Trent's birthday began and continued about as he expected it to.
Admittedly, it was kind of weird to have Candy around after he'd done...all the things that he'd done with her. He could tell it was kind of weird for Bea, too. Thankfully, Mae seemed fine, as did Candy, and Stan.
That was definitely a big one he'd been worried about: being social with a man over twice his age after he had banged the living fuck out of his wife, and he knew that he had. He wondered if Candy shared the details of what happened between the two of them with him. Probably not, she seemed like she'd like to keep those parts of her life separate.
Interestingly, Jackie showed up first, followed by Jen after about half an hour. It quickly became obvious that whatever present Mae and Bea and Ann had all put together for him, Jen was in on it. Which was obviously pretty great for him, as he imagined it involved sex and having sex with Jen was amazing.
It got weird again when Jacob showed up with Germ, though at least not in a bad way.
As soon as he got inside, Trent could tell Jacob had something on his mind.
"Hey, uh...you got somewhere you and I could speak privately just for a minute?" he asked after he and Germ had told him happy birthday.
"Yeah. Uh...this way," Trent replied, and took him upstairs into his office and closed the door. "What's up? Did something go wrong?"
"No, nothing like that," Jacob answered. He chuckled awkwardly. "So...I guess I have an offer for you. I'd like to preface this by saying whatever your answer, yes or no, it won't change anything between us. It's a genuine offer and, also important, that this conversation doesn't leave this room." He paused. "Well, I guess you can talk to your girlfriends about it...I guess you'll have to, actually, if you go ahead with it…"
"Okay, come on, you're killing me with this suspense, what's the offer?" Trent asked.
Jacob laughed. "So...we talked about it, and my wife is interested in sleeping with you. At least once."
"...um, wow. That isn't what I expected," he replied. "Uh...so was this asked for by Mae or Bea? Or anyone? Like did they put you up to this?"
"No," Jacob replied. "Right now, literally the only people who know this is even possibly on the table is me, my wife, and now you."
"All right...I guess my next question would be 'why'? Absolutely not complaining, though," Trent replied, already thinking about Jacob's wife. They'd only met a handful of times. It occurred to him, abruptly, that he didn't even know her first name. Or, if he did, he'd forgotten it utterly. He remembered that she had that 'hot mature mom' thing going on. She'd been kind of chubby, but that wasn't really a bad thing in his book, clearly.
"Well, since we decided to reopen our relationship, she's a lot more, um...apprehensive nowadays. Also a lot less sure of herself. She had six kids and that does a lot to a woman's body. So does getting middle aged. She used to be much in better shape. Now, I still think she's fine like wine, but there's only so much I can say, you know? Of course I'm going to find her hot, she's my wife and I love her. So she hasn't been with anyone since we reopened the relationship and I'm beginning to realize that it's going to need a bit of an intervention on my part."
"I understand," Trent replied. "So...does she want to sleep with me?"
"Oh yes. She's...rather fond of you," he answered, chuckling.
"Huh. Cool." He paused, shifted awkwardly. "This is so weird to talk about...how would you feel about this? I mean for real."
"For real? I think there's always going to be a part of damn near everyone who feels that savage kick in their chest at the thought of their partner fucking someone else, man or woman. For some people, it's an absolute dealbreaker, and that's fair. For others? Well, they'll find that once you actually do it and push past it and get some experience with it, you learn to live with it, and then after you learn to live with it, at some point you realize that it isn't so much a thing to be lived with as passed out of hand. That's what I ended up with. Plus, you know, sleeping with other women is pretty nice. Especially now that-" he paused. "Shut up, Jacob," he muttered.
Trent raised an eyebrow. Jacob laughed and shook his head. "I've got a girl in Briddle now," he said. "She knows the situation. Late twenties, really beautiful, really fun. Nice and casual. After having sex with just one person for twenty years...you forget what it's like to be with someone else. But, uh, anyway. This is about you and Lena. She's into you and we can make this happen if you want."
"Well, I'm into her," he replied. "I'll have to talk to the others about it, but yeah, I want to do this. I guess I'd like to know about, um...protection? Is that a hard yes or…?"
