The Weekend Pt. 03

Author's Note:

I want to apologize to anyone who has started reading this story and was waiting patiently for chapter three. Real life has a way of ruining fun hobbies. I didn't want to put out a chapter just for the sake of doing so. I wanted to take the time and make sure that I was happy with it. I can't promise you that I'll wrap it up quickly, but I can promise to budget my time better and put forth more of an effort in future chapters

Thank you all.

Synopsis from the last two chapters:

Regina flew away on a sex filled vacation with the infamous wife stealer, Brian. When she returned, she found that there wasn't a warm reception from her husband, Lee.

She expected that though. She knew he wasn't going to be happy about her cheating on him, just like she wasn't happy about a one-night stand that he had resulting in a pregnancy. Her anger was quadrupled by the fact that it was a slap in the face to impregnate another woman when she was unable to bear kids.

Now both parties are wondering the same thing: Is the marriage worth salvaging?

***

Time heals all wounds.

That lie is a common idiom. It's whispered in comforting tones to provide solace for unfortunate individuals going through painful seasons of their lives. It tells them that if they just hold on long enough, everything will eventually work out. Pain will erode over time, and soon it will just be an unpleasant memory.

But time holds no such power. It possesses no magical properties that can change sadness into happiness. It's simply a construct invented by humans to allow us to gain understanding. We created it as a box so that everything inside of it can be watched, reviewed, analyzed, and ultimately controlled. It is only in our collective minds that this ant farm exists.

Time just...counts. It marks the hours, days, months, and years of our meager existence. The gods know no time. They only know joy, love, pain, victory, and defeat. These are the tools that shape us into who we are. Everything else is just background noise.

Once upon a time, Regina laid eyes on the man that she knew she would fall in love with. This guy could force a smile onto her face, even when she felt like crying. His eyes beheld her with resolute loyalty and told her that she was the only one they cared to look at. His powerful hands embraced her with loving softness, yet took dominion over everything else that they touched.

With him, she was safe.

Her heart belonged to him far sooner than she anticipated. He owned the happiest moments of her day. The only thing he had to do to make her smile was be on the other side of the phone.

Her mission became clear; to show him that his life would be better with her in it. She had to erase any doubt in his mind and eliminate all other possibilities. This meant keeping him interested in her for more than the prize of her panties.

What she didn't know was her mission was accomplished long before she took it on. For Lee, she was the first deep breath after years of being suffocated by the horrors of dating in a shallow world. Her mind was a maze that had to be explored; full of twists, turns, and surprises. Each corner that he turned revealed more corners to turn. Most other women were like city parks that could be viewed in a single glance.

His future already had her in it. She just didn't know it.

When they married, it was forever. Those two people had the world before them, and they planned to enjoy it all to the fullest. Love, family, laughter, and happiness were promised to them; the only thing they needed to collect on it was each other.

And then...time counted.

Now, ten years later, Regina sat in her car parked in her driveway. The house in front of her had unquestionably been her home for almost a decade. Now, new eyes looked upon this old possession with new fondness. Before the events of this past weekend, she never even thought about what it would feel like to lose this. It wasn't until this very moment that she realized how much she took for granted that this would always be her home.

She felt many things, and all of them flooded her mind at once. Anger at Lee, pity for herself, frustration with life, and now the added feeling of guilt for her own actions. With this tornado of emotions fighting for dominance, was it even worth it to save this marriage? Wouldn't it just be simpler to walk away?

Her phone buzzed in her purse, awakening her from her somber thoughts. After wiping her face with the back of her hand, she dug inside of her purse to fish it out. Turning the soft glow of the screen on made the buzzing stop, but the name displayed continued it inside of her.

Brian.

Her thumb dangled between the red and the green options beneath his name, as if in indecision. A pang of guilt stabbed her stomach as illicit memories rushed to her. It felt wrong to harbor them with fondness. They shouldn't even be there.

With a shake of her head, she finally denied the call and put the phone back in her purse.

