Hubster here again
Let’s pick up where we left off. We have the movie on and its eye opening. Marcelo and I have watched this kind of stuff before, no big deal. But our sweet bella, probably not and especially with guys. If she had, it was for research for her erotica and she mostly read books, not watched porn. Okay fair enough. As we watched, the film got more and more “interesting”. It was your typical threesome movie. Two guys one girl. Lots of moaning, lots of fucking. That’s not what Marcelo and I had in mind when developing this relationship. What we wanted was what you call a means to the end. We wanted our bella to be comfortable with two men, two men that loved her and wouldn’t be jealous of each other. We wanted her to be comfortable with one of the men that was not her husband to love her, to touch her and be intimate with her. This movie was just a starting point. As it played on, I noticed Marcelo getting closer to her. I noticed him trying to hold her. Once he had his arms wrapped around her and she didn’t move but focused on the movie. I knew then that this was our only chance. I was saying in my mind to Marcelo not to screw this up. Marcelo whispered in her ear. To this day I don’t know what he said to her, but she relaxed a bit. I didn’t dare move. I was going to let him take control of the situation (a rare moment on my part). Whatever his goal was, I was on board with it. As the movie played on, I would glance over at the two and noticed she was getting more comfortable with him. Relaxing in his embrace, and him kissing her. I sat in a chair that was to the side of the couch that they were on. I never approached him, again I was going to let him handle this his way. And it seemed whatever approach he was using was working—she was relaxing and allowing him to be somewhat intimate with her. I then heard what was music to my ears. He asked her if she wanted to go upstairs and finish what they were doing. She said yes. I on purpose looked over at them and smiled. Then nodded and winked to bella, letting her know I was okay with it. She looked a little shaky, but she did go upstairs with him. After about thirty minutes I went upstairs, they were still into it, so I sat in a near by chair and waited until they finished. When they did, and bella composed herself, she looked at me in shock. Marcelo excused himself and bella and I had a talk. “How long were you here?” “Long enough to see that Marcelo makes you very happy.” “I couldn’t help it.” “Why should you?” “But…” I kissed her on the lips to shut her help. She was about to go into a guilt trip again. “Stephanie. Marcelo making love to you and you enjoying it gives me more pleasure than me making love to you myself. I am sharing a gift that I love dearly with someone else that I love dearly. Do you honestly think that you and I can go on being married and him being left out of our lives in an intimate way?” She sat there a good while. “I suppose.” “Besides, you could have said no.” “I was wondering when you would bring that up.” “Not to make you feel guilty. Just to let you know how natural it is.” “How long can this go on?” “As long as all three of us are together. It shouldn’t end. You’re married to Marcelo as if you’re married to me. You’ll treat him as you would treat me.” “And you?” “What about me?” “You can comfortably be around while we make love?” “At least you said make love and not sex. Yes, I can. If you want me to, I can go somewhere else. If not, I can be in the same room.” “You will watch!” “If you guys want me too.” “That turns you on?” “Only if you’re pleased by him. If not, no.” “And him?” “Same.” “So, I’ll be married to two men, one legally and one in my mind.” “Something like that. Bella, if it doesn’t bother me, it shouldn’t bother you.” “But you’ll get jealous eventually. Suppose I fall in love with Marcelo, like I am with you?” “I hope you do, then this sleeping together won’t be such a big deal. You won’t feel so guilty.” I looked at her, she was still trying to sort it out in her head. Trying to make it make sense as you say. So was so conventional. That’s one of the main things that attracted me to her in the first place. “How often?” “How often will you sleep with him? I don’t know, whenever you feel like it, like you do with me.” “This is confusing. You said you two never done this before?” “Nope.” “Yet, all of a sudden, you two are will to share one woman openly.” “I can’t explain it. How do explain things that seem so natural? Me loving Marcelo is natural. Me loving you is natural. You accepting Marcelo as a friend and allowing him to hang out with us, was the best day of my life. I love than man, and wanted you to love him too. And now I want you to love him in a different way. It’s just….natural. I’m not trying to dissect it….like you.” “Can I be alone for a bit?” “Of course. Marcelo and I will be downstairs if you need us.” I left and about fifteen minutes later Marcelo joined me. “So?” I asked. “She was hesitant at first even after getting her clothes off, but as you can see everything turned out okay.” “More than okay.” “You were talking to her for a long time. She still has doubts.” “Yeah, but I think finally she realizes that one, I’m really more than okay with this, and now maybe she can give herself freely to you.” “Did you tell her it was like being married to another man, only the other married man is okay with it?” “Something like that. You know what? Maybe that would help.” “Bigamy is illegal last time I checked.” “Heard of a commitment ceremony?” Marcelo nodded. And we’ll leave it here. Bella will take over.
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Hello everyone. Hubster here. Going to pick up where my friend left off.
Marcelo and I decided to let the nights events go, not keep on her about it. She was already feeling funny about the whole situation, no matter how I tried to tell her it was okay. But even after a couple of days it was still on her mind. She came to me one night to talk about it. “I know you told me over and over that you didn’t mind Marcelo and I being close, even before we were married. But I just assumed that after we tied the knot, that would pass.” “Was that why you married me?” “No. But I just thought that maybe you’ll see things differently.” “Just the opposite, I think it’s even more important that you share the love with Marcelo. You know he adores you, always had.” “Can I ask you something?” “Sure.” “Have you done this before?” “I told you before, no. And before you ask why me, it just seems right. I can’t explain it. But it just seems that it was meant for the three of us to be together. Marcelo and I have always been sexually open. Not sure if that’s the Italian in us. But if something seems right, we pursue it.” “I’m not sure If I see it as right or wrong. I just know it’s not normal.” “Really now?” I was surprised by bella’s observation as you say. She was always carefree and didn’t care what anyone thought of her or what she did. This was sex, and it messes up a lot of people I’m afraid. “Tell me, do you think you can hug both me and Marcelo?” “Sure.” “Do you think you can kiss both of us?” “I suppose.” “Why did you stop that night. You know what I mean.” Bella’s face turned red. “I couldn’t continue.” “If you did, you would feel that you betrayed me because another man could turn you on, is that it?” “I guess so.” Now I knew how to approach this. She wanted Marcelo, she loved what happened that night. But, if she let her body confirm that, she felt she was a bad person. We had get her pass that, then the rest would fall into place as you say. I knew what to do next. The following days nothing else was said about that night, Bella didn’t bring it up again even when she was stuck writing her first menage book. Marcelo and I saw an opening. “Movie night,” Marcelo winked at me. “Should be interesting. Let’s just hope she wants to watch it with us, and not by herself.” “Good point.” One night, Marcelo was over for dinner. Stephanie went straight to the den after she was finished, to work on her book. We could tell she was frustrated. “Having a problem?” I asked. “Several.” “What?” “Point of view for one. It’s hard to keep up with two, now I have a third. Do I put each POV one per chapter, do I break it up in one chapter, what?” “Yeah, that could be a bit confusing.” “Then it’s the sex act itself. I have one more body and now extra body parts.” “Haven’t you read any of the books you bought?” “Yeah, but even then, sometimes it’s hard to keep up with the players, especially if it’s not written well.” “Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words,” Marcelo pipped in. “What?” “You bought those videos. Have you watched any yet?” “I was hoping I could do without that.” “Why don’t you pop one in the player, get a note pad and take notes.” She was thinking it over. She looked at us too. I could only imagine what was going through her mind. “I’ll watch one later this week.” “Watch one now, since you’re having issues now. While the problem is still fresh. You’re having problems with point of views, and body parts. Just focus on that in the movie,” I suggested. “I guess I better since they’re rented. I need to return them soon.” That was something in our favor. I went into the library and grabbed the first one I saw on her writing desk. “Here’s a good one.” Stephanie looked at it and turned up her nose. “What?” “The woman is the housekeeper to two dudes. That’s so cliché.” “Bella, I know you weren’t expecting Gone with the Wind.” “I know, but really.” She took the tape and headed upstairs, where we didn’t want her to go. “Bella, stay down here and watch it. We want to see it too,” Marcelo said. “Wouldn’t you rather see it by yourselves?” She asked. “No. Besides when have we ever been together and watched television separately?” “This isn’t a regular movie night.” “Think of it as so.” Besides you’ll be busy taking notes remember, not really concentrating on the movie like that.” She looked at the back of the tape, then looked at us. “Don’t make any juvenile comments.” “We promise. Anyway, we wouldn’t want to disturb your note taking.” “Put the tape in and I’ll pop us some microwave popcorn,” Marcelo left the room. I sat on the couch while bella put the tape in. I honestly didn’t know how this was going to turn out. You American’s call it winging it I believe. This could go some many directions, all wrong. But we were going to try it. I told Marcelo what she said to me about that night. He agreed, she needed just a little push. It wasn’t that she didn’t want it, she didn’t want to admit that she would like it. If she left the door open, just a slight crack even….. Until next time. Hello everyone! Mutual Friend here.