Jacob laughed. "Yeah, I worry about the same thing straight out the gate. So this is what I'll say: I have left it up to Lena's discretion how she wants to progress in the actual bedroom. That's how we treat it. I will respect whatever ends up happening. I know for a fact that we're both free and clear of STDs, and Lena can't get pregnant anymore. So, up to you. I will say, however, that if you give my wife an STD I'll be pretty pissed."
"Yeah, I would be too, but we've been really careful so far...all right, I'd say my answer right now is 'probably yes this will happen', from my end. I imagine it'd be easier to have her come here instead of me go out there...is she bisexual?"
"Somewhat, yes. We experimented back in our twenties, and I imagine she'd be very happy to have the attention of an attractive young woman as well," Jacob replied. "I think she's just been too focused on trying to make it work with a young man...you got someone in mind?"
"Maybe. Mae and Ann are bi, Bea isn't...oh man, I might be able to hook her up with a MEGA hot woman about my age. There's a lesbian girl we know a few hours from here who will almost certainly want to come for a visit again...here…"
He pulled out his phone and found a PG-13 picture of Molly, then showed Jacob.
"Holy shit she is hot!...you said she's full lesbian?"
"Seems that way," he replied, putting his phone back.
"Oh yeah, Lena would be quite happy to fool around with her. Okay, cool. So, two other things. First one, she gave me permission to show you this…" he murmured, pulling out his phone and calling something up. He passed it to Trent.
"Whoa, nice," Trent said as he found himself looking at a pic of Jacob's wife in nothing but a pair of panties. "Your wife his big tits. And hips."
He chuckled. "Oh yes, I'm well aware. Second thing...um, so I recognize that this is personal, and if you tell me 'none of your business' that's completely cool, but…" He hesitated as he took his phone back and slipped it into his pocket. "So...um, Candy tells me you two are together now."
"We are," he replied, wondering if this was going in a bad direction or not.
"Is it going...well?"
"That's certainly one way of putting it. It's going really well."
Jacob laughed, looking relieved. "Okay, good. I just-the reason I'm asking is because I genuinely thought Candy would have slowed down after twenty five years. But good lord, if anything age has simple sped her sexdrive up. I'm a 'few times a week' kinda guy at this point and between my wife and the girl out in Briddle, I cannot keep up with that woman. So I'm just asking because I want her to be happy. Although Jesus Trent, I have no idea how you keep this up. Like how has your dick not broken from overuse?" He laughed and shook his head. "Sorry, that's...this is a strange conversation for me to have, too. Um. I'll let her know."
"Awesome. Also thanks," Trent replied.
Jacob nodded. "Happy to make people happy. We should probably get back now. Also, I want to talk about it more, but I've decided I'm all in for your city council plan."
"Oh, wow. Sweet. Yeah, we...gotta talk about that, and soon," he said.
Jacob nodded and headed for the door. He put his hand on the knob, then hesitated. He sighed softly, looking like he was struggling with something.
"Everything okay?" Trent asked.
"Yes, yeah, just…" he sighed again and turned back to face Trent. "I'm sorry, this doesn't really need saying, but it's going to bother me if I don't say it...Lena is my wife, and the mother of my children, and I won't tolerate any kind of mistreatment of her."
"I understand," Trent replied.
This time when he sighed, he sounded relieved. "I'm sorry, honestly I'd trust you with my life after everything that's happened, but…"
"But she's your wife, and the mother of your children," Trent said. "I get it. I'm not offended."
"Thank you. All right, let's party."
They headed back downstairs. Mae and Bea both gave him curious looks, but he just mouthed 'later' and then got back to being social. It took less time than he expected to get back to normal again after having the fact that he could be fucking another married cougar sometime soon placed in his head. Which was good, because more people were coming.
Bea's dad showed up, and then Ann's mom. Mae's teacher showed up, jovial and benevolent. Mae's neighbor, (the nice one), Mister Twigmeyer, came too, and then he began losing track of people once Lori and her family showed up. After almost an hour of socializing and trying to keep up with everyone, he ended up excusing himself and stepping out back. He found Mae and Jackie sitting together on the lawn chairs.
"Hey, you okay?" Mae asked.
"Yeah, just...need a moment. Shit, did I interrupt something, like, emotionally important?" he asked.
"No, we're just hanging out," Jackie replied.
