Trifecta (13 page)

This would go down in Russell history as the time where he explained to Lauren, the woman they were sleeping with, that her job was pornography, and as their girl it was unacceptable.  "Or prostitution."

"What!"  Lauren went to him, standing close enough to cause her to have to look up.  "Did you just call me a prostitute?"

Not realizing he said the words aloud, he raised his eyebrows and tried not to look directly at her. "No, I did not, I said prostitution.  Your job is not pornography, it is prostitution."  He never did have Russell's way with words.

Russell covered his eyes.

The elevator door opened.

"Maybe you can see what its like then when you have to hail a cab home.  I know you don't have any cash on you."  She kicked his ankle and ran out of the elevator.

The point of her pump practically punctured his leg, sending a sharp, searing pain up his calf and down to the sole of his foot.  "Hey!"  He bent down and grabbed his throbbing appendage.

"You're jealous."  Russell patted his back and went around him.

"You're terrified."  He rubbed his ankle.  Jealousy was not an emotion that existed in the land of Jason Morgan.  If jealously did rear its green little head it was because someone was jealous of him, not the other way around.  Fine, maybe he had a little tinge when Steve got his show, but that was professional jealousy.  He definitely didn't have jealousy when it came to women.

Before the doors slid closed and trapped him inside this stupid building, he hopped out.   He joined Russell and Lauren at the car, straightened up and took her by the shoulders.  "I was jealous." 

They both turned to Russell.

"You were jealous too."  Jason gave Russell the best friend glare.

He pointed to himself.  "I never said I wasn't, I just said you were." 

"You were jealous?"  Lauren faced him again.

His nose wrinkled, meeting the smile Lauren fought.  The corners of her mouth quivered, wanting to turn up.  "You heard me."

The smile took over and she glanced over at Russell.

"I never said I wasn't."  He opened the car door for her.

She got in the car.  "Good." 

Russell and him caught gazes from across the car.  "I'm glad I went."

"We need to do more." 

Russell nodded.  "You were jealous."

"So were you."  This argument was becoming washed out, like too much water in his paint.

"We weren't talking about me."  Russell got the car.

He took a breath and caught sight of Lauren's profile in the car window, the reflection from the sun lighting up her hair, illuminating her skin. Yeah, he was jealous, jealous that his art wasn't worthy to hang in Dr. Dalton's office, and jealous that Lauren fit in there. 

He needed to get himself together. 

Chapter Thirteen

Russell rifled through his closet and shook his head.  Something was off, and it couldn't be his count.  However, somehow, on a Tuesday night, he didn't have a clean shirt or a clean suit for the next day.   "This is impossible."  The dry cleaner came Friday to pick up their items and returned them Tuesday, therefore, at this moment, he should be the proud owner of clean work clothes.  Come to think of it, he also didn't have any casual clothes except for what he currently wore, and this t-shirt was Jason's.

He slid some clothes across the pole.  Thus far besides a pair of leather pants he picked up along the way and never wore, there were also two pairs of Jason's jeans, one of Lauren's work suits, and a cocktail dress.  He lifted the dress and put it back.  "How did this get in here?"  This one was black and beaded and still had the tags. 

He chose to gloss over the pile of shoes at the bottom of the closet. The only shoes of his he could find were the ones he wore to work today and those were in the front hall.

"Lauren must have everything."  He scratched his head, went over to his dresser and opened the top drawer.  Plenty of underwear was thrown in there.  Thrown in?  He spun toward the drawer.  Gone was his neat pile of underwear separated into boxer briefs, boxers and miscellaneous.  Instead, there were his variety, the same brand he'd been wearing since high school, and Jason's various brands mixed in.  As a bonus there were at least two pairs of Lauren's intermingled.  One was lace, red lace.  He remembered those and smiled.

Curiosity alone made him open the second drawer.   This drawer should have exactly five piles of socks inside.

Instead of the three stacks of white socks and two stacks of black socks, he was met with a sock salad.  All different socks were tossed together, including some pink fuzzy ones, and as a garnish, three of Lauren's bras.  "Okay."

He backed away, glancing around the bedroom, taking in the unmade bed, the pile of towels in the corner, and a knit cap on Mr. Robot.  The moment his back hit the doorjamb he spun around and ran toward the kitchen.  "Lauren!"

"Laurie!"  Jason came charging in from the other entrance.

"Where is she?"  Russell raised his arms.  The last time he saw her she said she was going into the kitchen with her laptop under her arm.  They couldn't have misplaced her as well.