It’s been a good minute. Things have been happening both good and bad, but we are slowly getting back to normal—whatever normal is now a days, and I’m sure you understand. We are going to pick up where we left off as though nothing happened. As you remember, Stephanie was in my bed asleep. She was sleepy and I didn’t want her to drive home in that condition. I stayed up, did some work, watched some television, then got sleepy myself. But instead of going to another bedroom, I joined her in my bed. Bold? Yes. But I knew she wouldn’t protest—not much. I don’t know how long I was asleep before I felt eyes on me. I turned and saw her staring at me. “What’s the matter? Can’t sleep?” I asked her. “Not with you in the same bed. I’ll go in the other bedroom.” I reached over and took her by the arm and gently pulled her close to me. “Stay. And don’t give the excuse that Giuseppe won’t approve. He would more than approve, in fact he would encourage it.” “No married man would encourage his wife sleeping with another man, especially his best friend. “Only his best friend. He would and has.” I remember the look of surprise on her face. I had to repeat myself, clearer. “Your husband, my best friend has encouraged this little get together. His only regret is that he’s not here, to help move things along.” She really looked scared now. “Don’t be surprises, we’ve been through this before you two go married. Nothings has changed. Only a piece of paper that says you are legally man and wife. But you can be just as committed to another. Not our fault, states don’t recognize it. “Don’t be angry with him, don’t think of him any other way, but the man that loves you to death and would do anything for you. This is the only way he could get the point through to you. He’s tried talking to you, we both have, but you keep making excuses. This way you have to physically reject me.” “I don’t want to reject you in any way. But… “If you go into another room to sleep, that would be a rejection.” “That’s not fair. You’re telling me my husband wants me to be unfaithful, but just him knowing about it makes it okay.” “No. I’m telling you he wants us, all three of us to have an honest, open loving relationship. This menage that you’re writing, you can’t tell me that you’re not curious about that kind of relationship. And they do work.” “Not for myself.” “Why not? You don’t know until you try. Giuseppe is your love, you’re his. He loves me and I love him. Our friendship is tighter than what blood could do. His happiness is my happiness, and vice versa. Besides, he knows ho w you feel about me.” “And I know how you feel about me. Do you realize that there are people out there, doing things that make them happy and no one knows about, or needs to know about it? It’s just between them, the people they care to share their happiness with. “Whatever goes on in this relationships, is just between you Giuseppe and I. We make out own happiness, and the only way to be truly happy is to be honest.” “I can’t.” “But you want to. Are you willing to be married to the man you love, knowing that he encourages your love for his best friend, but not act on it, just so you can satisfy some unwritten moral code of what a relationship is?” I could tell that she was thinking it over. I also realized that this was a very hard decision to make. I couldn’t really expect her to sleep with me that night or any night in the near future just like that. Centuries of social standards, you know what I mean. And no disrespect, but America is a bit more uptight about things like this. I’ve studied American history a great deal, and there was a time you preached free love, but you never really went trough with it. The Victorian ways seemed to have smothered those ideas, if that’s the right way of putting it. But then America is full of hypocrites too. The same “people” that preach to be moral are doing things that are not only immoral, but down right disgusting. But I digress. What we were asking of Stephanie wasn’t disgusting or immoral. Just truthful, if that makes sense. “If I were to call him, and tell him about this, would he know what I was talking about?” Stephanie asked. “Of course. But would you want to wake him up at this hour?” “I don’t want to do anything unless I know he knew.” That gave me hope right there. If she knew for sure that he gave the green light, then maybe there was a chance. “Think about it bella. Would I betray the friend that I love by going behind his back?” “No.” “Besides, I’m not asking you to have sex with me. You’re the one that leaped to that. Just stay in bed with me. Let me hold, maybe kiss, and caress you.” “Things could get out of hand.” “If it does, it’s natural and right, and again Giuseppe would be more than pleased.” I reached over to her, she still looked scared, but I managed to get her lying next to me. I kissed her on top of her head. I hugged her, stroked her , whispered to her in Italian. After about ten minutes, she put her arms around me. She allowed me to kiss her some more. I then kissed her fully on the mouth, and she responded. I gently rolled her over and got on top of her. She didn’t fight me. She held me tighter and kissed me harder. After about another ten minutes, she I felt her shake, she pushed me off. She looked a little frightened. I understood why. “It’s okay. We can stop. Go to sleep.” I kissed her on the forehead, and we held each other. We slept the rest to the night like that. I didn’t go any further with her. But I knew that finally we made a breakthrough. The next morning, she was in a rush, she took a shower and quickly put on her clothes. It wasn’t even seven o’clock yet. “Honey. At least have some breakfast with me.” “I want to get home.” “I have a feeling that won’t be necessary. Let me fix breakfast.” As planned, Giuseppe arrived. When Stephanie let him, she looked so guilty. That disturbed me. “Did Marcelo take good care of you last night, bella?” Giuseppe kissed her and walked her back into the dining room. “I tried,” I said. “Yes, he tried.” Stephanie said. “Trying isn’t’ good enough,” Giuseppe said. “We did a little something, but I stopped it.” “Oh? Well at least you did a little something. I’m not going to ask what.” “Honey, it felt….” “Right. It should.” Giuseppe told her. “Giuseppe. Even though you approve I can’t have sex with another man.” “I’m not asking you to have sex with another man, I’m asking you to allow my best friend, someone who I care the world for to make love to you, and you to make love to him. If it’s the fact that I wasn’t here last night that made you uneasy, then I will stay one night.” Stephanie’s eyes nearly popped out of her head. “You mean you’ll be in the same room?” “If you wish.” At this point she put her head in her hands. She was really confused. I called Giuseppe into the kitchen. “She allowed me to do more than I cold imagine, but she cut me off short, if you know what I mean.” “I know. That’s something.” “That’s a lot. At this point her words are contradicting what she’s really feeling. Let’s not push it anymore for a few days. Let’s help her with her writing. I think next week, we’ll make more headway as they say.” Giuseppe agreed. He wasn’t in a rush. Our main focus was getting Stephanie to be more comfortable with the situation and allow herself to be loved by both of us. No guilt. No shame. That was harder than anything. Last night was hopeful. But I think seeing Giuseppe, her husband, brought it home for her, and she shut down as they say. Now it was up to Giuseppe. He needed to really show her that he was okay with this. But not just talk. There needed to be action. His P.O.V. next
This is the Hubster. I believe I am the only one that can introduce this part of the story. So my Bella wanted to write a Menage story…. Irnonia I did point out to Mutual Friend that this was a great opportunity, but we had to be careful and help steer her in the right direction. We did not want her to get information that was negative or false. And we didn’t want to pressure her into writing this book. But we did say we would help, like we do with all her writings, this was no different. When she told us what she was going to write, we asked her why. She told us that these books were getting popular and she wanted to get in on it. Her career was doing great, all her books were number one when they first came out on other sites. At this point it was hard for both Mutual Friend and I to control ourselves. The opportunity was there for us, but Stephanie made it perfectly clear she was not interested. At least that’s what her words were saying. Her body language was saying something else. Stephanie and I spent a lot a time alone like regular married couples, and did things together. When Mutual Friend was with us, it was like old times, but a little cozier. She didn’t have a problem having him hug her or kiss her. Sometimes they napped together. She ws getting comfortable with him. This was a good sign. It wasn’t an all clear as you would say. But hopeful. She started outlining her book weeks after she announced that she was going to write it. I asked her how she felt about the genre. I wanted to see if she had the same morals for the characters in these books as she did for herself. To my surprise she found a way to justify the books. One, they were fiction, so naturally everyone was “cool” with it. Two, the people weren’t married legally to one person or another (this would soon change in this genre). This did not help our situation. Mutual Friend pointed out that comparing the fiction work to our situation made things worse. We had to approach it from a different way. For those that don’t know Mutual Friend is a very forward person. He’s a bit aggressive when it comes to sex. He’s not the Alpha in this relationship – unless I’m out of town. But his love