, temperamental, and outgoing.

Even though they both recently turned 46 years old, Barb hadn't really grown up since they'd met nearly three decades ago. While her perpetual lateness irked Sharon, Barb's Yin to Sharon's Yang had confirmed the oft-used adage of 'opposites attract,' and Barb was Sharon's best female friend by a mile. Sharon sighed loudly and took a sip of her unsweetened ice-tea, eyeing her watch once more as she did and grimacing at the sight—1:23pm. Finally, a tall, thin, red-headed woman trotting toward her in her peripheral vision grabbed her attention and the wait was over.

"I'm so sorry, it was not my fault this time I promise. Rich couldn't find his damn golf shorts and he had me running all over the house trying to find them so he wouldn't miss his Tee Time. He's such a pain in the ass sometimes," Barb detailed in exasperation.

Sharon smirked and rolled her eyes from behind the privacy of her dark sunglasses but decided not to pursue it. She might as well enjoy their lunch now that Barb had finally showed up.

"It's fine, I was enjoying this beautiful day and barely even noticed the time actually," Sharon lied with ease, covering her simmering annoyance with the skill of a hostage negotiator.

"Oh good! It's absolutely gorgeous isn't it? Perfect day for a Long Island Iced Tea," Barb remarked, looking deviously at Sharon's sweating glass sitting on the table.

"Oh no, that's non-alcoholic. It's barely one o'clock and we're driving Barb," Sharon said, chastising her openly.

"Oh, so what, we're retired. It's okay to let loose occasionally," Barb shot back with a grin.

"Occasionally my ass," Sharon countered sarcastically.

"Okay, so I'm enjoying my retirement. What's wrong with that?" Barb queried.

Barb was referring to her healthy drinking habit, which she indulged on a regular basis. It wasn't uncommon for her to be drinking most nights of the week and was still frequenting bars with her husband on the weekends. Their kids had moved out years ago and they were enjoying their free-time to the fullest.

"Nothing, I'm just hungry. Let's call the waiter over," Sharon responded, feeling like the topic had run its course.

After both women had eaten and chatted about recent events and upcoming plans, the topic turned back to how they were spending their retirement. Barb had nearly finished her Long Island Iced Tea and her normally bubbly, effusive personality had been amplified by a healthy buzz.

"How are you and Jim?" Barb asked with a knowing grin, referring to a conversation they had a couple weeks ago about middle-aged staleness seeping into their drab sex lives.

Sharon sighed and rolled her eyes, her hope of avoiding that topic now being dashed.

"Oh, come on Sharon. This is what friends are for hun," She urged, laying her hand supportively overtop Sharon's and trying to find her eyes through her dark sunglasses.

Sharon wrestled with her inhibitive nature but eventually relented to her friend's curiosity.

"Not much has changed. I just feel like we're in a rut. But I guess it's probably just a part of getting older," Sharon explained.

"It doesn't have to be," Barb replied.

"But I tried Barb, I tried watching," Sharon swallowed hard and lowered her voice to keep her conversation from carrying to the others around her "the porn stuff together and the toys. It didn't work," Sharon whispered, learning toward Barb like they were exchanging nuclear launch codes.

Barb sat, looking somewhat amused and somewhat apprehensive—a sign that the gears of her mind were turning.

"What about you? Haven't you been through this with Rich?" Sharon said, feeling a bit embarrassed and narrowing her eyes at her pensive friend.

Barb sat a moment, thinking to herself and cocking her head to one side.

"I have," Barb replied tersely.

"And? What did you do about it?" Sharon asked, getting impatient with how tight-lipped her normally talkative friend was being.

"We joined a community that opened our minds to something completely new. It changed everything and I've never been happier—but, I doubt you'd be interested," Barb explained finally, ending with what sounded to Sharon like a challenge.

Sharon narrowed her eyes at her friend again, scrutinizing the meaning of her words and curious about why she was being so cryptic.

"What kind of community?" Sharon asked after a few moments of thought.

