Interlude

INTERLUDE

Published by Josie Daleiden at Smashwords

Copyright 2013 Josie Daleiden

***

AUTHOR'S FORWARD

I am entirely new to writing. I hope you
enjoy this, as it is my first time writing in this genre. Thank you
for downloading it, and stay tuned for future works that will be
released in the coming months.

-Josie Daleiden.

Cal was furious when he found out his best
friend joined a dating website in his name. His friend, as well as
everyone in a fifty-mile radius, knew how miserable he was with his
wife, as well as life in general. The joke of joining the dating
website was supposed to be a quick, over and done laugh to get him
out of the dumps. He was annoyed when he found out, then angry that
this could get him in even more trouble with his shrill harpy of a
wife. Intent on canceling his membership, he found himself
curiously perusing the pages of the site wewontell.com instead.
“That's great; they had to join me to a site that's tailor-made for
cheaters.” He thought to himself, as he scrolled through the pages.
He noticed his in box had ten messages in it: Eight were from
Russian spam bots, one was a girl that looked very much like she
used to be a boy, and the last one was a girl by the profile name
of “blinkyghost25”.

Hey calidude27! I saw your profile today and
I thought I would drop you a message. I live sort of close to you.
My friends told me (made me!) join this site because they got tired
of me moping through every romantic comedy! It looks like we have a
lot in common. It would be great to get a message back so we could
meet up, or at least chat. My husband comes and goes a lot, so
discretion isn't too big of a deal. Hope to talk to you soon!

Cal looked at her profile pic. She was cute!
If her picture wasn't something she lifted from Google Images, she
was downright hot! She had high cheekbones, a delicate chin and
full, red lips that held his attention. Her dark brown hair spilled
down her shoulders, framing her face and those piercing, light
green eyes. Cal decided to mess with this last spammer by sending
off a sarcastic message:

Hi blinkyghost25! My friend actually joined me to
this site, and I will be canceling immediately. I have a hard time
believing you live anywhere near me, because all of the women I see
are usually vapid bimbos who are magnetically oriented to douche
bags. Barring that, they tend to look like something that should be
fighting walruses. I wish you the best of luck in your search for a
gullible soul to wire money to you. Peace!

Cal clicked send, and then got a response
back:

See attached pic calidude27. I am real, and
sort of local. In spite of your message you still seem like a nice
guy. Let’s try this again!

-blinkyghost25.

He opened the attachment. He was greeted with
the same green-eyed beauty, this time holding up a copy of the LA
Times and pointing at the day's current date. The next pic was of
her posing with her hands on her hips. She was wearing black yoga
pants and a gray tank top. To match her pose she was sporting a
playful look of displeasure to confirm his last message. Her top
revealed just a hint of cleavage, and her light olive skin.

He fired off a response:

Well blinky, it looks like you are real! I
really, really hate to disappoint you, but my friend signed me up
on here without my knowledge. The last thing I need is for my
snarling banshee of a wife to find out about this; )

-calidude.

Another instant response:

No offense Calidude, but if you casually
refer to you wife as a “snarling banshee”, then maybe you should be
here after all : )

-blinky

Ugh, she had a point. So did Jeremy and every
other one of his friends who gave him crap for being in the
ultimate personification of a bad marriage. It had taken a total
stranger to make him fully realize that he was truly and completely
miserable. On a whim, he shot back a message:

calidude27:
Okay blinky, you have bested
my efforts to keep you away. My aforementioned banshee-wife keeps
me on a pretty tight leash, so I have to limit this to IM for now.
Would you be cool with that? I also need to get a better feel for
who you are because I have never, ever done this before
.

Blinkyghost25:
Sounds like a plan : ) I
have to get back inside, the class instructor is giving me the
UGLIEST look right now!

Calidude27:
WOW! You ditched yoga class to
prove you're real?! That's dedication! I GTG. The Mrs. is home, and
she sounds unhappy (again). Talk to you soon!

Blinkyghost25:
You too sweetie! Ta ta for
now!

Cal pondered the last message. A total
stranger just called him sweetie. “I could get used to this!” Cal
thought, grinning stupidly as he stumbled down the stairs to greet
his wife.

Cal was trapped in a particularly bad
scenario. Not only had he married his wife, Alice, way too young,
she has also talked him into working for the family company,
“Weatherly-Park Associates, Inc.”. The wonderful boutique financial
planning firm. Even though he graduated with a degree in Computer
Science, His father in law, Ian Park, had him doing basic I.T.
work. Instead of programming for JPL, which he was going to be
doing for his post grad work, he got to unjam printers and install
drivers at his father in law's office. The pay wasn't good, and it
never managed to get better. He had always respected family
businesses, but marrying into one was the worst kind of hell. If he
wasn't pinned down in some unneeded discussion with his
condescending father in law, then he was trapped into lunch times
infinity with his wife. When they were in school, things had been
so much better. Alice had been such a wonderful person. Her blonde
bob cut seemed to serve as a flag that flew to alert others to her
perky, upbeat attitude. Her free spirited college ways were like a
beacon to Cal. He had always struggled with depression, even then.
This effervescent girl with a sunny disposition was just what his
dark persona needed.

Upon graduating, Cal jumped at the chance to
grab this girl as his, and popped the question. He proposed at the
cafe of their first “real date”, and even got down on one knee. She
was ecstatic, and bounced up and down screeching “YES!” while Cal
tried to put the ring on. He got to about the second knuckle, then
the ring stuck and wouldn't go further. He thought he knew her
size. Hell, he even double-checked with her best friend
Kelly...