making is rough and he’s not subtle, if you understand my meaning. He suggested that we approach Stephanie on a physical level, but not us to her. She wants to do research for this genre, she’s going to have to read those kinds of books, and maybe, and we were really hoping for this…..watch videos! I thought it was a great idea. We can read and watch together. Bella is a very curious woman, this would get her wondering. Maybe. The biggest problem wasn’t getting her to read. It was getting her to watch the videos. We had to go find them. That was going to be another struggle. She was not going to the right stores. There were a bunch of stores on Sunset in Hollywood, Hustler was the main one. Asking Stephanie to go there was interesting conversation. Mutual Friend said he would take her there after work one day, since I stayed late sometimes. She said no way, she didn’t want to be seen in that area or that store. We reminded her, if people she knew saw her there, they were there too. She reminded us that they could be just driving by and happen to see her. First off, we told her no one is just driving thru Sunset without a purpose. They are either going to one of the many clubs, one being the Laugh Factory, which by the way was down the street from Hustler or going to one of these stores…or both. She said okay, what if someone saw her in the store. Mutual Friend and I just looked at each other. He told her if they see her in the store, they would have to be in the store too. She agreed to give it some thought, but she wasn’t making any time available for us to take her there soon. We mentioned the various adult bookstores. She threw up the same argument. However, she did throw us a how you say lifeline. She suggested that we go to the adult bookstore and pick up some material. Just Mutual friend and me. This wasn’t the same as having her with us, but we agreed to it. Maybe just maybe, it would warm her up. She told us what to look for in the books. We took the notes and one day after work either I or Mutual Friend went. She had a stack of books and magazines now. We had to go to Plan B. Reading the material with her. We told her that she was going to need a male perspective more that anything. You have two men with one woman. You need to get inside their heads. We sorted out a few magazines for us to read…together. Stephanie said she was uncomfortable about reading this with the both of us. She didn’t mind reading it with me. I told her what better way to get real reaction than to have Mutual Friend. We told her if we thought this was too fake, just for the sake of porn or actually someone that was in this relationship, we would tell her and explain why. We told her guys can tell better. She reluctantly agreed. We had our one victory, we had to make the most of it. One night was set aside for us to read. Stephanie had one magazine, Mutual Friend, and I each had one. We picked the stories, then swapped them. We told her which ones we though were more authentic. She asked why. This was our chance to put our own spin on these. We told her it was obvious that the two men really loved the woman. It wasn’t just sex, and remember, we were reading porn, so the sex was the main focus. But you had to read between the lines. And if you noticed the three people involved only stayed with each other. She was getting confused. Mutual Friend and I could tell. But it wasn’t about the stories in the magazines. The more we read, the quieter she got around us. She was thinking about the three of us. She was curious. In fact, a conversation she had alone with mutual friend told me where her head was. She asked him if he and I ever engaged in a threesome. He told her the truth. No, never even considered it. She was surprised. She was like: You mean to tell me even in Italy you never found a woman you both wanted to have sex with? Mutual Friend said that was a different question. What she should have asked was did we both find a woman that we were in love with and wanted to share unconditionally. Again the answer was no. He could tell she wanted to ask more questions, but those would concern her. She didn’t want to go there as they say, but we did. We know she wanted to ask why all of sudden with her, and why was I so willing to share my wife with him. But she kept quiet. Instead, Mutual Friend did something that wasn’t in the plan. One weekend Stephanie was spending the day with her girlfriends. Mutual Friend called her and told her to get something for him and bring it to his condo. No problem. After all the girlfriends were home, Stephanie drove to Mutual Friends to drop off what he wanted. Then she was coming back home. Mutual Friend had other ideas. When she got there, he had dinner ready. He told her that he wanted to show his appreciation, that I wouldn’t mind, and I had some work to catch up on. She agreed. She called me of course, and I said no problem. And if she was coming home late ring the bell first. So my wife and my best friend were having dinner together. They talked, watched some television. Stephanie was sleepy. Mutual friend wasn’t going to let her drive late at night. She could spend the night; he would call me to let me know. Of course, that was fine. He let her sleep in his bed, however, he stayed up a bit to do some work on the computer. He waited for her to go to sleep. When she did, he joined her. That evening was eye-opening for both of them and scary for one of them. Mutual Friends P.O.V. next post Okay guys, it’s me Stephanie. This is my P.O.V.
Let’s dive in. Mutual Friend and I are in Miami, sharing a room which the dear Hubster set up. We interviewed the person we wanted, and so did Giuseppe. Now Mutual Friend and I had a week free time. He wanted to see the sights, do some jet skiing, snorkeling, stuff like that. I wanted to shop. We compromised. We went to some aquarium and did some shopping. Once we got back to the hotel. We ordered dinner to our room. Then we watched some television …..in bed. We were just sitting up in bed watching the tube, fully clothed. It was innocent. It wasn’t until I got up to shower, that things got too cozy. I got out of the shower and Mutual Friend was right there with the towel in his hand. He handed it to me, not saying a word. I quickly wrapped myself up and walked out. Well I tried to, Mutual Friend grabbed me and pulled me close to him and just held me. He then said how he wished I would just accept the fact that we both love each other. He then tried to have a deep conversation with me. He asked why I was being too conventional. Why was I harboring so much guilt about being in love with him too, especially if Giuseppe had basically given his blessing. Was I mad at Giuseppe for not taking his marriage vows seriously? Those were all good questions. I just didn’t have the answers for them. I was really confused. I did tell Mutual Friend however that I was resentful at the fact that Giuseppe thought it was okay for me to be with him. I wasn’t into an open marriage. Mutual Friend reassured me that it was a one-way deal. Giuseppe wasn’t in love with any other woman. I was the only one for him. And he knew that he was the only for me. And apparently, he also knew that I was the only one for Mutual Friend and vice versa. I had trouble with this. Yes, I was raised in a very conservative African American family. For those that don’t know, there are certain rules you follow and certain rules you don’t break. And if you break them…you’re an outcast. This was ingrained in me and all the women in the family. When mom was eight months pregnant with me, my biological father was tragically taken away from her. In order not to be seen an unwed mother, even though she told everyone that she was a widow, she had to get married. In came my German stepdad. I am grateful and wouldn’t change a thing. He is my father as far as I’m concerned. I wouldn’t be the woman I am without him. The traveling, the entrepreneurial spirit etc. But imagine what my mom went through in making that arrangement. She needed a husband. He needed a Green Card. At that time, things were not as tight as far as marrying and keeping someone in the country. I guess I kinda saw my marriage now as unconventional too. When I explained this to Mutual Friend, I think he understood. But he also remined me that I’m my own person. Just because I have the same DNA doesn’t mean I’m a clone. He got me there. I really needed to think things over. However, Mutual Friend wasn’t letting me off that easy. He wanted to know once and for all, did I love him. Was I in love with him and did I want him? He wanted me to be honest. He mentioned that he already knew the answers but wanted to hear it from me. It was so hard, I cried. He hugged me tighter. He said he understood what was going on. He told me to just remember that he loved me, he wanted to be my lover, and that Giuseppe loved the both of us and wanted us to be happy. Remember that and everything would fall into place. He told me to let go of the guilt….starting tonight. Mutual Friend wanted sleep with me in the bed, instead of the sofa in the living area. He wanted to hold me, and he wanted me to hold him. If nothing else happened that night, fine. But at least be comfortable with being close with each other. I could do that. And I did. However, each night I sobbed quietly. Mutual Friend would wipe my tears and tell me it was okay. I was really struggling emotionally. It felt good when Mutual Friend hugged me. It felt nice at night being next to him. But he wasn’t my husband. I had a husband. We got back to California. It was awkward. For the first week back, I slept in the guess room. Giuseppe didn’t make a fuss. He allowed me the space, both physically and emotionally. Back at work it was busy, which was good. It allowed me to get my mind off