Jason shrugged his shoulders.  "I need to talk to her."

"I get her first." Her laptop was on the table, but she wasn't there.

"That was last night."  Jason crossed his arms. 

"Lauren!"  Russell yelled again.  They had to resolve some things right now, or more importantly, he needed to know something, anything.  Everything was off kilter.

"Hold on!"  Her voice came out strained from the laundry room.

They both looked at each other and ran forward, bumping into one another in their quest to see who could reach her faster.  They collided at the doorway, and Jason slipped inside the small room. 
             

"What's wrong?" 

At Jason's question Russell squeezed in.  Lauren was on her knees, and the contents of her purse were strewn across the floor.  "What's wrong?"

She huffed and looked up at them, spreading her arms out over the mess.  "I can't find my nude pump, my black pants, my flash drive and my pills."

"I don't think your shoe is in there."  Jason got down with her.

She narrowed her eyes at him.  "Why are you here?"

"I'm missing my favorite pen, my red t-shirt and my grey button down.  I'm not sure where my underwear is, and I can't find my knit cap."  Jason picked up her makeup bag and unzipped it.  "Did the laundry guy skip us or something?"

"Did he?  Maybe he stole our clothes."  Lauren's eyes widened.  "I swear I have nothing to wear."

Russell noticed a trend and joined them. "I think your pump is in my closet, I now own everyone's underwear, and the knit cap is on Mr. Robot." He took Lauren's bag from Jason and dug through it. 

"There's your shirt."  Lauren lifted her chin toward him.  "I guess Russell needed it."

Jason turned to him.  "Cool."

"Here's your pen."  Russell pulled a lip liner and Jason's pen out of Lauren's bag.  "And here's the flash drive."  He handed each of them their respective possessions.

Lauren took her flash drive and kissed it.  "I am also missing my black slip."

Jason took his pen and held it up like a torch.  "I am the current owner of the black slip.  I put it on the bed, I thought we could use it again in a bit."  Then he held the pen out like a sword.  "What did you need Laurie for?" 

"Since I have most everyone else's things, does anyone know where my things are?"  He pushed Jason's hand away. 

Lauren raised her hand.  "I have a pair of your striped boxers, one of your white shirts and four ties."

"Ties."  Jason nodded.  "That was awesome."  He leaned forward and began herding Lauren's items into a pile.  "Let's go play tie again.  I have a belt I can contribute, at least I know where that is."  He held up his shirt to show them.

Russell turned up to the ceiling.  While those ties weren't four of his best, the game was indeed awesome.  He supposed he could wear the same suit he did today, and if Jason found his grey button down he could borrow it.  Now come to think of it, the mess, the lack of knowledge, the total loss of control came in a distant second, third and fourth to playing tie.  "We'll find the rest tomorrow."

Jason began scooping Lauren's paraphernalia into her bag.  "Sweet.  If we need to take a bath after I hid a towel away, we'll have to share."

He swallowed down any reaction to the towel comment, or the fact that a pile of towels was festering in the corner of his room, probably getting moldy.  It was okay, they were going to play tie.  He held out his hand to Lauren.  "Shall we?"  No, he wasn't thinking about the moldy towels and missing clothing.

Without answering, Lauren dumped her purse out again.

He bit the side of his mouth.  Maybe they were a bit too overzealous for her.   This could be her way of telling them they needed to breathe, and she was right.  They had things to discuss.  The party was coming up.  They hadn't even addressed that yet.  Jason called him on it, and now was time to face it. "Are you tired?" 

"Do you have your period?"  Jason put his hand on her arm. 

Lauren looked up, her mouth open and cheeks red.

Russell would have stopped him, but he wanted to know the answer. 

"It's no big deal, we can put down our one towel." Jason elbowed him.  "You're cool with it, right?"

He matched Lauren's open mouth.  There was no good response to that question.  In the last few days he had to become cool with a lot of things.  Every day he was pushed a bit more.  They all were.  Eventually they would go over the edge.

Lauren took a breath.  "I don't have my period."

Jason gave her a thumb up.

"I can't find my pills."  She stared at Jason.

"Do you have a headache?"  Jason leaned over and put his hand on her cheek.  "I have a sure fire cure."  He chuckled.

She shifted her focus.  "Russell, I can't find my pills."

Russell pursed his lips absorbing what she said.  Since they had three medicine cabinets full of pills, he assumed this was something unique to her, to females, for female things.  "How long has this been going on?" He cleared his throat.  Talk about being pushed.  This was no time to panic.  They used condoms. 

