The Next Day

Carol was woken up by the sound of her phone vibrating on the nightstand next to the bed. Her office was asking if she could bring two-dozen donuts in from the bakery on 1^st Street. She responds with a simple yes and places the phone back where it was. Carol closes her eyes, hoping to get a few more minutes of sleep.

“Who was that?” a voice said from the other side of the bed. Carol’s eyes opened wide, and her mind started to think back to the previous night.

“Who is this?” she thought. “Someone is in my bed with me that I have no recollection of,” she said to herself. She started to look around the bedroom. “This isn’t my bedroom,” she quietly said. “Where the fuck am I?”

“You don’t have to get to work this early, do you?” the voice said.

Carol vaguely recognized the voice from the party she was at the night before. It sounded like Jason’s voice, her boss’s son. She remained silent.

She got out of bed and walked to the bathroom without looking back. She was curious to know if it was Jason, but she also did not want to know who it was – not this early. Carol splashed some water on her face and looked in the mirror. She saw a tired, older version of herself than what she remembered last night.

“Are you ignoring me?” the voice said.

“No,” Carol responded, even though she wanted to be anywhere else other than that room. “I have to get to work,” she said.

The person lying in bed started to laugh. “We discussed this last night. You don’t have to be at work.”

“Yeah, I do,” Carol responded, still looking at herself in the mirror. “They need donuts for this morning’s meeting.” She hopped in the shower, hoping to wash off the filth that she felt surrounding her. She let the hot water hit her face as she started to relax and feel a sense of euphoria envelop her.

Suddenly, she realized she was no longer in the shower alone as a hand reached from behind and grabbed onto one of her bare breasts. Then another hand slowly rubbed her ass. “Jason, I have to get to work. I don’t have time for this,” she muttered. But in her head, she wanted to have one more morning of passion.

“Jason?” the voice says from behind her. “Jack. My name is Jack,” he says, kissing the back of her neck.

Carol’s eyes got big when she heard the name. Her need for morning sex suddenly turned to a need to get out of that room and get anywhere as quickly as possible. Her mind was moving fast, trying to develop a plan to get out of the shower and out of that room. “Jack?” she said softly as she turned to face him. “Where’s Sally?” she asked. Sally was Jack’s wife and Carol’s best friend.

Jack begins to laugh. “Boy, you really don’t remember anything from last night, do you?”

The truth was, she did not. Her mind tried hard to think back to twelve hours earlier. She remembers being at the company anniversary party. She remembered introducing her boyfriend, Stan, to Jack and Sally. That is when things went blank. No matter how hard she tried, she could not remember what happened.

“Jack,” Carol says as she tries to get by. “I have to get to work.”

He lets her go by, but not without one more squeeze of her butt. She jumps forward, trying to avoid contact. “I don’t see why you’re in a hurry to get to work,” Jack says, “I’m the boss.”

Carol walks around the bedroom, gathering up her clothes. “That’s probably the best reason I’ve heard so far for me to get to work.” She picks up her evening gown she was wearing last night, and a flashback of how it was removed popped into her head.

Jack had gotten out of the shower and was standing in the bathroom doorway, naked and erect. “I think that’s a great reason for you NOT to have to go to work,” he said, leaning against the door frame displaying his erection to his secretary.

Carol glances up and sees him displaying his penis like a trophy. “Put that thing away,” she said. “I’m going to have to go home first. All I have here is my evening gown.” She stands up and starts to get dressed.

“Wait,” Jack says, wrapping a towel around his waist as he walks towards the closet door. “You can probably wear one of Sally’s outfits.” He pulls out a blouse and slacks and hands them to her.

“How do you know they’ll even fit me?” Carol asked.

“After last night,” Jack says, “I think I have a pretty good idea of your size.”

“You’re sick,” Carol responds as she takes the clothes from Jack. “I still feel weird,” she says, buttoning the blouse. “I have no bra.” She looks at Jack with a disgusted glare. “If you say I’m the same size as your wife, I’m going to hit you.”

Jack starts to laugh. “No, no. Not this time. I’m sure Sally’s bra would be just a bit too big for you.”

Carol gasps and is in shock that he would say something like that. “You’re a pig,” she says, half-kidding. As she continues to get dressed, she hears some chattering outside of the bedroom. She assumed it was Jack’s son, Jason. “Is your son home?” she asked.

“He better be,” Jack said. “He needs to be in school in an hour.”

The bedroom door opens up as Carol is pulling her pants up. “Wait, I’m not dressed,” she says, turning her back to the door.

“Don’t be shy,” a woman’s voice says. “It’s just us.”

Carol turns around and sees Sally and Stan enter the bedroom. She’s shocked and embarrassed and is preparing for Sally to get angry. “Sally, I can explain,” Carol says.

Sally starts to laugh. “Explain what? Is that my blouse?” she asks with a glare.

Jack casually walks by. “She was going to go to work, and she needed something to wear.”

“Sally, why is Stan with you?” Carol asks.

Frank laughs from the bathroom. “Babe, she doesn’t seem to remember much from last night.”