things. It was always business at work, never talk about personally issue. However, back at home the tension was thick. After a week of not sleeping with Giuseppe, he finally broke down. He told me he already knew how I felt about Mutual Friend ad until I admitted it freely to the both of them….with no guilt, no shame, no apologies, there was always going to be this tensions between the three of us. Ironically, it could put a strain on our marriage. Me not wanting to sleep with another man would put a strain on our marriage. How crazy was this shit? I told them both I needed more time, to be patient with me. I told them they didn’t understand a woman’s heart. That stopped them in their tracks. It was then Giuseppe didn’t realize how selfish he was being. Mutual Friend too felt bad. They both admitted that they were hearing me talk, but weren’t listening to what I was saying. Giuseppe and Mutual friend both agreed not to push the issue. As long as they knew I was willing to give it time, think things over and understand my feelings. They didn’t give me a time schedule. It would work itself out. But one thing was not going to happen. Mutual Friend was not going to date another woman. He said it would be unfair knowing that his heart belonged to someone else. Why pretend? He would stay close. He would be to me everything Giuseppe was, but not a lover. That pressure was off at least. It was at this time my writing was taking off. It was something I always wanted to do and been doing. However, I didn’t enter the genre that I truly loved which was mystery, crime and espionage. I entered the popular thing that was going. Erotica/Romantica. And I was doing good. It was also the time I started reading menage stories. I found them interesting. Also, fanciful and idealistic. Could three people really love each other like that and not have issues. However, the stories had HEA, they were hot and that’s what people wanted. Hell, it was fiction! Could I write one? No. I felt I didn’t have the experience. I mean, look at my life at this time. I jumped every time Mutual Friend looked at me. How could I ever write a story like that? But it was a growing trend, and I wanted in on it. Besides, it meant more money and exposure. But I needed help. I needed to do research. The guys were all for me writing this genre and understood my dilemma. But, they backed off and let me figure it out for myself. At least I thought they were backing off…… Hello, it’s the Hubster
I can easily pick up from last time. This is the set up I had to do, to get Mutual Friend and Bella together. But first there were a lot of emotional hurdles to jump through as you say. I wasn’t sure if I messed things up or not. I was okay with what was going on, but my Bella wasn’t so. I had to rethink this out. I realized that she had a conventional thinking of marriage. I did too. Still do. But our situation was and is much different. I never expected Mutual Friend to fall for Stephanie like that. Mutual Friend loved women, ALL women. I thought Stephanie fit in ALL women for him. This was not so. When Mutual Friend first approached me about his feelings, I was not surprised however. It made sense. And it was eating at him too. I told him not to worry about it. But he would have to convince me that he was really in love with her as I was. As you read from our prior posts, I noticed how he treated her. Just like I treated her. There was no difference. He was sincere in all his feelings, and he wasn’t trying to take her away from me. In fact, just the opposite. He wanted me to marry her. Thought she would be good for me and vice versa. We were compatible. But Stephanie didn’t want to marry anyone. So it took time to warm her up to the idea as you say. Mutual Friend still had his feelings. It wasn’t until the honeymoon that I realized they were not going to away. And it was then I decided on a very unconventional way of solving the problem. Why not Stephanie be with both of us? After thinking over the years we all spent together it made sense. I didn’t see this as her cheating on me. In fact, I didn’t see it as anything at all, except a natural transition in our relationship. The more I thought about, the more I knew it would make me happy, if Mutual Friend was happy with the woman he loved. It just happened to be my wife. So when I took that business trip and left her with Mutual Friend, I had no concerns. I expected something to happen. If they would have called me and told me they wanted to sleep together, that was okay. I didn’t see it any other way but as two people I love, who loved each other be together. I know this sounds complicated. To me it’s not. What got complicated was Stephanie’s refusal to accept the fact that she loved Mutual Friend too. So I had to have a talk with him. Talking to her was getting nowhere. I asked Mutual Friend how did he approach her. He told me. That’s where he went wrong. “Confronting her about her feelings will make her dig her heels in deeper. You need to date her, just as I did. You need to sweet talk her, you need to do everything a husband does to the point where she can’t tell you from me.” Easier said than done. Now she’s more resistant than ever. So we have to start all over. What to do? Nothing. I was willing to ride it out for as long as it took. Mutual Friend didn’t want to, but I told him, if you want her, you have too. Make up your mind. He agreed…reluctantly. This was the easy part. The hard part was making Stephanie forget everything that happened those four days and what Mutual Friend said to her. Also what I said to her. I took her to dinner. I let her know that Mutual Friend would not approach her…unless she initiated it. He would respect our marriage, but still wanted to remain friends. She was hesitant, saying that you can’t kill feelings and how about me being okay with him wanted to be intimate me. I explained again how I felt, but told her that if she was uncomfortable, then I won’t push the issue. But I was all right with it. I knew the person she was sleeping with and I know how that person felt about her. I also know how she felt about him. And so for the next four months or so, Stephanie and I lived as a nice married couple….with Mutual Friend hanging out with us every now and then. Not so much that it was noticeable, but enough that he was still part of our friendship threesome. Now to take that and make it more. We headed to San Francisco, Stephanie’s favorite place next to New York. It was just the two of us. I needed to talk to her, but not make it seem I was pushing Mutual Friend on her. I asked her if she preferred the way things were now. With Mutual Friend only coming around once a week. We all saw each other at work, but are always busy. She said it was fine, but he used to come around a lot more and she didn’t mind. I told her he was giving us space. She wondered if he would soon disappear out of our lives. She didn’t want that, she still valued his friendship and loved him. Interesting I thought. I told her that was fine, but so you want him to come over every day and just sit there and watch us in a loving relationship, without him. That hurts. He’s staying away just enough. She said he was always welcomed, and he wouldn’t be a pest. “Is it because you love him too, and you want to see him every day? That you can’t stand him being away to long, like a lover?” She didn’t answer. I had my answer. “You need to tell him.” I told her. She said her feelings would pass. Now if his feeling wouldn’t pass, how was hers different. This is where women confuse the hell out of me. I don’t have to tell you this didn’t set-up last long. So I had another plan. I went to Mutual Friend and handed the problem to him. I told him to handle it as he sees fits, because my plan wasn’t working. But let her know that I approve of everything. I don’t want her thinking that anyone was going behind anyone’s back. There was a perfect time for this plan. I needed to send Mutual Friend and Stephanie out of town for a headhunting assignment. We needed a new graphic designer. There was one in Miami. I told them to take one week for interviewing and one week for hanging out having a good time. There were a lot of shops in Miami, I was sure Stephanie would find something to do. They left and arrived later in the evening. I got them one room, one bed. Mutual Friend said he would take care of it on his end. They went to dinner to avoid any jetlag. They did some sightseeing. Once back at the hotel, Stephanie showered got into bed and fell fast asleep. Mutual Friend called me to let me know what was going on. I told him if he didn’t know how to proceed next I couldn’t help him. He was cautious that night. He slept beside her and that was it. They woke up the next morning and had breakfast in their room. Stephanie didn’t mention anything about the night before. They just talked about the interviewee and his credentials Mutual Friend would try again another night. Of course, Stephanie called me and told me how much she wished I was there and I would love this certain store and this and that. I asked her if the room was oaky, it was the only one I could get on short notice. She said it was fine and Mutual Friend was the perfect gentleman. I didn’t want to hear that. I didn’t want him to be a perfect gentleman at this point. The next few days was business. They interviewed the graphic designer and I then interviewed him over the phone. This was before Zoom. LOL My wife and best friend now had free time to enjoy themselves in Miami. And hopefully enjoy each other….if Mutual Friend played his cards right. But nothing was going to happening unless Stephanie admitted that she was attracted to Mutual Friend and was in love with him. Not just loved him. That is next week’s story.... Okay gang, let’s continue….