Her eyes fell to her house once again. Was her marriage worth the fight? She honestly couldn't answer that, but there was one thing that she was sure about. Despite the drama of the past and her actions in the past few days, she still loved Lee.

She knew what she had to do; what should have been done ages ago. This monster of silence that she created had grown far too strong. If her marriage even stood a snowball's chance, she had to kill that beast before it devoured the last bit of love left between them.

With both trepidation and determination, she opened the car door and met the warm night air.

When she walked into the front door, darkness met her. The house was eerily quiet; almost dead. The feeling of déjà vu washed over her as she remembered the last time she was in this room. Her eyes cast to the chair that her husband sat, not even 8 hours earlier. She half expected to see him there, once again sitting alone in the dark.

She walked past the living room and towards the narrow hallway that led to the two bedrooms. Light seeped through the edges of the guest bedroom door and crawled under it, spilling onto the dark floor. This confirmed what she already knew; she saw the light from this room when she was sitting out in her car. He was in there, alone, refusing to sleep in the master bedroom with her.

With a deep breath, she rapped lightly on the bedroom door.

There was no answer from the other side, so she knocked again. Still, no voice called out giving her an invitation to come in. After a contemplative few seconds, she apprehensively turned the doorknob and poked her head inside.

Lee was on the bed, laying on his back with his hands behind his head. His eyes were open and staring straight up at the ceiling. They lowered for a second to acknowledge Regina's head peeking around the door, but then quickly dismissed her and returned to where they were.

"Hey." She said from the doorway.

"Hey." He returned in a lifeless tone, still not looking at her.

The air filled with the tense silence of many unspoken words. She wanted to say something of substance; anything. There were so many things that danced right at the tip of her tongue. He needed to know what was going on inside of her. It was hidden long enough, and it needed out.

"Lee...

"Go away, Regina." He said in a soft, dead voice. It actually sounded like a polite request, though there was no warmth in his tone. As he rolled over on his side, she was struck by another message that he inadvertently delivered.

He called her Regina. After more than a decade of hearing him call her Gina, her full name sounded foreign on his lips. There was no familial attachment. Loved ones are granted permission to use shortened names, and they do so as an unspoken acknowledgment that their relationship is more than mere strangers or casual acquaintances.

But maybe that's all they were now; strangers. The people standing here today were vastly different than the two that met eleven years ago. A lifetime of choices and silence had slowly eroded the ground beneath them, pushing them further and further apart. Without neither realizing it, they'd become so distant that it would take a running start and a leap of faith to even begin to close the space.

The question is, who would start running first? Who should?

The message that Trudy spoke to her earlier today reverberated in her ears. "If any part of you believes that you need this man in your life, now is the time to fight. Make him listen."

Regina took a deep breath in the face of his rejection and steeled herself. "I know that you probably hate me right now. Maybe you're right to. But, if we could just..."

He sat up so fast that it startled her, causing her to stop talking. His eyes latched onto her with an emotionless stare. The rest of his face appeared drained of life.

"What part of go away don't you understand, Regina?"

Her full name; again. Damn, it sounded cold. It almost threw her, but Trudy's words urged her forward. With determination in her eyes, she squared her shoulders and assertively said, "I understand it perfectly. But I have something to say, and I think you need to hear it."

His forehead wrinkled as he looked at her funny. Then, a cynical smirk appeared on his face as he harrumphed a small, incredulous scoff.

"Oh, you have something to say? That right?"

He slowly got up from the bed and sauntered over to her. His finger wagged in the air pointing at her as he nodded his head. It looked like he was trying to figure out something, but the sarcastic way he did it was mocking.

"Sooooo now that you FINALLY...ahem (air quotes) ...'have something to say'...everyone needs to just stop and hear you out?"

He chuckled and tsked, as if laughing at an inside joke. After an exaggerated sigh of regret, he said, "See, here's the thing, lover girl: I don't wanna hear it. I've been trying to talk to you for months - scratch that - years now. But you would rather run off and go on vacation with that prick. So, you should go find him. If he was good enough to fuck then he damn well better be good enough to talk to."

