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Post by William Aldridge on Sept 6, 2019 17:46:19 GMT -5
William had never thought that he would have fallen into the trap of wanting someone else. His marriage was good. He loved his wife and was still extremely attracted to her. He'd married for love, not for any of the reasons that might have made him want for a better partner. Logically, he knew that he wouldn't do better than Valerie. She was his perfect match in so many ways.
So, why was it that as he sat in a hotel bar after a conference he found himself looking at the leggy blonde that was very obviously flirting with him? Sure, she was sexy and she had the confidence of someone who knew it. Her dress plunged a bit too low to be proper, a bit too tight over her curves, but it was working for her. There was little that she had in common with his wife in terms of looks - not with her fair skin and green eyes. There was a part of him pulled to her however. Something seemed to be pulling her to him as well, she flashed him a grin and leaned a bit closer with her martini glass in hand.
"Why don't we head somewhere a bit more quiet?" she asked, looking up at him through fake lashes.
And he found himself considering it. It wouldn't be hard, would it? Just to go off somewhere with this woman who didn't live anywhere near him. Things with Val had been tough lately. She barely wanted him to touch her. They hardly had time alone together because they had three young children at home and another on the way. It'd been months since anything remotely sexual had occurred between them. Would it really be so awful to take one night with someone else? It wasn't as if there were a shortage of people around here doing just that. Ignoring the bands on their fingers or the fingers of others.
Then a baby cried out in the lobby, snapping him from his thoughts. Right. A baby. His wife was home now, dealing with one and growing another inside of her. His wife that he loved and had promised to stand by for his life. His wife waiting at home for him to come back and probably having a hell of a time getting Leslie down because he wasn't around and the infant hated when she wasn't put down by him. His wife that wouldn't ever do anything like this to him.
A wave of self disgust passed through him at the fact that he had even for a moment considered doing anything with someone else. Even if Val didn't find out about it, he would always know that he had abused her trust. Not to mention he was sure that he would really ruin every great thing in his life if he did it. For a moment, a horrible sinking feeling came over him as he imagined his father sitting in his exact place. He had never thought himself capable of being like his father in the ways of relationships but now he wasn't so sure.
"You know, I really can't," he answered the blonde with a forced smile before standing. "It was nice getting to know you but I've got to get going."
The woman pouted her full lips and looked up at him in a way that was probably used successfully to melt many reserves. He didn't give in. Instead, he gave a polite smile until she sighed. "Well if you change your mind, I'm in room 1704."
"I wouldn't wait up," he advised her before heading out of the bar and upstairs to his own room. Straight to the minibar where he pulled out a mini bottle of vodka and shot it down before going to hop in a cold shower. Clearly, he needed it. Violently, he needed to get clean and snap himself out of whatever had overtaken him.
A glance in the mirror had him glaring at his own reflection, hating the person who stared back. God willing no one would ever have to know about his near indiscretion. Hell if he'd forgive himself any time soon though.
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Post by Cheyenne Quinn on Sept 6, 2019 20:46:21 GMT -5
It was late in Manhattan, but Cheyenne wasn't really tired. Partly due to the high of success from her runway show, partly from the energy that came from the party that she was at right now, and partly just because she was used to living on Los Angeles time anyway. Not that she wanted to think about Los Angeles right now, where her husband and son were. There'd been times when Kyle would have been in the city with her for fashion week but since Christopher was in school they rarely travelled together for work anymore. And quite honestly, she wasn't sure that she would have invited him even without Christopher in the equation. Lately it seemed like all they did was fight, or when they weren't fighting they were cooly interacting with one another. It wasn't just one thing, it was a lot of little things all together. They weren't in sync and it was grating on her, annoying her more with things that she'd been well aware of before they seriously got involved.
Honestly, she doubted that Kyle was missing her either, so she didn't feel bad about it. She hadn't missed him when he'd gone on a book tour earlier this year - well, she had, but much less than she would have before. Tonight though he was pretty far from her mind. Instead, she was enjoying herself amongst the company of people who enjoyed what she did and who loved the things that she did.