So, the now Hubster was okay with Mutual Friend being all touch feely with me. I wasn’t that accepting. I understand that he was still our best friend. I knew how he felt about me as a friend. I knew how he felt about Giuseppe. But when it crossed the platonic line, then all bets were off. Apparently not for Mutual Friend…or Giuseppe. So I decided to do something about it on my end. I would avoid being alone with Mutual Friend. This wasn’t too hard now since I was married. I’m spending more time with my husband. I’m still in the honeymoon phase. So I made sure that either the Hubster or another friend was with me when I was with Mutual friend. I figure he wouldn’t notice anyway, since we always had other friends hanging with us from time to time. My plan was working pretty well for about four months, until Giuseppe had to go out of town on business. I and Mutual Friend had to stay and watch the store so to speak. So now, I really had to rely on friends and family to be around. At work was easy, there were the other employees. But at night, when I was at home, that’s when it got tricky. Mutual Friend made it a point to make sure I was safe. After all, I was alone in a big house, and people can tell when someone is out of town. He would see me home, stay for a while and leave late at night, so the neighbors wouldn’t see him leaving, thinking there was still someone with me. That was cool. It what was happening in the house that the neighbors couldn’t see that was disturbing. On the surface, things seemed cool. He would cook dinner; he loves to cook. We watched television and talked about the workday and what we had to do the next morning. Then when it was time for him to leave, things got a little too cozy. He wouldn’t leave until I took my shower and got dressed for bed. Then he would kiss me goodnight. Not a kiss on the cheek or forehead either. Each time I told him that I was capable of seeing myself to bed and a goodnight kiss wasn’t necessary. That didn’t deter him. The Hubster was out of town for two looooonnng weeks. I talked to him every night. And I told him how Mutual Friend was behaving. Again, the Hubster chuckled it off. He kept telling me that Mutual Friend loved me as if I were his too. Humor him. Let him kiss me, kiss him back. That’s all he wanted. Let him know that you still loved him….as a friend and that nothing changed between the three of us. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Even though this was a good friend of ours, and a very good close friend to the Hubster, almost a blood brother, this was not acceptable. At least not to me. So one night, Mutual Friend went through the same routine. When it came time for me to go to bed, he kissed me on the lips. But this time it seemed different. Instead of taking me by the shoulders and kissing me, he sat on the edge of the bed and made me sit next to him. He wanted to have a talk. He told me no matter how I try to push him away, his feelings for me were not going to change. He could stop kissing me, but that wouldn’t change the feelings. They would still be there. He was not apologizing for how he felt, and since Giuseppe already knew how he felt it wasn’t like he was hiding anything. So why not let him kiss me good night, get it over with and that would be that. Long story short, I fell for it. I let him kiss me…why!?! Before I knew it, I was on my back, and he was not letting up. (Side note: Mutual Friend is an aggressive lover, yet he’s a Beta, where as The Hubster is gentle and he’s an Alpha. Go figure) Strange thing was, I liked it. I also liked it when Mutual Friend would hug me and hold me. We never really dated, but we did hang together for a bit, but even he said he wasn’t the right man for me on a permanent basis, at least that’s what he said then. Now, things seemed to have changed. I allowed Mutual Friend his affections. He seemed happier and it never went beyond the kisses goodnight. It went on for the last four days. After the fourth day, I actually missed them, but then The Hubster was back in town. He thanked Mutual Friend for watching me, keeping me safe. It was business as usual. Sort of. I had to talk to Giuseppe. I told him what happened those last four days. I was shocked by his response. He smirked and said. “At least I know my friend can take care of things while I’m out.” I told him, that’s not how marriage works. He said, who’s talking marriage? I’m talking about a good friend who we both love taking care of the woman I love. By the way, he enjoyed the time alone together[SW1] , especially when you enjoyed his affection. I had to remind him that I married him. “Technically yes,” he said. But you also married Mutual Friend. He then sat me down and told me this: I wanted to marry you from the first day I saw you. You weren’t having it, but I grew on you. You meet Mutual Friend and he fell for you. Okay, he’s the friend and family I choose, who is closer to me than my actual brothers. Did I see this coming? No. Have we ever been in love with the same woman? No. But I’m not surprised that it happened. The person that is having the problem is you. I’m not mad at you, I understand. You see marriage as between two people. Sometimes you marry into a whole family and their friends. Sometimes that’s good, sometimes that’s bad. Mutual Friend is that friend that you are also married too. His feelings are not going to change, and I don’t expect them to, that’s why I never say anything to him. But you could make things a bit easier by letting him show affection towards you. It’s not like he’s taking you to bed. I was numb at this point. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I countered back thou, hoping to knock some sense into him. I asked him, “Is it because you know who the other man is (not a stranger) that he doesn’t feel threatened and it’s okay? His next answer shocked me. He said, no. If it were another man that was coming on to you, I would kill him, and my feelings towards you would change considerably. But I know you, look at you getting crazy about a man that loves you and you love too. This is totally different. By the way, did I mention that you …love ….him…too? Or did you forget that part? Okay, so now he was being smart, so that question didn’t shake him, so I asked another that I just knew would get him crazy. “Suppose Mutual Friend and I slept together while you were out of town?” Again his answer shook me. “I would hope that you told me first.” “Then you stop us?” “No, I would rather know, and let you know that it was okay.” “Why did we get married? We could have all stayed friends and slept together, if that’s what you wanted.” I yelled. At his time I was mad, confused, and frustrated with his cavalier attitude. Then he said: “We got married because I wanted something more than friendship. You said it right there, why not we all remained just friends. I don’t want to be just friends with you. And since you married me, I would like to think the feeling was mutual. But you’re not getting it. Mutual Friend is a part of this too. Maybe not like a real husband, but he’s just as committed, and loves you just as much. When you finally get that through your head, you won’t be so torn as they say about the situation. Now, I’m going to go talk with Mutual Friend, you get a list of things that need to be tended to at work. He walked out of the room, and I stood there horrified. I ran to him and asked him what he needed to talk to Mutual Friend about that he can’t say in front of me, since we’re all such great pals. He told me “there are some things that I don’t need to be privy too (I’m surprised he knew the word). Just like there are things that you and I talk about that he doesn’t need to know. But let me ask you something.” “What?” “When he was kissing you and hugging you. Did you enjoy it? Be honest.” The fact was…. I did. I like how Mutual Friend feels. I like how he kisses me and says things in my ear in Italian. I like the roughness he shows sometimes. But I shouldn’t like any of it and I told Giuseppe so. He said that’s too bad. Things would go a lot a smoother if I didn’t have the guilt. SIGH. At this point, I didn’t know were our marriage was going…if it was a marriage. I kept playing over and over in my head the things he said, trying to make sense of it all. I was brought up that you only married one person. It seemed that I married two, and I was the only one having an issue with it. The next year of our marriage would big the big test. And that’s coming up in the next post Hello Peeps!
Let me pick up were Mutual Friend left off. We were resting in New York, at a hotel. The Hubster and I were tired from our fun wacky around the world trip. Yeah, we did the most, and some of it could have gotten us arrested. But we didn’t care. It was exciting and dangerous. Mutual Friend was tired too, but a different kind of tired. The hubster was in our room sleeping. I was with Mutual Friend in his room talking about the trip and talking about the future of the business. Things were slowing down, and we had to find new clients. He was drifting off to sleep, probably bored of the conversation. But then he said something that made me feel some kind of way. He asked me if I would join him. At first, I didn’t think I heard him right. Then he asked again, just to lay next to him while he drifted off. I was speechless. Then I shrugged it off thinking he was only tired and just talking. I told him playfully that I would have to ask my husband, but I think he might have an issue with it. Then he said something that I couldn’t ignore. He told me Giuseppe wouldn’t mind at all. I told him I would take issue with that, but never mind. You’re tired. I kept telling Mutual Friend that he was tired and needed to rest. And to stop the crazy talk. After I tucked him some more, he fell asleep. I left the room and returned back to mine. Giuseppe was still sawing wood. I didn’t get any sleep that night. The next morning, I remembered the guys wanted a huge breakfast and was deciding whether to go out or have room service. They compromised, and had food delivered from a local diner. It was quite at the table as we ate. I wondered if Mutual Friend even remembered asking me to sleep with him last night. But the whole question was bugging the hell out of me. When Mutual Friend left to go downstairs to get some magazines from the gift shop, I told Giuseppe everything. At first, he was quiet, which at times is not a good thing. Then he looked at me and smiled and asked, “Why are you so surprised?” I was taken back to say the least. I told him that was fine….sort of, when I was single and we were just dating, but now we’re married. I’m off limits!” He shook his head, and say not really, not in his mind. Nothing has changed, especially his feelings and I am not going to get mad at him or confront him for his feelings. My question is to you, would you even consider? I told him of course not. He asked why. I reminded him of the sanctity of marriage. He just brushed that off, saying “that’s fine if there were only two people involved, but when you married me you also married Mutual Friend. Maybe he did overstep him himself as you say. I’ll talk with him.” Well thanks, I appreciate it. (dripping sarcasm). As soon as Mutual Friend walked back into the room. Giuseppe’s like, “I need to talk to you, man.” He told him everything I said right there while I was still in the room. He didn’t even wait to take him aside. REALLY? Then Mutual friend said something that made sense in a twisted sort of way. He said he took those vows seriously too, but as a friend to both of us. Maybe he did get carried away. Was he apologizing? No. He felt