"Swinging," Barb blurted bluntly.

Sharon's eyes went wide, and she felt thankful that her dark sunglasses didn't allow Barb to see how shocked she was in that moment. Sharon had long suspected that Barb and Rich were swingers, but having it confirmed over lunch in such a nonchalant way after all these years was a bit of shock. Sharon felt her pulse quicken and her forehead bead with sweat as she fumbled for something to say.

"Like I said, I'm sure it's nothing that you'd be interested in," Barb reiterated, again imbuing it with a tone that felt like a challenge.

She concluded her statement with a final gulp of her Long Island Iced Tea, seeming to punctuate the difference between them with a physical display of brazen hedonism.

"I need a smoke, want to follow me out to my car?" Barb asked calmly, completely unfazed by the whirlwind of thoughts in Sharon's head as a result of her revelation.

"Uh, sure," Sharon stammered.

The two women paid their bills and headed to the outdoor parking lot, Barb digging into her large Coach purse for her Marlboro Lights. She lit one up and exhaled a thick stream of smoke that trailed off in the breeze.

"So, are you going to say anything? I thought you kind of already knew," Barb remarked, taking another drag off her all-white 100.

"I had an idea but honestly I don't think I really believed it. Swinging? I feel like that's something you see in a movie, not in real life," Sharon explained, revealing a bit of her naivety.

Barb laughed, an uninhibited musical sound that built up from her stomach all the way to her throat—she was enjoying blowing her friends mind.

Sharon felt her cheeks burn a little and she crossed her arms instinctually, feeling a bit dumb at her relative inexperience.

"Now, now, don't get pissy. I'm not laughing at you, I promise," Barb tried to comfort, accompanying her words with a one arm hug that Sharon appreciated even if she didn't want to her friend to know.

"So, how did you even get started? Did you just prowl abandon warehouses until you heard moaning and smelled sweat?" Sharon chided, still unwilling to let go of her feelings of embarrassment.

Again, Barb laughed aloud, catching her mid-drag on her Marlboro and almost causing her to choke on a mouthful of smoke.

"Times have changed sweetheart. This is the age of the millennial and the internet. I just joined a Facebook group," Barb explained, arching an eyebrow and smiling at Sharon.

"That's it?" Sharon asked incredulously.

"Well, we had to show up obviously. Most of the people in the group never have the balls to actually go to any of the parties. It took us a few weeks of working up to it but eventually we just said 'what the Hell?' and we've never looked back," Barb described matter-of-factly.

Sharon rolled these new pieces of information in her head for a few moments, amazed at how simple she made it sound.

"So, you sleep with other men? And Rich is okay with that?" Sharon asked, finally fixing on one of the many questions that were swirling in her head.

"Well, it's not like he's getting nothing out of it. He plays around with other women, I play with other men. After we leave it's over and nothing ever comes home with us. What we do at the parties stays there and our marriage is a different thing. It's not cheating, it's just physical and we both understand that," Barb continued to elucidate, sounding reasoned and coherent despite the topic.

"So, you're completely okay with him being with another woman?" Sharon asked, attempting to drill down on something that seemed completely unrelatable to her.

"Okay with it? It's actually sexy, seeing him with another woman. It's improved our sex-life outside of the parties as well," Barb replied confidently.

Again, Sharon processed her friends' words, trying to imagine Jim with another woman and how she could possibly view that in any other way than betrayal.

"I know, it sounds crazy. It sounded crazy to me too, and when we went, we figured we'd just watch and maybe play with each other. But once we were there it just kind of happened, and seriously, I think it's saved our marriage," Barb finished, taking a final drag off her cigarette and crushing it under the heel of her red open-toe wedge.

"Think about it and let's talk more this weekend if you want, Rich is going out with some friends, so I'll have some time," Barb said as she hugged Sharon and then stepped into her Mercedes SUV.