One of those people was a fellow designer, she'd seen him around at a few events before. He was handsome, intelligent and dressed with a style that was right up her ally in terms of what she found attractive. It seemed that she wasn't alone in admiring him either because he'd come over to talk to her early after the party started and things had progressed from there. Cocktails were enjoyed, jokes were shared and he was heavy on the flattery.
"You know, I was really surprised by your collection this year," he commented, leaning a bit closer to talk to her over the noise of the party.
"Surprised? Why?" she was immediately a bit defensive. She'd worked very hard on her collection and really thought it to be one of her best yet.
He reached forward and touched her shoulder in a claming gesture. "Not at all in a bad way. It was amazing. It's just different from your past collections. More intense maybe, a bit darker than your usual style," he explained. "But obviously you know what you're doing. The risk paid off. Everything was stunning. I'm a bit jealous of how perfectly it all played out."
At his explination she relaxed some and gave him a smile, looking up at the other designer. "Well, when genius strikes, who am I to deny it?" she teased, flashing him a grin.
"Who indeed?" he questioned, letting his fingers drag down her arm. A shiver went through her as she looked up at him. "You know, I've got a place not too far from here, if you wanted to head out."
Her breath caught in her throat as she looked up into his blue eyes. Suddenly she saw herself standing at the crossroads, realizing that if she went with him right now she'd be taking the first step to leave her marriage behind. She thought about Kyle, about the way that they'd fought lately. She thought about how tense their goodbye had been and about howlong it'd been since a simple touch from him had caused her to shiver like she just had.
Then she thought about Kyle himself, about all the things that she hated about him and all the things that she loved about him. About how little she'd actually been trying lately to fix everything. Quitting had never been her way of doing things and since she hadn't even really tried yet to fix her marriage... her mind was made up.
With a slightly apologetic smile she shook her head and reached up to take his hand from her. "Maybe some other time," she answered. "I actually need to get going. I just remembered, I promised Christopher I'd Facetime him before it got too late out in LA."
He was disappointed and it was obvious but he gave a nod and took her hand, giving it a kiss across the knuckles. "I'll be around," he said.
And she nodded before pulling herside away with some relucance. "I'll be at your show tomorrow," she assured him.
Then she took a deep breath and decided to head back to her own hotel room, looking up coupies therapists along the way in the Uber ride over. There was an online system to set up appointments and she grabbed a spot for herself and Kyle, knowing that if they were to fix things they wouldn't be able to do so on their own. Feeling oddly nervous she sent an invite to Kyle - both of them used their phones to schedule everything in their lives - with a note asking if he was in. Somehow, she didn't feel as sure of his response as she would have liked to but all she could do now was actually try.
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Post by Gabe Mead on Sept 7, 2019 11:55:14 GMT -5
Gabe was drunk at the wrap party. Usually he didn't allow himself to get drunk at these things but usually he didn't stay all that late either. Tonight was a bit different. He didn't want to go home right away. Things at home were... well not great. Violet was mad at him though in her own Violet way which wasn't better.
It had started a few weeks ago when their ten year old son had pulled him aside and demanded that he tell him if people really went to hell just because they were bad or if people were just trying to scare him into being good. When the kids had been born he'd reluctantly agreed to let them go to church with Violet every week. On the provision that when they were old enough they'd be able to pick if they wanted to go or not. He thought ten was plenty old enough and Carter was as sharp as a they came.
So, he didn't lie to his son. He flat out told him that no one knew what happened when they died. Maybe that would have been enough but Carter had asked what Gabe thought happened and he told his son that too. That people didn't have souls and when you died you were just dead. Furthermore, he'd continued, God didn't really exist.
Violet had been less than pleased by that. She insisted that ten was still too young and impressionable to be telling him that there was no afterlife and that God wasn't real. To that he'd argued back that if the kids were old enough to know that Santa wasn't real they were old enough to be told about God. It was not a shining moment. Violet had been very offended about his words - although he'd apologized for wording it so, the damage was done.
Despite his wife's efforts to act like things were okay there had been a shift there. One that he was starting to wonder if it was possible to fix. Their fundamental beliefs had come into conflict. He was no more willing to admit that there was a God to his children than she was to admit that there wasn't. It seemed like they had hit an immovable obstacle.