what he felt. And that was okay with Giuseppe. I was still a bit miffed. We finally came back home. We went back to work quickly. They had two commercials to do, both overseas clients, but we didn’t have to go overseas to complete. Thank goodness, because we weren’t feeling it. Weeks went by without anything major. Giuseppe and I were making a home at his house. There were a lot of things I had to do for my condo. Mutual friend said he would take care of that for me. He helped me get out of my lease. He had all my furniture moved either into Giuseppe’s house or, the stuff I didn’t want, put into storage. I was more than grateful. So Giuseppe and I were enjoying being a new married couple. I felt kinda strange thou, since I never wanted to get married in the first place. Not what you think. If I had to marry someone it would be Giuseppe. I just never wanted to be a “wife” to any man. I always felt you loose part of yourself. You’re just a Mrs. now and not you. You’re tied to him. And you have to answer to someone. I was always a free spirit. It hurts my soul when I have to answer to anyone, when I’m not my own person. However, Giuseppe never made me feel like a Stepford Wife. It was as though we were still just best friends. And I appreciated that. Mutual Friend on the other hand was moping a bit. He would put on a brave face when we called him on it. He swore up and down nothing was wrong. I told Giuseppe he needed to talk to his best friend again. So one day the two of them went out to dinner. I stayed home. This was between the two of them. I didn’t need to be there. Giuseppe knew his friend better than I did. They grew up together. They had that between them, something I didn’t, no matter how long I knew him. Giuseppe came home late that evening, so we talked about the evening the next morning at breakfast. What Giuseppe told be was a bit shocking, but not surprising. Mutual friend was not going to stop having feelings for me. So, I might as well get use to that. He will however, not come one to me, make suggestions, or anything out of place….. ….not without Giuseppe’s permission. I’m like, “what the hell is that suppose to mean?” He said it’s supposed to mean, if Mutual Friend wanted to be flirty with me, he had to get permission from him. Well how about your little bride? He said humor him. If it will make him happy for the day, that I kiss him on the cheek or let him hug me every now and then, then allow it. Besides, I know Italians. They are very touchy feely anyway. They love to kiss and hug everybody. This is really no different if I stop and think about it. I was going to let hat go…for the time being. Now what was concerning me was why Giuseppe was so tolerant of anther man being touchy feely with his wife, even if it was his best friend. That’s in the next part…… It’s Mutual Friend. This is my P.O.V. of the next events
The loves of my life got married, Giuseppe and Bella to each other. I was sincerely happy for the both of them. I bought them tickets for a World cruise, and even though they had both traveled, especially Stephanie, it would be nice for them to relax on a ship and be waited on hand and foot. It was a cruise that lasted nearly four months. In the meantime, I was to take care of the business. This was no problem. All the open accounts were now completed and closed and any new business I would be handling. The day of their departure was tearful but happy tears. I gave them a list of things I wanted them to get at each country if they could. The ship left and I waved Bon Voyage to them. Two days later I received a call from Stephanie. The craziness had started. Apparently, it was a nice hot day. She doesn’t like heat, but that wasn’t what she was calling about. You see, I got them a private room, which meant they had a private balcony off their stateroom. But it wasn’t that private. Giuseppe decided it was the perfect place to naked sunbathe. As Stephanie was talking to me on the phone, she was also hollering at Giuseppe to either get inside the room or put on clothes. He was telling her that no one could see him. She was telling him that from up above someone could look down and see him. He said the way the balconies are that would be impossible. All I could do was laugh, because I had this picture in my head, that Giuseppe was standing there naked on the balcony arguing with Stephanie. Anyway, I told her to let him be and I doubted very seriously if someone could see him. I told her to enjoy herself and that I missed her already. She said she missed me too and wished I was there, that we would all have a really good time. I told her no, it wasn’t that kind of trip, this was their honeymoon. Just them alone. Now I know you’re asking me; how did I feel? I did I manage without them? It was hard, really hard. I thought about them every waking moment. I thought about the good times they were having—without me. But somehow, they still manage to include me. You know it’s a lot to call ship to shore. But they managed three times a week. They’re first stop was Paris. Stephanie has been there many times, has family all over France. But this was the first time she was there as a married woman, and married to my best friend. She called. I was surprised, but not, if you know what I mean. She and Giuseppe where in their room, telling me how bored they were and needed to liven things up. I was getting worried now. I figured this might happen. First of all, Stephanie being the world traveler and never having a schedule to[SW1] stick to and being carefree; the ship was restrictive. She’s been on all seven continents by now, lived overseas as a child and an adult, so seeing these places again, probably wasn’t that big a deal. Even on this luxury liner. You see, these trips are all mapped out for you. They say you have your own free time, but you really don’t. They went to the usual tourist traps of course and did the usual tourist type stuff in each country. But when you’ve bungeed jumped in the Outback with a Koala in your arms, everything else seems dull, lame as they say. So guess what? Stephanie and Giuseppe decided to cause mischief aboard the boat. Now I was concerned for several reasons. One, if they get kicked off, that was half my money gone. And two, I might have to fly overseas to get them out of jail or something. I had no idea what they were going to do. When I talked to Giuseppe the second week of their trip, I straight told him. “Why don’t you just fuck her every night, like ordinary people do during the honeymoon.” He laughed, and said she was probably bored by now, that maybe if I were there I could pick up the slack. I told him nothing would give me more pleasure, but this was their honeymoon. I wasn’t married to her. “Minor technicality,” Giuseppe said. Anyway, he assured me that he and Stephanie wouldn’t get into trouble, they just needed to get this ship more energized. They realized it was a luxury liner, but some of the people were too snooty. I heard Stephanie in the background saying not all off them. Some where like the Beverly Hill Billies. Just got some money and no class, but trying to perpetrate. Now who was being snobbish? LOL They arrived in Italy the third week I believe. But the nice part. They went to Milan, Rome, Florence, Venice. They had a two day “do what you want”. They did. They took a train all the way to my home in the Southern rough part of Italy, found the most gangster part of my family, and brought him back and smuggled him on the ship. When I got the call at two in the morning, Stephani was on the line. “Hey honey.” She said it so sweetly I knew something was up. “What is it bella?” “We have someone here that wants to talk to you.” I waited. Then my brother gets on the line. I nearly dropped the phone, I love my brother don’t get me wrong. But he’s wanted in several parts of Italy, and has mob connections, Is he fun? Yes, he can show anyone a good time and you hate it when he leaves. But this was crazy. Now Bella and my best friend were getting themselves in trouble. “How did you get on the ship?” I asked. “Giuseppe and his beautiful wife hid me. Once the ship went under normal search to make sure everyone was one board, he came out and had dinner with them in their room. Anyway this was perfect because he needed to get of Italy and the ship’s, next port of call was…. Well, I don’t need to go any further. You get the drift. They were smuggling my brother out of the country via the QE2. Really!?! I prayed for them every nigh., When they reach Greece and called me and said they dropped off their “package”, I was angry, but relieved. I’ll admit however that I wished I was there. Not so much to tell them what they were doing was crazy, but to join in the fun. I was missing that. I was missing them. Nights were lonely. Yes, I was talking to them three times a week and living vicariously through them as you say. But it wasn’t the same as seeing them, touching them…holding them. I continued with the business. I got two new accounts. I did talk with Giuseppe and emailed him about the projects at its many stages. The newlyweds continued on their round the world trip. They were everywhere. How that ship managed those ports was amazing. Then they made it to the United States. It’s been weeks. But I was happy. I flew to New York to greet them. When I saw them, I embraced as if they came back from battle. We spent the day together. They brought back a lot of stuff which I took with me. They told me they were coming back to the states after Canada and South America, I forgot what order. But they did. Weeks later they were in San Francisco and going off to the pacific. Hawaii then Japan I believe. The entire trip lasted three months and three weeks Some of the places they went to I didn’t mention because it would take too much time, But here are the highlights as you say: In Finland, Stephanie managed to get a reindeer away from the herd and bring it back to the little motel they were staying for a day. She parked it at the entrance and people fed it. In Denmark, she and Giuseppe managed to smuggle illegal contraband on to the boat, (no I didn’t asks, the less I knew the better) and sell it to other passengers who couldn’t wait to get their hands on it. They made over $5000.00 SMDH In Ireland Stephanie found some McGraws (her actual family name). They partied at a bar…. and nearly destroyed it due to the drinking of her “family” members. But that was the norm I hear. In Scotland. They looked for Nessy. Well, you know how that went. In New York, they had some left over contraband and sold it on the black market of course. They made $7500.00. I scolded both of them of course, But they just smiled at me and told me to loosen up. The reality show I Was Arrested Aboard or whatever the name is, wasn’t out yet, but I’m sure they would have been on it, if they were caught. SIGH. Then the day came that they were coming home for good. They were back in New York, I waited for them. I was so happy, in spite of them being like children, I missed them terribly. We decided to stay in New York for a week, just so the two could rest and get their land legs back. One night I was talking with Stephanie alone. I told her how much I missed her. The nights I spent thinking about the two of them together made me happy and sad at the same time. She kissed me. Not on the mouth but she kissed me. She told me she missed me too, and she knows Giuseppe did. I told her I was only thinking about her at the moment. I asked her to do something that was totally out of line, but I’m an honest man, and I am honest with my friends. What I asked and what she said surprised both of us. Let’s jump into it.