Regina felt hot bubbling in her belly. She kind of guessed that he may have a reaction like this. She thought she was prepared to handle it. Her plan was to let anything he said roll off her back and try to be civil.

But, the smug hypocrisy that seeped from his last sentence was so strong that it was practically pungent. + Before she could stop her tongue from getting ahead of her, she asked, "Is that what you did with your baby mama? Talk?"

The door slammed in her face, then the lock clicked on the doorknob.

She squeezed her eyes shut and grunted in frustration as she leaned her head against the door. "Dammit!" she thought silently as she chastised herself for giving in to the temptation.

"Lee...I'm sorry. I just wanna talk. Please."

She waited in anticipation for the door to unlock and grant her access. She waited patiently. But, nothing happened. Just silence.

She wasn't sure how to proceed. Trudy's message was still adamant in her head, but there was no point in continuing this tonight. She recognized this silence. It was the same that she'd given him. Any unwanted sound would fall on deaf ears and be responded to with mute lips.

The best thing to do right now would be to give him what he wanted. She sighed and placed her palm on the door. The words "I love you" dangled at the tip of her tongue; just as it always had. But she simply pursed her lips tight and walked away.

After a shower, she found one of her favorite T-shirts and baggy shorts. After putting them on, she pulled back the thick comforter on the bed and laid down for the night.

As she lay alone in the dark, she heard her phone vibrate on the nightstand. Once again, Brian's name appeared.

This time, her finger hoovered dangerously over the green option. She needed a friendly voice; someone to say her name with affection. After having such a shitty evening, she yearned for the feeling of being wanted.

Once again though, she chose the red "Deny" option. Then she tossed her phone on the night stand and dramatically flopped back on her pillow with a groan of frustration.

Her mind did not let go of Brian as quickly as her phone did. It pressed rewind and remembered the peaceful beach that the suite overlooked. Her tongue tasted the fresh doughnut from that mom and pop doughnut shop that the two of them went to. Her nostrils tingled with the champagne that they drank at dinner.

And then, there was the sex.

She felt that tell-tale tingle in her thighs. She rolled over on her side to get rid of it, but it lingered. A few more frustrated tosses and turns found her laying on her back again.

The tingle beckoned her hand down her shorts. One hand stretched the elastic waist band outward, the other slid down the open space and across her neatly trimmed pubic hairs. Her middle finger slid down between the folds of her lips and back up again, sending tremors rippling through her body. She brought her finger up to her lips and sucked on them for a moment to provide lubrication, and then she thrust it back down the heat of her groin to continue its job.

Heavy breaths turned into light moans. Her back arched upward. She no longer needed the hand to hold her waistband open, so she gave it another job. It snaked its way up her shirt and pinched her nipple.

Her finger moved faster and faster, stimulating her clit. It was driving her closer to where she wanted to be. Her head turned to the left and her eyes fell to her nightstand. There, safely disguised under a bunch of old bills, was her trusty vibrator.

Her body leaned over and stretched out until she could open the drawer. Her fingers shuffled through unknown paperwork until she felt the plastic tip. She hastily grabbed it and snatched it out, causing folded papers to jump out and land on the floor. With giddy anticipation, it was brought between her lips and coated with saliva. Then she switched it on, thanking God that the batteries still worked. The buzzing device in her hand replaced her finger down her shorts.

Her mind's eye replayed those moments of intimacy as the humming between her legs urged her towards a satisfying orgasm. The smell of sex filled her nostrils as her back arched. Brian's deep grunts sounded like he was right there in the room with her, pushing his cock inside of her.

But suddenly, the face fucking her changed. She saw Lee, on their honeymoon. His powerful strokes filled her again and again. Her hands rubbed his back with spread fingers as she looked into his eyes. His forehead was furrowed, and he bit his lip as he concentrated on the task at hand.

