Unfriended

The phone fell out of Brenda's hand and hit the floor. She just looked down at it. George looked at her confused. "What the fuck is going on Brenda?"

Brenda couldn't speak. She just looked down at the phone. She couldn't pick it up. It was like it was molten rock. She could hear Carla still speaking. She finally did pick it back up and put it back to her ear.

"You need to get that page down quickly and get your ass back here."

"Carla, we are headed back now but won't be in Miami until tomorrow morning. My flight won't get me back home until tomorrow evening."

"Well get that shit taken down and you had better figure out what you are going to tell everyone. How could you do this shit, Brenda?"

Brenda was stunned and still couldn't process what she was hearing. "OK, let me get on Facebook and try to figure this out."

"Call me when you do. And, you had better call Don, but I don't know what you are going to say."

"Bye." Brenda hung up.

-*-

Brenda pulled the Facebook page down but didn't know how to kill the cloud account. What she saw on it was crazy. Who had taken those pictures? How had that shit got on her account? Someone obviously hacked it, but how would a hacker know about her and George and the cruise? And where did those fucking pictures come from?

This 'hacker' person had also put outrageous comments with the posts and was obviously trying to make her look like some kind of slut. "In fact, it does make me look like a slut," Brenda thought. "And it makes me look so cruel and disrespectful to Don and our marriage." She looked at her friends, and there were less than seventy-five. She had been unfriended by more than half of her previous friends.

Oh, my god, everyone thinks I'm some kind of cruel, evil person, and now they all hate me. Brenda figured the seventy-five remaining 'friends' just hadn't been to her Facebook account yet. My life is ruined. And, what about Don and the kids? Don must know. Why hasn't he left any messages? He must hate me for what I've done. How am I ever going to repair this now? And everyone at Davin Construction must know that I am having an affair with George, the VP of Marketing. God, both of their lives were in ruins.

George looked dejected. He had put the pieces together. "Someone's been following us, Brenda. Don must have known what we were doing and hired an investigative service. He is the hacker who posted those pictures to your account."

"No, George. That can't be. He would have to really hate me to ruin me in front of all my friends and family. He's not that cruel."

"Brenda, think about it. How else would those pictures have gotten onto your pages? And he knew about me. The posts mentioned me as the VP of Marketing. He knows many of your friends work with us and he knew word would get back to Terry. I'm afraid we are both screwed here."

Brenda sat in stunned silence. "Don must have found out and in his anger worked to destroy me. He has done a pretty good job of it," she thought. Both her and George are probably out of a job, and all of her friends know she was cheating on her husband. And what about her kids? She hoped somehow they wouldn't be too hurt in the fallout.

-*-

Now they were stuck on that damn boat waiting for it to slowly make its way back to the States. The cruise was suddenly a nightmare from hell. This is going to be the longest twenty-four hours of my life; both of them had the same thought. It felt to both of them like a ship sailing to their shared doom.

They sat in their room most of the evening not speaking much and only going out to the buffet for dinner.

"George, how could Don do such a thing?"

"Well, you were on a cruise fucking some other guy," George said dejectedly. "I just hope, by some miracle, Terry hasn't found out."

"Fuck you, George. What about my marriage? Many of my social friends work at Davin Construction. The whole fucking company must know, and so does Terry. Do you think we will lose our jobs?"

"I don't know Brenda. I don't even want to think about that right now."

The thought of what Brenda said made George numb. He just sat there with a blank expression and didn't speak. They both knew what awaited them when they returned. Both of their lives were going down the shitter, and they just had to sit there as the boat slowly made its way back to Miami.

-*-

"George, I don't want to, but I just have to call Don. I've got to tell him this was all a mistake and find out if he was the one who posted that shit."

Brenda repeatedly tried that evening to call Don, but he didn't answer. She tried the next morning again but decided he was avoiding her. It surprised her when he answered on the second ring.

"Hello, Brenda. How is your conference going?"

"Don, you know damn well I'm not at a conference. I know you've seen my Facebook page. In fact, you posted that shit didn't you? How the fuck could you do such a thing?" Brenda was so mad she was gritting her teeth.

"Click." Don had hung up.

Brenda tried calling him back, but he didn't answer. She kept calling, and about fifteen minutes later he answered again.

"Listen, Brenda. I don't give a fuck about how that shit showed up on your page. What I want to talk about is you leaving me and the kids here at home while you take off on some porn cruise and fuck your boyfriend on the beach."

Brenda didn't know how to answer that. She knew if she mentioned the posting again he would hang up. Her anger subsided as she thought about her next words. "Don, I am so sorry. I don't know what I was thinking. I don't love him, and I don't want us to split up. I need-

"Brenda, I don't give a fuck what you need. What I need is to understand how you could do that to your family. What made you think that kind of behavior was acceptable?" Don could hear her crying.

"Brenda, I don't need to hear you crying. I need you to explain why you did what you did."

Brenda could only sob. "Oh my god, Don. Oh my god. Her words were hard to understand, but he could make out something like, she had to find a way to fix this.

"Brenda. Just get your ass home, and we'll figure this out." Don knew he was lying. He knew the only option was divorce, but for some reason, he was trying to make it a little easier on her.

"Ok, Don. I'm so sorry. I do love you. I know we can find a way to fix this."

"Bye, Brenda. See you soon." Don hung up.

-*-

George's call to Terry didn't go much better. She knew everything. In fact, she was the one who hired the private investigators, and she was in on the Facebook plan. He knew it might cost him his job, but he couldn't be angry at Terry. He knew how badly he had hurt her and only wanted to try to make it up to her and keep his family intact.

"I don't have the words to tell you how sorry I am, Terry." I screwed this up badly, and I will spend the rest of my days trying to make it up to you." It didn't really dawn on George that Terry was already down the path towards divorce. "I love you, Terry. I will somehow find a way to make this up to you."

Terry hung up abruptly. George thought it was merciful of her not to drag the conversation out. They could talk it through when he got home, he thought.

-*-

Twenty-four hours later George and Brenda were walking through the last security checkpoint and headed for baggage claim. There were many nicely dressed drivers standing back from the exit holding their little signs with people's names on them. George and Brenda weren't paying attention to them when two men, also dressed in nice suits, stepped out of the crowd. George looked questioningly at them knowing he hadn't arranged for limo service to take them home.

"Are you George Carlson? One man asked. The other looked at Brenda. "Are you Brenda Primack?" They both nodded, still somewhat confused. Both men simultaneously reached into leather cases they were carrying, pulled out large envelopes and handed them to George and Brenda. "You've been served," they said in unison.

The End