I’m in Brandenburg. As many of you know, my stepdad is German. So I have a lot of step cousins in Germany. They welcomed me with open arms and wondered why I hadn’t visit them more frequently. I told them I was here in Europe for a good while, at least three weeks, and they could come with me as I galivant all over. I did call the guys when I landed. They didn’t question me; they didn’t try to talk me out of coming back home. They understood why I left. They just hoped I wouldn’t stay too long. My mom and dad where pretty shocked. Of course, they thought I left because I wanted to think about getting married…. period. They just figured I was nervous about getting married to Giuseppe. They didn’t realize that Mutual Friend came along with the package. My trip overseas wasn’t anything exciting. I’ve been to every continent by 1998, and lived in Italy, Israel in the 1990s, even while knowing the guys. I just needed space. Lots of space. So after my first week there, Giuseppe called. He asked how I was doing, and tried to make small talk. He mentioned everything except the elephant in the room. I finally did. I asked him what he really wanted from this relationship. He said for me to be his wife. Fine, and? Mutual friend loves you. We can’t get around that. Giuseppe said he wasn’t jealous or feeling some kind of way. That it was fine with him, and he wasn’t taking back what he suggested. If Mutual friend wanted to be with me, then it was okay with him. But it wasn’t okay with me I told him. I told him I’m not into open marriages. He said he wasn’t either and this wasn’t an open marriage. Being with Mutual Friend wasn’t like him giving me permission to have an affair. It was him knowing that I was with someone that we both loved, and it was only natural. This was our little world. No one else was in it. Our ruled applied to us and only us. I told him I still had an issue with it. He wanted to know was it because I saw marriage as something that had rules that was written in stone that I couldn’t adjust. With that question I had to think. I never wanted to get married in the first place! I’ve had plenty of men ask me before him. They were good men, but I valued my freedom not answering to anyone. So was the deeper question, was I ready to get married in the first place? Forget about Mutual friend for a moment. I expressed this to Giuseppe. He said he understood, but he didn’t want to have a long-term never-ending relationship with me. He wanted something that made it more permanent and meaningful. With marriage, he felt he would have that….and with Mutual Friend, I would always have a connection with him too And with that explanation, that’s why he felt comfortable with Mutual Friend having the same feelings about me. Nothing would change, except there will be a piece of paper that said he and I were husband and wife. What we did in our relationship and how we defined it was our business. After this long conversation, Giuseppe said he would let me think things over. I did. I was more confused now than ever. All this time, Giuseppe hated when another man looked at me, but he stood back and watched me in all my relationships. He said he was happy for me if I was happy. But you know you could tell when something annoyed someone. And now he had this open mind when it came to Mutual Friend. Then it hit me. It was okay if it was him. Someone, something familiar to him. I think Giuseppe felt that he had more control of the situation if it was someone he knew. I guess. I was just throwing things at the wall at this point. The next week I was in France, visiting my cousins. I have six that were actually born there. We were all over the country for the first three days. Then Mutual Friend called. This conversion took on a completely different tone. He told me straight out that he loved me, he was always going to love me, and even if I married Giuseppe, he was still going to love me. The question he had for me was, did I love him. And not the kind of love one has for a friend, brother or just another human being. He asked if the situation was reversed, if he asked me to marry him before Giuseppe, could I consider it? I sat there and thought. It didn’t take long to come up with and answer. I did love him, the same way I loved Giuseppe. Some people will not understand that. Some people will say you can’t love two people the same way. No you can’t, but the feelings were just as strong for him as it was for Giuseppe. Hell, I saw them as one in the same sometimes. I even called them by each other’s names at times when talking to them. Yes, they have their own distinctive personalities. But the fact remained, I loved them both and wouldn’t know what I would do without either one of them. I told Mutual Friend this. He said that’s all he needed to know. He told me to come back to the States, marry Giuseppe. He would back off; not to worry about how he felt about the whole situation. He would respect our marriage, and the vows that went with it. I told him with all of us knowing how he felt, that would be hard. He said, no. Just think of him as that friend that loves and cares for us deeply and that our happiness means more to him than anything. He said he knows I’ll be happy with Giuseppe, but that fact that he knows I love him too is all he needed. He hung up after that last statemen. I sat there wondering if I could even go through with it. I knew one thing. Just having Giuseppe as a friend wasn’t going to do. Leaving both the guys and find someone else wasn’t an option either. I cried that night. How did I fall in love with two men? I spent another week in Europe. I went to Spain to visit friends, then I did a short detour to visit Israel to talk to my ex-boyfriend, the Israeli soldier. I told him about my being engaged. He was genuinely happy for me. But he saw that something was bothering me. I didn’t tell him the whole situation of course. But he did give me some advance. He told me whatever decisions I make in life were not going to make or break me. Seeing it as a learning experience and move on. If it was the wrong decision, then you just know not to do it again. If it was the right one, then relish that. The important thing was to do what made me happy and accept things as they come. Marrying Giuseppe would make me happy. Accepting the fact that Mutual Friend loved me, and I loved him, would never change. I needed to accept that. Not marrying Giuseppe wasn’t going to change that. It would only make us miserable. After I left Israel, I went back to Germany. This time Berlin. I visited a close step-cousin of mine there. We had a good time, caught up on family stuff. Then it was time for me to come home. I had a wedding to prepare for. When I arrived back in the states, the only person to pick me up at the airport was Giuseppe. Mutual Friend was out of town on business for the company. Giuseppe told me that Mutual Friend told him about the conversation we had. He was glad that I at least acknowledged I how felt about Mutual Friend, and that was actually the biggest hurdle between us. All Mutual friend wanted to hear was that I loved him as much as I loved Giuseppe. Nothing more was mentioned about it. Giuseppe, my family and friends started preparing everything for the wedding. Just a month before the big day, Mutual friend planned a bachelor party, and my cousin planned a bachelorette party. Again, nothing mentioned about the elephant still in the room. But as far as Giuseppe and Mutual Friend were concerned the matter was settled. Just my acknowledgement was enough for them. I never questioned them either. I learned a long time ago, never ask questions of these two, or question them about their behavior. Just go with the flow. They have an unspoken bond that I could never penetrate or understand. The night before the big day, Mutual Friend took me out to dinner. We had a wonderful time. We talked about the time we first met and all the things we’ve done together and the trouble we gotten ourselves into, and all the crazy things that happened to us. Mutual friend made a vow that he would never leave Giuseppe or me. That even if he went out of town, did some traveling on his own or dropped out of sight for a month or two, that we could always call him, and he would be here in a New York second. He also told me that he was genuinely happy of our impending marriage and it’s what Giuseppe wanted for a long time. Mutual Friend said our happiness was his happiness…always and forever And I believe him. The day arrived. It was a December wedding and it was freezing for like the first time in years. That was okay, I loved it, although the guys were freezing their butts off and couldn’t wait for the reception since it was indoors. The wedding was typical: Parents crying, friends smiling, and vows were taken. When the best man had to kiss me, Mutual Friend didn’t do anything extra. Everything went without a hitch. So now I was Mrs. Spalino. I was legally bound to someone. I told you I was a free spirit, and getting married was the last thing on my to-do list. But with Giuseppe it was different. I didn’t feel as though I was chained to someone, and couldn’t breathe or have my freedom, and be other than Mrs. Spalino. I was still Stephanie, and Giuseppe made sure to treat me as he always did. As a good friend. That night was our honeymoon night, but there was a surprise in our hotel suite. There was an envelope on the bed addressed to both of us. It was from Mutual Friend. Inside was two tickets and an itinerary for a World Cruise on the QE2. It was a few years before She retired, but we didn’t know that at the time. We were just excited to go on this cruise. And even though it was going places that I’ve been to two, three or four times before, it was still exciting. I love ships and the sea. So does Giuseppe. He comes from a fishing family in Palermo (although he can’t fish to save his life) So, we were set to sail in three days. And boy, what a trip this will turn out to be. Leave it to us to make the ordinary all kinds of crazy. Until next time.... Hello Ménage Peeps!