“What, you don't know my ring size?!?”
Alice's bubbly surface layer was slowly changing. Her smile became
a tense line across her face as Cal tried to explain away this easy
mistake.

“I’m sorry babe.” He raised her hand up to
admire the ring that has cost him most of his savings.

Alice jerked her hand out of his. He had
never seen her like this! The once-happy girl he had known
seemingly shape-shifted right before his eyes. She was radiating
some kind of palpable tension that he tried his best to
diffuse.

“Guys get this kind of stuff wrong all the
time”. He said soothingly. “Besides, I'm sure we can have it sized
or something.” Cal wrung his hands under the table, as the
customers sitting closest watched him squirm in awkward
silence.

“No no, its fine. Maybe I'll just lose
weight. It's obvious you just think I'm fat!!” Alice shrieked the
last words as she stormed out of the cafe. Cal could only sit
there, staring at his biscotti. He somehow knew that things between
them would be like this from here on. Like she had been switched to
a different mode or function. He somehow could see the rest of his
life before his eyes in one blur. The miserable engagement, the
stuffy, controlling family, and all the trappings of a horrid
suburban life. These were things that you endure with a loved one.
A girl or boy who is your partner through it all. Alice became
exactly none of these. She sought to verbally abuse and demean him
whenever she felt she needed a boost. Cal silently joked with
himself that guys pay big bucks to get girls to treat them like
this. It never worked though.

As the years wore on, Cal regretted his life
more and more. Alice had changed permanently. The days and months
seemed to blend together. He imagined it like a boxer taking punch
after punch after punch. Soon, the pain just all blends together
too. The day he started working at her family's firm, he resigned
himself to fate. He was just broken. He had Alice and her family
making every decision for him, never needing such things as his
input or advice. His will and ambitions had been reduced from
mountains to arid flatland, incapable of supporting life..., or
hope. His automatic-refill Xanax prescription finished off the last
of his free will.

Alice's family loved taking turns using Cal
as a tool. Not the useful, helpful kind of tool, mind you, but the
other kind of tool; the cautionary tale, the
don't-let-this-happen-to-you, the I-told-you-so. They all held
themselves in such high regard as successful business people, and
Cal was the outsider. Even working at their firm made them resent
him more! Instead of supporting the family business, he was the
just the loser husband who really liked computers. Never mind the
fact that he gave up a job at JPL for them. Relegated to his
downstairs office, he whiled away the time dodging digs from his
entire family, and their coworkers, on a day-to-day basis. He used
to regret every single minute he spent in that room with server
racks and back filing. Now, this place had come to represent the
time he could flirt and talk dirty with his new, web-based
girlfriend. While Alice and her family were all upstairs plotting
their schemes and taking advantage of everyone who uttered the word
“retirement”, Cal would pass the time IM'ing and texting with
blinky. So many texts! “We must exchange two hundred messages a
day! “Cal thought to himself.

Over the preceding months, she and Cal had
developed an online relationship that rallied most flesh-based
ones. He began to identify and relate to her in ways he never
thought possible. They had become so close, their lives so
intertwined that it became harder and harder to not share their
deepest thoughts and feelings. Cal had discovered that Blinky lived
in Montecito, which is where folks from Santa Barbara go when they
still have too much money. He found himself conflicted over the
fact that the girl he had been chatting with now seemed to be
merely slumming it while her rich husband was out on business
trips. She had mentioned working in the insurance business, but she
would never elaborate more than that. From the rare occasions when
they exchanged pics, he could see that her home office was
beautiful, possessing a sort of rustic Italian feel. He was always
careful when he was chatting with her online. If his wife or family
to find out, he was finished for sure! Deep in his cluttered
office, he banged away at his side work, writing code for a mobile
app developer. It was boring, but he could do it while at his
miserable IT job at Weatherly-Park. He was saving the money up for
a long-planned tryst with his blinkyghost25. As he was banging away
at the keyboard, he saw a chat icon pop up:

blinkyghost25:
Hey Cinderfella! How's life
in financial services? : )

calidude27:
Great! If you count soul
crushing boredom as a good thing! : ) I get to update ALL the
operating systems tonight, so it'll be an all nighter while the
Mrs. is at home sleeping. Are you gonna be online tonight?
;)

blinkyghost25:
Oh yeah! I finally get you
all to myself for a while; ) I wouldn't miss it for the
world!

blinkyghost25
: I want to video chat
tonight. We've never done it before. It would be nice to put a
moving image of you in my head. My fantasies would be so much more
VIVID. ; )

calidude27: …...

calidude27:
Sorry! I passed out there for
a minute from the blood leaving my brain! ; ) I'd love it!

blinkyghost25:
You boys, always thinking
with your OTHER head! I'll see you then.

Calidude27
: Sounds like a date!
*Kisses*

blinkyghost25
: *Kisses*

As everyone left for the night, Cal prepped
the server for the big update. All he had to do was wait awhile and
press “enter” a few times. Plenty of time to ogle his girl! His
normal shirt and khakis would have to do. Going home to change
would be hard to explain! He was sure to be by his computer when
8:00PM rolled around. His heart was thumping in his chest as he
waited for the web cam to come on. This was the first time he would
be seeing his girl in motion! What would she think of him? He had
just started working out at the gym. Maybe she would notice? As he
was thinking of what to say, she blinked into view on his screen.
All Cal could do was sit and stare at the girl before him. She was
a picture-perfect example of her profile pic. Stunning green eyes,
flowing brown hair that spilled playfully over her shoulders, and
those gorgeous, red lips. She reached up to brush her hair away
from her face while she spoke.