None of that was what he wanted to think about though, so he had a few drinks (or more than a few) as he enjoyed the company of the people that he'd been working with for the last few weeks. Among those was Cindy, his love interest in the film. Cindy was brunette and tan, with big brown eyes and a body that had allowed her to model for swimsuits before becoming an actress. She was funny and intelligent and a good kisser. Currently, she was also fairly drunk. She sat on the arm of the couch that he was on, looking down at him as she giggled her way through a story that she told passionately.
Gabe was laughing along to it as well, taking drinks out of the bottle of beer in his hand in between. Cindy gestured wildly to add to her story and lost her balance, falling into his lap. Immediately, his arms reached out to steady her and looking down at her he realized just how close they were. It would be easy to go ahead and close the distance between them. She was looking up at him in a way that indicated she would not be opposed.
For a second, the tiniest one, he considered doing it. Things with Violet seemed impossible at the moment anyway but... no. Violet would be crushed and he owed her far better than this. He loved his wife and he did not want to hurt her in such a way. Even if they were at a point that would end up breaking them, he couldn't do this to her.
Instead, he gently moved Cindy back to her spot on the arm of the couch. "Do we need to get you some rails to keep you upright?" he teased and she seemed to understand because she sighed and gave him a rueful smile.
"Always looking out for me," she teased back.
"I try," he answered and took another drink. He didn't know what was going to happen with Violet, but he knew that he wasn't going to do anything that involved breaking her trust. They'd see where things took them and go from there. For now, he'd make a mental note to maybe see about a therapist for the two of them.
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Post by Tiffany Orson on Sept 8, 2019 14:39:57 GMT -5
Maybe it shouldn't have come as a surprise. Certainly, Tiffany hadn't been happy lately. Not with her marriage, not with her life. It was a bit early for a midlife crisis but that's what it felt like. So early on she'd made her choices and by now she was starting to wonder if she'd made mistakes. She'd only ever slept with her husband, only ever loved him. Was this the rest of her life? She couldn't help but wonder and so she'd been pulling away from him. Unsure of what to do, unsure of what she wanted. If she still wanted Fred.
All of it could explain why she felt a surge of attraction to the very hot guy that was grinning at her after having sent a drink over to her table. He was clearly a hipster, his manner of dress said so, his undercut said so and the beard that he was sporting all added up to a clear picture.
For a moment she bit down on her lip, sorting out her feelings before standing and walking over to the hipster. Thanking him for the drink wasn't a crime. "I'm told you're the one I need to thank for the refill," she said, giving him a smile.
He flashed her another brilliant grin and gave a tilt of the head in a clearly flirtatious manner. "Well, beautiful women shouldn't have empty glasses," he replied casually.
She laughed and looked away, down into the drink. Then a thought hit her, one that made her stiffen slightly. Was she cheating right now? Was flirting with an attractive guy cheating? It wasn't like she was kissing him... but then was cheating so black and white? The best question was would she be upset if Fred was here doing the same thing with some beautiful woman and the answer was yes.
If she was considering flirting with this guy, allowing herself to be flirted with and or imagining a world where she'd be free to go home with him then things were worse than she thought. Maybe she needed a break to think about everything. Time away from Fred to take stock of what she wanted with the rest of her life. Right now it seemed like it'd be easy to go down this road and even if she didn't know that she wanted to stay with Fred.. she knew that she was better than cheating on him.
It was time to seriously consider taking a break from her marriage if she was in this place. Looking back at the hipster she gave him a bit of a sad smile. "My husband would probably agree," she answered.
The guy's eyes closed and he gave a slow nod before licking his lip. "Ah, okay, well I can't say that I'm surprised," he replied. "He's a lucky guy. Enjoy the drink anyway."
"Thank you. And I'm sure you won't be having any issues finding someone else here," Tiffany offered a smile and then stood, holding up the drink and taking a sip out of it. "Have a good night." With a sigh she made her way back to the table she'd been at earlier, starting to figure out what she'd say to Fred to let him know that she was going to need some space. It seemed she had a lot to figure out.