"I love you, Lee." She said in her mind's eye. He stopped fucking her and a soft look came across his face.

"I love you too, baby." He said with a smile as she screamed a muffled orgasm into her pillow.

She clicked the button off on the vibrator and the humming died down. She laid there on the bed and breathed heavily as she came down from the high. It had been a long time since she'd done that. She hadn't really felt sexual for some years now. Even when she had sex with Lee in the past, it was out of some sort of wifely obligation

Then, this weekend happened. For some reason, her libido got a supercharge. Now, she was masturbating to compilated images like some school girl with a crush.

What was happening to her? What the hell was wrong with her? Why was her life like this?

With a disturbed sigh, she returned her friend to his hiding spot and slid the drawer shut. Then she curled up under her blankets and endured one of the most sleepless nights she could remember.

_______________________________________________________________

Two sleep deprived strangers awkwardly moved around each other as they tried to emulate a morning routine that resembled normalcy. The previous night provided everything but slumber for the couple, and now they dragged themselves through some sort of preparation ritual that they'd done countless times. Before them, a day's work loomed ahead.

Regina tried to catch her husband's eye a few times, but he actively ignored her with little subtlety. He didn't simply pretend she wasn't there; it was much worse than that. He regarded her existence with a cold politeness that people normally reserve for a nuisance that was being tolerated. He even apologized listlessly for bumping into her by accident, like a New Yorker would do to a passerby in a crosswalk.

The many unsaid words remained so as the two walked out of the house and got into separate cars. As they drove in opposite direction, both sets of eyes looked in the rearview mirror and watched the other car get smaller until it was indistinguishable from the background.

Pulling into the familiar parking lot brought a sense of relief to Regina. The hospital that stood tall before her was a place that she knew well. It was often chaotic, unpredictable, and bazaar, but the situations that she encountered required a professional detachment that allowed her process things with clarity. At home, she didn't have that barrier. Everything with Lee and her marriage was felt to the umpteenth degree, and then it was magnified.

Her feeling of relief was short lived. It evaporated the moment she started crossing the sea of cars to get to the building. Among the various vehicles she walked past was a too familiar Mustang.

There went her professional distance.

Mixed feelings of antipathy and anticipation flooded her. After everything that happened this weekend, she wasn't sure if she was ready to face Brian. A part of her relished the extremely pleasant memories, while another recognized the mistake that having those memories was. Every time she cracked a smile thinking about it, an onrush of guilt punished her for it.

After clocking in at the terminal, she stopped by the breakroom to get a cup of coffee. The vending machine reminded her that she hadn't eaten breakfast this morning due to her hasty exit, so a honey bun joined her as she made her way to the nursing station to see what surprises were in store for her today.

A whiff of his cologne alerted her of his presence. That scent filled her nose and mind with thoughts that she couldn't give into. She had to close her eyes and shake those thoughts off before turning around to see him standing behind her.

"Hey." Regina said with cool casualness, as if she were unaffected. However, her eyes had to cut away to avoid meeting his gaze. She could practically read his thoughts through his eyes, and all of them were about this past weekend.

Brian was not as interested in preserving pretenses as she was. He didn't mind succumbing to the attraction. His eyes danced over her body and a knowing smile played on his lips. "Hey yourself." He returned, stepping in and closing the space between them to a familiar distance. That small step was the difference between casual friends and something else.

"Brian..."

"I called you." he said, cutting off what she was about to say. He was close enough to whisper and still be heard. "You never answered. I was worried."

Regina backed up slightly to preserve some modesty. "I know. I was...busy."

Something strange played across his face. He stepped in once again and asked, "With him?" His voice held a slightly less flirty tone in it.

"Yes; with him. Of course." She said with exasperation. These moments of jealousy were so ridiculous considering the situation. Her eyes darted nervously around them, checking their surroundings. The nurses station was in the middle of the entire floor. This made it so the nurses could get to any room in the same amount of time. While this set up was efficient for patient care, it provided no privacy to have the type of conversation that Brian was interested in having right now.