Sally smiles at Carol. “It’s okay. Carol. Why don’t you finish getting dressed and we’ll meet you in the dining room? I’ll fix up some breakfast for all of us. I have the perfect hangover remedy.” Sally and Stan turn around and head towards the kitchen.

Carol is now completely confused. She looks at Jack. “What the fuck is going on?”

Jack smiles. “Let me get dressed, and we will do our best to fill you in. Why don’t you go out to the kitchen with the others, and I’ll join you in a bit?”

Carol grabs her shoes and walks to the kitchen. She sits at the dinette table where Stan is sitting and starts to put her high heels on.

“Coffee?” Sally asks.

“Yes, please,” Carol says. She looks at Stan, who is smiling as he watches her put her shoes on. “What?”

Stan simply shakes his head. “Nothing.” He pauses with the smile never leaving his face. “Did you have fun last night?”

“Of course, she did,” Sally says as she puts a cup of coffee in front of Carol. “At least, I hope you did.” Sally sits in the chair next to her. “Jack is usually a fantastic lover. He will make sure you’ve been satisfied.”

Carol is shocked to hear what Sally is saying. She looks at Stan, who is still smiling. “Why are you smiling?” she finally asked.

“If Jack treated you anything like Sally treated me last night, you would be smiling too,” Stan said.

“Awe, how sweet,” Sally said from the kitchen.

Jack walks in. “What’s sweet?”

“Hi dear,” Sally says, kissing Jack. “Stan just gave me a compliment, that’s all.”

Jack pours himself some coffee and sits at the table. “Sounds like you had a good time, Stan.”

“I did,” Stan says. “How about you?”

Jack smiles. “I did. I just wish Carol here would remember. I’m feeling kind of bad that everyone enjoyed themselves except the one that had the idea in the first place.”

“Okay,” Carol shouts. “Someone better fill me in on what the fuck happened last night. It sounds like everyone slept with everyone.”

Sally joins the others at the table with a plate full of scrambled eggs and sausages. “Are you serious, Carol? You don’t remember anything?”

“I remember being at the party last night, and then I woke up in bed with this guy, and his Viagra influenced penis this morning,” she says, pointing at Jack like he was some inanimate object.

“Hey!” Jack says. “I do NOT take Viagra. That’s all me, baby!” He looks to Stan and they high-five like having an erect penis at their age is some sort of great accomplishment.

“It sounds like someone needs a do-over,” Sally says. “What do you guys think of all four of us getting together tonight?”

Just then, Jason walks into the kitchen. “Morning, everyone.”

Carol is surprised that Jason is not shocked to see the kitchen full of people talking about sex.

Jason pours himself some juice and walks over to Carol. “Especially you,” he says. “How are you doing this morning?”

Carol can feel the embarrassment of turning her a new shade of red. She remembers walking into Jason’s bedroom and waking him up to have sex with him. He did not complain, and from the way he was acting that morning, he was pretty happy Carol was drunk.

“What do you mean by that, Jason?” Jack says with a surprised look on his face. He then turns to Carol. “Did you have sex with my sixteen-year-old son?!”

Carol is now in shock and is trying to play defense. “Wait, it was a mistake. I accidentally walked into his room. I thought it was you, Jack.”

“There’s your compliment, Jack,” Sally says. “She just said she thought you had a penis of a sixteen-year-old.”

Everyone giggles except Carol.

“I have to get to school,” Jason says. “Thanks again for last night,” he says, smiling and looking at Carol.

“Okay,” Carol says in a flustered voice. “Someone better tell me what the fuck happened last night before I go bat-ass crazy.”

Jack, Sally, and Stan all take turns looking at each other. “I’ll go,” Stan says. “Last night, the four of us were hanging out with each other most of the night. You told Jack that you would do anything for a raise. He said, ‘Raise this.’ We all laughed. One thing led to another, and you suggested sleeping with Jack to get your raise ‘the hard way,’” everyone laughed. “Sally said she was down as long as she was able to sleep with me. We were all drunk enough that we said yes. And here we are.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Carol says in disbelief.

“Don’t get upset,” Stan said. “It was your idea. It wasn’t until later, though, that we found out Jack and Sally were actually swingers and do this type of thing all the time.”

Carol was dumbfounded. “Let me get this straight,” she said. She looks at Stan. “You slept with my best friend, Sally.” She turns to Sally, “You slept with my boyfriend, Stan,” then turns to Jack, “and you had sex with me?”

“Sounds about right,” Jack said. “And don’t forget, you had sex with my son.”

Sally looks at Carol. “So, back to tonight. Are you in or not?”

Carol stands up and gives a laugh of disbelief. “Ah, NO!” she said, grabbing her things. “You guys are perverted. And, Jack, you don’t have to worry about me going to work today, cuz I quit. Sally, we are no longer friends. And Stan, I want you out of my house by the end of the day.” Carol stormed out and headed home.

Jack, Stan, and Sally sit at the table, surprised at Carol’s reaction. Stan looks at Sally and Jack. “So, what time tonight?”