He glanced briefly to Mae. Jackie had a perfect poker face, he had learned, or near perfect, but Mae didn't. Her expression agreed effortlessly with Jackie's assertion, so he believed it and settled down in a third chair.
"You mind if I join?" he asked.
"It's your party, man," Jackie replied.
"Yeah but it was your conversation and space," he said.
"Jesus fucking shit, why can't most other people respond this way?" she whispered. "Thank you," she added, "for being nice. And I'm fine with you being here."
"You are kinda too nice sometimes, I swear," Mae muttered.
"I guess I'd rather be too nice than too mean," he replied.
"It doesn't quite work like that, but it's not a bad sentiment," Jackie said. "What are you grinning about all of a sudden?"
Trent looked at Mae. She did indeed have a huge smile on her face.
"I'm just-I'm so happy we're friends now! And that you're here, at my boyfriend's birthday party, because of the birthday party, and not just because you wanted to see Bea for a little bit or something. Like, it's awesome! It's the coolest crossover!"
Jackie laughed unexpectedly. "What!? Crossover?"
"Yeah!"
"That's what she calls it when she mixes people from different social groups together," Trent said. "I have to admit, she has a point. It's really cool seeing people from different walks of life interact."
"Crossovers rock!" Mae agreed.
"Well...thanks, I'm glad too. Toxic feelings are corrosive and, thanks to Bea and Trent, I'm...learning that I'd probably move through life with greater ease if I took the edge off a little."
"That has to be hard," Trent said.
"It is," both Mae and Jackie said at the same time.
"Is that what you decided?" Jackie asked.
"Yeah. A few weeks before I met Trent, I decided I needed to stop being such an asshole or I was going to seriously fuck my life up beyond repair. Friends is all that matters, honestly. I mean it bothered me that I didn't have a job or money or a degree or a boyfriend or girlfriend or whatever, but honestly having Gregg and Angus and Bea and Ann made it so much more bearable. I couldn't lose them, and I would if I didn't stop being an asshole."
"I have to say, and legitimately no shade, you really did a miracle turnaround. Definitely some of that is...bad feelings I had for a long time. But...I'm happy. For you. And to be here." She sighed. "I'm bad with expressing myself. Can we talk about something else?"
"Yes," Trent said. "Actually, I had something I really wanted to talk to you about. I've already spoken with Bea about it and she's onboard, but I was wondering if you'd be willing to...what the fuck, don't give me the look! I'm not propositioning you, Jackie, we already settled up about that."
"I'm sorry! Just-I thought…" she sighed heavily and shook her head. "Just keep going."
"All right. I wrote song lyrics. Or I am, I'm still tweaking them. And I want Bea to make it into a song. And since it's in the style of old Linkin Park, I thought you'd be absolutely perfect to take on the screamy Chester parts."
"Oh my God, you would! You'd be so perfect! You've got such a good scream!" Mae cried, immediately excited.
"I...how do you know that?" Jackie asked.
"Because I've heard your music," Mae replied, as though it should have been painfully obvious.
"I...really? You have listened to my stuff?"
"Yeah! How has this not come up!?"
"I'm...you know, I'm not sure. Um. Okay. Provisionally yes. I want to read the lyrics and hear the music, but yes, I'd love to be a part of this. I'm really curious to see what you came up with."
"Me too, honestly," Mae said.
He chuckled. "Well...it's kinda emo."
"Duh, it's old school Linkin Park," Jackie replied. "And I'm so there for that."
"Okay, awesome. Thank you. I should be able to finish it up pretty soon. I guess right now I'm kind of just obsessing over it, making sure it's not stupid. It's...I dunno, I've never written music before. I mean lyrics. Well, I mean any of it, but I'm writing lyrics-whatever. I don't want it to come out stupid, especially considering I'm asking two actual musicians to bring it to life and tie it to their name."
"Well, I can spin gold from silk, or whatever the saying is, and Bea is almost as good as I am. So I think we can manage," she replied.
"Wow and I thought I was getting too big for my britches," Trent said.
"Hey, for some of us the world is more than happy to immediately begin stomping the fucking shit out of you pretty much from the get-go. If you don't learn how to talk yourself up and identify and own your abilities and accomplishments for yourself, then you'll be killed."
"Or just end up with a shitload of psychological problems," Mae said.
"Fair point."