Sharon trudged over to her white BMW X3, still reeling from everything that had just been discussed. Before she knew it, she was pulling into the garage of her large two-story home in the suburbs with a stomach full of butterflies.

Jim was still out golfing with Rich and would likely be gone for a couple more hours, which gave Sharon some time to research. She clicked onto Facebook from her laptop, going to Barb's profile and began looking through her groups. Sharon clicked on the one that was called 'Swingers Lifestyle Group," and began reading. Unfortunately, most of the group was not accessible without being a member, which presented a choice—join or let it go? Sharon worked it over in her head for a moment but ultimately gave in to her curiosity and clicked the 'Request to Join' button. Upon clicking Sharon was presented with a series of questions asking why she wanted to join and some other pieces of information. She entered the information quickly, but not entirely truthfully, as her mission was still curiosity-driven.

The next hour was torture. Sharon tried to focus on reading her new book but was constantly distracted by waiting for the notification from the group moderator. Eventually, a small notification appeared on her phone and she was informed that she'd been accepted into the group. Sharon practically jumped off the couch and over to her office, sitting down at the laptop and scouring the group page for any and all info. There were currently 36 members, herself included, and the ages seemed to range from the mid 20's to late 50's. Many postings on the page were questions about bringing toys, friends, and other fetish related stuff and many other postings were people thanking so-and-so for an amazing time as well as asking for directions.

Aside from Barb and Rich, Sharon did not recognize anyone else in the group despite it being a local community. Additionally, there was nothing indicating that it was anything other than a group of kind, respectable, normal people. Sharon clicked through the profiles of a couple of the members and noticed that they were like any of the other profiles on Facebook. It was incredible to her that these people were just hiding in plain sight, openly associated with being in a swinger group like it was as banal as being a fan of a sports team or musician.

The sound of the garage door opener humming broke Sharon's concentration and she panicked internally, wondering if she should quickly remove herself from the group and never mention it again. But then she remembered what Barb had said, 'I think it's saved our marriage.' Sharon and Jim were not unhappy, and things were not in dire straits. But their marriage felt more like room mates than lovers and when they did sleep together it was out of a sense marital duty and not passion. Those thoughts and realities paused Sharon enough to close her laptop without removing herself from the group, and at the very least, keep the proverbial door open.

The evening progressed as it usually did, with Sharon cooking dinner while Jim showered and came downstairs, helping her with the last of the preparations. At dinner they made small talk and discussed various things that they saw in the news. After eating they did some reading and Sharon had a glass of wine while Jim enjoyed an IPA. At around 9pm they went upstairs for bed, leaving their daughter Amanda a note on the fridge about leftovers. She would usually get home around 10, as she worked the late shift at the local bowling alley.

As Sharon and Jim sat in bed, scrolling through their phones and catching up on social media and reviewing tomorrow's plans, Jim noticed something on his wife's Facebook page. "Sharon has joined Swingers Lifestyle Group." He tapped on the group and went to the page, confused by what he was seeing. Unable to get any information without being a member, he decided to go to the source.

"Hon, did you join a swinger group on Facebook?" Jim asked, never one to dance around a subject.

Sharon's cheeks burned and her heart skipped a beat. She wondered to herself how he'd found out so quickly. Jim answered her question by holding his phone out and showing her the "Sharon joined Swingers Lifestyle Group" event that had been posted on her activity feed on her profile. Suddenly Sharon felt like she was going to be sick. Had this been posted on her page for anyone to see? Her friends, family, and her kids? Sharon was mortified. Without answering Jim's question, she scrambled to the Facebook app and deleted the event from her timeline, hoping most of her friends and family had not seen it yet.

It was a few more moments before Sharon realized that Jim was still staring at her, waiting for an explanation.

"Um, yeah, I did. Barb told me today that she was in this group and I wanted to look at it but I had to be a member and so I joined and then forgot to remove it," Sharon spoke rapidly, still feeling the effects of the jolt of adrenaline a few moments ago.

"Barb and Rich are swingers?" Jim asked, sounding utterly shocked.