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Post by Carson Medawar on Oct 10, 2019 20:04:24 GMT -5
During a break between projects, Carson was at home and going out with his best friend Kyle. Kyle was the one who had asked to go out, and Carson had agreed to do so - when Stephanie agreed to watch Christopher for the evening - able to tell that things had not been going well for his best friend lately. They'd ended up at a bar, one that had a private area so no one was going to come up to bother them - a small mercy that Carson couldn't put a price on because when he was out with his best friend he didn't want to be dealing with people looking to take selfie's with him. Given his own busy filming and promotional cycle, and Kyle's book deals that had him writing and promoting in a cycle that didn't match his own - they hadn't had much time to see one another in the past few months. Sure, they kept in contact via text but it was different.
It was easy to see that Kyle was not in the best of places. The other guy was in a bad mood and when Carson had asked him about it, Kyle had informed him that he and Cheyenne had fought before he went out. All that had earned him was a look from Carson that clearly reminded the other guy that he had told him not to marry Cheyenne.
"Okay, fuck off," Kyle snapped, taking a long swig out of his beer. "I don't need your 'I told you so' right now."
"I didn't say it," Carson responded, holding up a hand as a bit of deflecting.
"You were not saying it very loudly," Kyle informed the actor sarcastically. That much might have been true, but he wasn't going to apologize for it. He'd never been shy sharing his thoughts about Cheyenne or the union that his best friend had decided to enter into.
For a few minutes they sat in silence, drinking their beers and watching the game that was on television. Kyle cared more about it than Carson did - he was a casual sports fan, but Kyle had a season pass for the Doger stadium. Carson would go to games on occasion with his best friend, but it wasn't really his scene and it certainly wasn't something that Stephanie was interested in. He'd taken Jack to a game once, but his son hadn't had much interest in it either.
"Have you ever been tempted by any of the women who have tried to come onto you?" Kyle asked suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere.
At that Carson threw the other guy a look that clearly said that he thought he was crazy. "In order to be tempted, they'd have to be offering something I wanted that I didn't already have," he answered.
"That's a deflection." Maybe it was, though Carson thought that it was enough of an answer.
"I thought it was clear enough, but fine, never," he replied, shrugging.
"It wasn't. I'm sure they're offering a lot less vanilla things than what you do with Stephanie," Kyle explained his own mindset.
"Maybe," Carson didn't think it changed anything. "But I'm still not interested. No one ever has come close to making me want them instead."
A few co-stars had suggested an off-screen fling, which he'd always firmly but politely rebuffed. A makeup artist had come onto him strongly during a shoot in Greece and had made things quite uncomfortable when he'd turned her down. Not to mention the countless fans that were always trying to throw themselves at him because he was famous. Never once had he considered doing anything with any of them. Not only would it break Stephanie's heart, but he just truly found that he had no draw to them. Stephanie was beautiful, of course, but even after multiple children her body was amazing and he couldn't imagine being with anyone else. It was a far cry from how he'd used to be at one point, but he was truly happy. There was nothing that would tempt him away from that happiness. Nothing that could make him hurt Stephanie in such a way. Another beat of silence passed and Carson raised an eyebrow. "Why? You tempted to run off on Cheyenne?"
"I'm not a total asshole," Kyle responded dryly. "I wouldn't ever do that. There was a woman a few weeks ago though, who had me tempted."
"Sounds like you have some stuff to sort out," he answered. "Because she will castrate you if you give into that temptation." Hell had no fury like his sister when she was pissed off about something.
"Considering she's currently in New York, I don't imagine that's going to happen any time soon." His friend took another swig from the bottle in front of him. "Whenever we see each other lately - which is next to never - we fight."
"I don't want to be encouraging you to stay with her, but I imagine she still has that number to her therapist," Carson suggested. The one that he'd given her all those years ago. "If you don't want to just move on with your life. That's probably your best bet."
"Maybe," Kyle made a face and shook his head. Then turned back to the game and fell into a silence that meant that he was probably brooding over something. On the other hand, Carson found himself glad once more that he had Stephanie and made a mental note to stop by a flower shop on the way home to get her some. It sucked that Kyle wasn't doing well in his relationship, but Carson was pretty damn happy with his own wife and he intended to remind her of that.
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