There was a haze to the day, the kind of dark lining to the clouds that spoke of foreboding. Anna ignored the sky as she sat happily in her favorite window seat. She was wasting the day away reading a trashy romance novel and sipping at a cooling cup of coffee. Every so often she would look through the coffee shop sized window at the busy street. Everyone seemed to be in a foul mood. Strangers shoved at each other with no apparent apology. Anna looked straight through the unhappy street-goers as she was preoccupied by her own thoughts. Smoky frosted hearts trailed down the windows edge and partially obstructed her view of the street. She followed the hearts with her eyes until they came upon the backwards letters of the coffee shops name "Flirt". She liked the coffee shop and she was particularly fond of its name. It made her happy to be in a place that so often reflected her disposition.
She had just finished her second cup of coffee when Trevor sat down in the seat next to her. He said "Hey" and she said "Hey" back. It was a transitory greeting but they were familiar enough that no more was needed. She smiled at him and instead of smiling back he started talking. His words came out as if he were in the middle of the conversation. As she listened she wondered if he was continuing a conversation he'd been having in his head. She was just an open ear. The thought wasn't an unappealing as it sounds.
"The e-mail Sara sent me this morning was crazy."
Anna frowned with appropriate concern. "I thought you said she wasn't as messed up as you thought."
"She's great." He shook his head with obvious disapproval. "Derek's the problem."
"Really?"
"He heard about Saturday and is, in her words, 'freaking out.'"
Anna gave him a blank look. "I'm confused." She tried to piece the puzzle together verbally, "Derek heard that he was having sex with me all Saturday night and now he's freaking out?"
"Not quite. He heard about me and Sara out on the patio."
"Let me get this straight." She paused to formulate her words and then spoke with wry disbelief. "Derek was with me, biblically, in the other room but he's mad because his girlfriend was making out with you on the patio."
"That about sums it up."
"I thought Sara was the one that opened up the relationship."
"That's what Sara told me."
"This isn't good." Anna looked at Trevor with mounting concern. "You know I can't be with a guy if it's about an ego trip. I wouldn't do that to Sara."
Trevor put a hand over hers. "Don't worry so much. She was pretty resolved about the idea. I didn't get the impression that Derek coerced her."
Anna tried to relax. She was staring out the window, lost amidst her pensive thoughts, when she noticed a familiar face walk past. "Speaking of Sara."
Moments later Sara walked up behind Trevor. There was a brief smile exchanged between the two women before Sara pulled Trevor to the side. Anna heard Sara say quietly to Trevor, "Can I talk to you for a sec?"
Trevor raised his eyebrows comically to Anna, out of Sara's view, before walking away. He exited with an "I'll be back" over his shoulder.
Trevor slung a friendly arm around Sara's neck as they walked from the coffee shop. She was just short enough that his arm lay comfortably on its perch. With the kind of casual familiarity that he knew she found both unnerving and exciting he spoke into her ear, "Let's walk down to the liquor store for some smokes."
She smiled bashfully. There was an ethereal quality to Sara that he found enthralling. She was innocent but, at the same time, aware of the harsh world around her. Her past was checkered by a strict upbringing and an ever present weight problem. She wasn't a particularly self-possessed person but there were times that she stood up for herself with unending resolve. One shy smile from her spoke volumes and today her smile was troubled.
"So, tell me more about your close-minded boyfriend."
"I thought everything was going good until last night." She sighed. "He heard from Michelle that you and I were making out in the living room. So I told him that was wrong and that we were making out on the patio."
"He didn't like hearing the truth." Trevor said flatly.
"No. I should have kept my mouth shut. It just made him madder. He was mad because I hadn't told him and then he was jealous that another man was touching me and then he was embarrassed that all his friends saw me making a fool of myself."
He stopped abruptly in front of her. "Okay, back up."
She looked away. "He was mad and I know he said things that he didn't mean." She blushed. Her eyes met his briefly and then fluttered away. "You know I have a crush on you."
He touched her cheek. "I know. You told me that."
She brushed his hand away and then started walking again. "He said it was shameful the way I threw myself at you." She tossed a self mocking look over her solder. "Then I got mad. I reminded him that I can't be possessed and that he should stop acting like he owns me. My dad was shitty to my mom like that. He thought all she would ever be was a housewife and she let him think that and she let him treat her like a possession."
She stopped again to give him a fierce and determined look. "That isn't going to be me." They were standing in the alley behind the liquor store. She leaned against the graffiti-ed wall and continued talking. "It took a while to get him to consider the whole open relationship option, but when it got down to brass tacks I think he liked it. Things were going okay until I showed interest in someone other than him."
"Why didn't you tell Derek to shit or get off the pot. Open relationships are not a one way thing. Both partners have to have to agree on the ground rules. You don't seem comfortable with the rule that he gets to fuck but you don't, so that pretty much ends the discussion."
She looked up at him with consternation, "It's not that simple."
"Why not?"
"He's a conventional man. I knew there would be problems. I can't just tell him to get over it. That wouldn't be fair."
"It sounds like you're feeling guilty because he likes the idea but only when it applies to him." Derision was beginning to creep into his voice. He couldn't stand it when someone took responsibility for another persons shortcomings.
"Well, I'm the one that started this all."
"So that puts him in the right."
"He's jealous and he has a right to be jealous." His blas
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