Jackie sighed. "Sorry, that got kind of grim kind of fast. Yes, I will be happy to sing like Chester Bennington with Bea based on lyrics you wrote."
"Awesome, I appreciate it."
The doorbell rang then. Mae immediately popped up to her feet and ran off with a declaration of, "I'll get it!"
"Hmm," Trent murmured, watching her go.
"What?" Jackie asked.
"Just...Mae's up to something. They all are. My girlfriends, I mean. And I don't really know what it is. But I guess it involves someone coming through the front door."
"Yeah she did seem to run off faster than you'd expect from someone just opening the door. Like she wanted to personally get there and see who it was," Jackie murmured. "You think they're hiring you a hooker?"
He laughed. "What? No. I mean, almost certainly not."
"Yeah. What would even be the point? I think you pretty much have your pick of the litter at this point."
"Well…" He paused, then looked at her. "Wait, what do you mean?"
"Dude, by now you're a local celebrity. You could probably hit on most women in this town and reliably convince them to sleep with you. I mean I've definitely seen some people talking about you in that way in some chattrbox channels."
"...are you serious?" he asked.
"Yeah. Completely."
"...what the fuck? Why was this never the case before? What's so fucking different about me now?" he muttered.
"I think mostly it's a matter of exposure and perspective." He looked over at her in silent inquiry. "Okay so, most people are basically attractive to most other people, provided they clean up even just a little. Like clothes and hair and skincare. I don't even mean a lot, just a bit. Like a basic-ass makeover. The thing is, most people don't see most other people. I mean I'm sure there's like a thousand chicks in your old city you'd be down to fuck, and there's probably a thousand chicks in your old city who would be down to fuck you, at least casually. The thing is, you and the thousand chicks aren't really seeing each other, either at all or, at most, passing each other in the store for five seconds. That becomes a fleeting thought of 'he's kinda cute', and then it's gone after maybe a fantasy if they really liked you. Suddenly, the thousand chicks are all seeing you, like really seeing you. That's exposure. You are getting exposure."
"Huh. Okay...so what about perspective?" he asked.
"Perspective. So, take a picture of a chick and show it to ten guys, ask to rate her attractiveness based solely off the pic. Then do the same thing, but tell them she's a musician. Across the board, attractiveness goes up. Or at least close to across the board. Not a different picture with her holding a guitar or a mic or something, literally the same picture and just 'she is a musician'. Perspective. You're being shown to a bunch of chicks and that comes packaged with the knowledge of 'he is a writer'. Plus they saw you at that book signing and you were the center of attention and you fucking socked that douchebag right in the mouth in front of everyone. Regardless of the societal implications and ethical reasoning, most women like to feel like their man can handle business if he needs to. You demonstrated to everyone that you can."
He sighed heavily. "I wish that wasn't the takeaway."
"So do I, but it is. Plus, you know, you decked a fuckhead. More fuckheads need to be decked…" She glanced back into the house. "Oh, huh, I didn't know you knew Sadie."
"Who?" he asked, looking as well. He saw Mae in the hallway talking with a dark-blue furred cat woman with glasses who, at a glance, looked to be approaching middle age.
"That's Sadie. She's one of the only other musically-inclined types around Possum Springs. You don't know her? Mae seems to."
"Oh...yeah, I saw her at my book signing, and she showed up at Desperate Measures. We talked a bit. She seemed cool."
"Hundred bucks says she's here to fuck you," Jackie said.
He looked back over at her. "What? Seriously?"
She paused, then grinned suddenly and offered her hand. "Yeah, dead serious. Hundred bucks. If you two hook up, you owe me a hundred bucks."
"No, no, no, that wasn't the bet. The bet was 'she's here to fuck me' specifically. If she came here to vibe and ends up sleeping with me because she is seduced by my writerly ways, that doesn't count," he replied.
"Oh my God, and you say I have a confidence problem. But yes, I accept these terms," Jackie replied.
He shook her hand. "You've got a deal."
She grinned. "Good. I could use the hundred bucks, you clearly are doing fine."
"You realize you're encouraging my...sluttiness, right?"
"Oh whatever. You're going to fucking nail every chick you can regardless of what I'm doing. That's already a foregone conclusion. I'm just profiting off it now," she replied with an easy shrug.
He laughed. "Okay, well...I'll let you know."