"You're not taking your pills!"  Jason lunged forward and took her by the shoulders. 

"Jason!"  She pushed on his chest.

"It's okay."  He nodded.  "It's okay.  There's three of us, we'll make it work."  He hung his head down. 

It was a moot point to tell Jason they used condoms.  At least the man was going to take responsibility. 

His stomach spiraled, making him more nauseated than the image of moldy damp towels on the carpet.  How would they explain that pregnancy to their friends and family?  He took a breath wishing he had Jason's attitude, but wondering how they would determine who was the father and who was the special uncle?  Suddenly it was too warm in there, and he took his time exhaling.  They used condoms. 

She thrust Jason away from her and got up.  "We use condoms!"

Jason blinked, wrinkled his nose and frowned.  "Then why are you taking a pill?"

"Back up."  She tapped her foot.  "Double protection."

The chaos had to be getting to all of them.  Russell tilted his neck from side to side.  They weren't having babies they were only having a set back.  But wait, what were they having a set back from?  He couldn’t define what they were.  No one could, and there had to be a reason. 

Consequences, repercussions and outcomes of their actions hit him head on, or more like slapped him across the face.  With the need to act taking over him, he jumped up and wiped his forehead.  Somehow, for the first time in his life, he didn't think about the final product of his actions, he kept pushing them into corners like the clothes and the towels, and now they seemed to bowl over him at once.

"Russell?"  Lauren went to him.

"We need to find your pills.  How long has it been?"  He had to get some order around him. 

"Since yesterday, I just don't want to be off schedule.  Everything feels all over the place."

"Yeah."  Without even thinking he held his arms out.  She gave him a hug and put her head in his chest. 

He rested his chin on the top of her head and held her tighter.  For years he waited for what he had now.  Though he never pictured Jason as part of the deal, now he couldn't imagine them without him.  He glanced over at his best friend, not sure if he liked the way he wanted Jason to join them.

As if acting on some unknown force between them, Jason pushed himself up and hugged Lauren from behind.

"Russell?"  Lauren's voice vibrated through him.

"Yes."  He ran his fingers through her hair.

"I am a mess and the house is a mess and I think the laundry guy stole our clothes."  She tilted her face up to him.

"I don't think the laundry guy stole our clothes, I don't think we gave him any."  He needed to let the laundry guy off the hook.  The three of them made the mess.  He made the mess by allowing this.  They looked to him for guidance and he failed.

"When I get home I just want to…" She cut herself off by putting her face back in his shirt, well actually Jason's shirt, but it was on him.

He wondered if her end of the sentence was the same as his.  When he got home he just wanted to be with her…with them.  "What do you want?"

She shrugged her shoulders.  "I think I've been a little distracted with all that's happened."

"I'm distracted all day, all I do is wait for the two of you to get home."  Jason shook his head.

"Aww."  She pulled Jason over and the three of them stood in a small circle. "What do you want?"

Now was his chance.  He could point out the error in their programming.  Ask them the tough questions.  Demand to know what they would do out in public.

"What do you want?"  Lauren touched his lips.  "Except your clothes?"

He studied her face, Jason thought she looked like a classical painting, but he didn't have those words to describe her.  She was beautiful.  Anything anyone could want, and they both wanted her.   They both wanted her and they were best friends.  Here, in their home, this was how it needed to be.  Once again he had to brush aside what was bound to happen.  Ignore the moldy towels.  "I want us to figure out what bedroom we're going to be in so we can get some order in the house."

"Let's pick Laurie's room, she has a four poster bed.  All the better to tie ties with." Jason slung his arms around the two of them.

"My room is a shambles."  She pursed out her lower lip.  "I sort of spread my stuff all over.  Well, actually into Russell's room."

"That's where I've been putting my stuff as well, it was easier."  Jason grinned.

"Well that would explain why I'm wearing mostly your clothes."  Russell noticed his room had become a prime accumulation spot. At night after everyone was asleep it was awesome to have everyone there.  All three of them.  What on Earth were they doing?

"He has a better closet."  Lauren leaned into him.

"I think we've been so busy doing other things that we sort of forgot we need clean clothes…" Jason glanced behind him toward the kitchen. "…and clean dishes."

"And a computer that works."  Lauren gave him a toothy smile.  "When we weren't dating we were much neater and got a lot more work done."

Well, he got his answer, at least in Lauren land. They were dating.  In Lauren land that meant being together, going out.  It was one exit short of a commitment.  How would they ever accomplish that?  "Let's get organized."