"Rich didn't tell you?" Sharon replied.

"Hell, no he didn't, are you sure about this?" Jim pressed.

"Barb was pretty open about it," Sharon answered.

"Well I'll be damned," Jim responded, taking a deep breath and looking out into nothing while thinking to himself.

They both sat in silence for a couple minutes, each of them caught up in thoughts and revelations about their best friends lives.

"So, what did Barb say about it?" Jim asked, wrapping his head around the premise but now in need of details.

"That they joined with the intent of just watching but now they're totally into it. She said it saved their marriage," Sharon explained truthfully.

"Saved their marriage? Swinging? That's... something," Jim responded, sounding a bit perplexed.

"Yeah, I was pretty surprised. I still am," Sharon replied in kind.

"And they're totally okay with, well, everything?" Jim asked, not knowing exactly how to say what he was meaning but getting his point across none-the-less.

"Apparently so. Barb said it's a totally separate thing from their marriage. Everything that happens at the swinger parties is its own thing and it doesn't leave the party. I don't think I could ever compartmentalize like that," Sharon explained.

"You've thought about it? Swinging?" Jim pressed.

"Well, no, I mean, not before today. But since she told me about it, I tried to relate and it just seems, I don't know. Too much to handle I guess," Sharon explained.

Jim stopped for a moment and thought to himself about the real-world implications of a swinging lifestyle, imagining himself in Rich's shoes for the first time. He, understandably, focused on the idea of Sharon being with another man more than himself with another woman. He surprised himself by being quite curious and not immediately repulsed by the idea. He had been married to Sharon for a long time, and the idea that there would ever be another person in their lives sexually hadn't really crossed his mind as a possibility. Now, staring at it as a viable reality it was exciting and interesting.

Sharon watched her husband, clearly deep in thought, muse to himself silently. His wavy medium-length salt and pepper hair matching his slightly bushy eye-brows, furrowed in consternation above his blue-green eyes. Jim's strong jaw flexed in reaction to his habit of grinding his teeth and Sharon resisted the urge to remind him to stop, instead allowing him to conclude his processing. He perked up and turned his head toward Sharon, clearly trying to work out the words to use.

"Is there anything about it that seems interesting to you?" Jim asked.

Sharon thought about it for a moment, trying to focus on the aspects that didn't involve Jim with another woman. While difficult, she was able to let her mind wander to the idea of being with another man. Sharon wasn't a nymphomaniac or driven by a voracious sexual appetite that required satiation in the form of many sexual partners, but she was sexually frustrated and missed the feeling of a body-shaking orgasm. More than anything Sharon missed feeling desired and wanted. It wasn't that Jim made her feel inadequate or undesirable, but it was clear that he no longer felt the way he used to about her. He used to get overcome with a passion to kiss, touch, or caress her, especially when she dressed provocatively or was fresh out of the shower. But those days were long past.

Sharon concluded her thoughts with a slightly more positive attitude toward the idea of the swinger lifestyle but was certainly still struggling with other aspects.

"You know we've been... in a funk. So, the idea of trying something new interests me, but I don't know if we're swinger people. I don't know if I have the ability to separate those two things, swinging and the rest of our marriage," Sharon explained, trying to give voice to the two opposite feelings she was experiencing.

Silence filled the room as both Jim and Sharon reviewed what had been discussed.

"What about you?" Sharon asked, breaking the silence after a few moments.

Beyond excitement and curiosity, Jim hadn't formed clear thoughts around the idea. He had always been a bit of a risk-taker, something that had benefitted him financially and originally drew Sharon to him—as she'd always been much more reserved.

"I think what is interesting to me about it is that it's something completely new. An experience that I've never had and something I've never contemplated. And we've been in a funk and tried things and—it's tough to just reject it because it's a little outside of our comfort zone. Does that make sense?" Jim concluded with a question to make sure his stream-of-consciousness ramblings were comprehensible to his wife.