It’s been a while since you heard my P.O.V. So this is a good place to start again. As you read from the guys, this marriage proposal, then no-proposal, then trying to figure out just what were we to each other was confusing and stressful. I told Giuseppe and Mutual Friend over and over again, since the beginning, that we should just keep our relationship as platonic friends. That as soon as I dated one of them, problems would arise. And sure enough… it did. This problem was different than your standard, one person gets jealous. Or the other person sneaks and tries to take the other person away from the other. In fact, just the opposite. These guys were actually trying to decide how to divide me up between them! What the fuck! What the guys left out (for me to fill in) was what I really felt about it and how I confronted them before I left the states. I decided to confront Giuseppe first off, since he’s the one that wanted to marry me and it was his friend that was the wrench in all of this. I told him that going together was a bad idea, and look where we are. We need to go back as friends. Giuseppe said it was too late for that even if he called off the proposal. The feelings were out there, now we had to deal with them. I told him, you do realize that your best friend, almost blood brother, wants to sleep with your fiancée. He said he knew, but he knew it since day one when he introduced us years ago. At the time it wasn’t a big deal, we were all friends and agreed to stay that way. What he felt, which was natural was okay, and more importantly there was nothing that could be done about it. Mutual Friends feelings were not going to magically disappear just because he proposed to me. I told him that wasn’t the point. Here we are, all good friends and now one wants to marry the other while the other is attracted to the same person. Then Giuseppe threw me a curve ball. What if from time to time Mutual Friend spent time with me. It could be platonic, but it was my call. I didn’t think I was hearing right. I asked him if he realized what he was saying. He said he did, but that I was in denial. That I loved Mutual Friend as much as I loved him. If I didn’t then this whole thing would not upset me. I wouldn’t be so torn. He told me if I had no romantic/sexual and loving feelings for Mutual Friend, and if I really saw him as just a friend, we could get married in the next couple of months, no problem. I told him it was more complicated than that. He said no. If he’s just a friend to me and in my eyes and heart, then marrying him would not be an issue. Well it was an issue. I did feel something for Mutual Friend. More than something actually. He was always right there when I needed him if Giuseppe was away on business or a personal family matter. Giuseppe trusted him enough to allow him to be with me when he was out town for two weeks and he respected me. If Giuseppe and I had an argument, like most friends do, Mutual Friend was right there to play referee or mediator. Mutual Friend told me on many occasions how he felt about me, but I wasn’t listening. Perhaps because I was feeling the same thing, but didn’t want to voice it. I felt that if I did, I would be responsible for the breakup of our friendship. So I relied on the guys to keep things platonic. But that wasn’t happening either. Now this. Giuseppe thought maybe I should reconsider the whole situation. He said that we could still get married, that Mutual Friend would always be in our lives. The fact that he was in love with me was going to happen and can’t be helped. But he loved me too, and wanted to be a permanent fixture in my life as well. I explained to him that I couldn’t marry both of them. He said, I would be anyway, I would just be sleeping with one of them. And leaving the other one out in the cold, I reminded him. Then Giuseppe said something that shocked the hell out of me. He said, if for some reason that Mutual Friend wants to still be with me after we’re married, and if I did not mind, they could arrange it that we could be on more than platonic terms, that maybe we could be a little bit more intimate—but not all the way intimate. I straight out screamed “ARE YOU CRAZY!” He said of course not. This was something he would allow and didn’t mind. If it was okay with me of course. No! I was either married to him and that’s it, no other man, even Mutual Friend should be intimate with me, even if it’s just a little. Giuseppe said too really think about it. That the whole thing he was proposing made sense in the long run, and that it would be perfectly normal for “our” situation. If I wasn’t confused before, I really was now. For days I thought about this. I barely talked to the guys. Then one day I decided to have a one on one talk with Mutual Friend. He came to my place. I remember I made dinner for the both of us. After we ate, I went over everything Giuseppe said to me in regards to this love triangle. Mutual Friend was hesitant, at least that’s what he told me. BUT….. he did say it all made sense and why not. No one had to know, it was our personal relationship. No one would get hurt, since we were all so close. So in a strange way the three of us being in that kind of relationship wouldn’t be too farfetched. I called Giuseppe on the phone and had him on speaker. I needed to ask one more thing. To clear something up, that was in the back of my mind. I asked them both, suppose that Mutual Friend and I did more than kiss and cuddle and hold hands. Suppose things got out of hand? Would he forgive me? Giuseppe said there would be nothing to forgive. That he wouldn’t be surprised if that happened and wouldn’t be upset actually. He figured Mutual Friend would come to him first or tell him about it later. And he expected the same from me. So in other words if Mutual Friend was to actually sleep with me, it would be okay? I askes again. Giuseppe said it wasn’t a matter of being okay or not okay. That’s just how things were. Mutual Friend agreed. I’m so glad they had such a cavalier attitude about this. (Serious sarcasm) I couldn’t believe what I was hearing from the both of them. I mean marriage was between two people—only. Yes, Mutual Friend would still be in the picture….not in the background. He could never be in the background, I cared about him too much. And that’s when I realized that I was in love with two men that were the best of friends. I needed to really think this through. So I packed my bags, and left. I mean really left – for Germany. I have step-relatives there, my stepdads family. Then I would go somewhere else, where I didn’t know. When I traveled I always played it by ear. I might visit my cousin who was living in Japan, or visit my other cousins in France. Or just be alone in Spain. Who knows. But I couldn’t stay here with these two, I needed to be as far away from them as possible. I told them my plan. Instead of getting resistance from them, they agreed. This was something that I really needed to think about since this involved all of us. Us. I could never shake that. So they drove me to the airport and I boarded my plane. We will pick up in Brandenburg next week..... It’s Hubster again! Let’s dive into this as they say.
We had our trip to San Francisco. It was fun, we did everything we wanted to do. The drive back home was quiet. Yep, we had to have a serious talk. But the problem was, I did not know where to start, or what to say. I needed to ask questions. I needed to ask Mutual Friend a lot of questions and one very important one. When we got back home, we went back to the office. We had a new commercial to do for a client, so for the first week or so, we were too busy to talk about feelings. But after that, everything needed to be how you say, headed on. Up front, all the cards on the table. I believe Bella went to the mall with some of her friends or her cousins on that day. I just know she left the house for an all-day shopping excursion….as usual. This gave me time with Mutual Friend. I drank half a bottle of wine that day. I knew this was going to open a can of worms. But I went for it. I asked Mutual Friend, if he wanted to have sex with Bella, and to be honest. He said yes, but it was more to it than that. He wanted to be her man. Of course, that was a problem. He knew that, but it didn’t change how he felt. You may be asking, was I mad for him telling me this? No. He was honest. And oddly enough I understood. So now what? I wanted to make sure of one more thing. Was this true love for Bella, or infatuation, or wanting something someone else had? I asked a very, as you say loaded question to Mutual Friend. “Would you like to sleep with her to get it her out of your system? Then I can ask her to marry me.” He looked at me shocked. Then he said very plain and honest. “No. For one, I don’t see her as just sleeping with to get out of the system. If I sleep with her it’s because I want to be with her forever. I would never do that to her, myself or you.” Okay, that cleared that up. So it was deeper than I thought. We still had a problem. I asked him what do you suggest we do? We both love her, we both can’t have her. Can we?” Mutual Friend said that would be hard. I said, actually, it wouldn’t. I even surprised myself when those words came out. But it was true. Was it so hard for both Mutual Friend and I to be with Stephanie intimately? We have known each other longer than some married couples at this point. We were inseparable. We were the best of friends. I told him, I didn’t mind him kissing her, hugging her, even sleeping (in the literal sense) with her. He would still be in our lives, nothing has changed. He said, yeah, things changed. I would be married to a woman that would never consider having sex with another man. You have a close friend that dreams about her and wants her just as much, and will always be around the two of you. She needs to know. Yes, this was hard. So marriage proposal was off for now anyway. I had to think of something else. We needed to talk to Bella We set a date. All three of us went out. So it wasn’t a date, with me and Bella, it was getting together as friends. We had dinner at her favorite place. It was dark and intimate. Everything was going smoothly until I brought up the subject of our relationship. Stephanie felt it was best that she didn’t date either one of us. This is what I was afraid of. I told her no. This could be worked out. She didn’t think so. Mutual Friend assured her that it was okay. She should go ahead and marry me, he was okay with it, in fact he insisted. He said I have never been happier, that she made me happy and that he was happy for us—really. I knew part of this was a lie. I didn’t know what Mutual Friend was up too. Back at home. Bella asked me if he meant what he said. I couldn’t really answer that. I was confused! But I told Bella, if he said it, he means it. She then surprised me, she would accept my proposal. I could have fainted. I told Mutual Friend. He was genuinely happy Of course Bella had some rules. Our engagement would be long, a year. She would not live with me. I hated this already, but willing to go along with it. So she moved out and went back to her condo. Okay, that’s fine, a year will go by fast. And it did. Her mother and stepdad were getting things ready for the big day. Bella had a custom made wedding dress. Mutual Friend was my Best Man of course. Through the whole year however, I have been thinking our relationship over. When I say our, I mean all three of us. No matter what, Bella was marrying Mutual Friend too. May not have been consummated, but she was his too. This love triangle was not put on the bookshelf, as they say. It was still there. What we had to do was try to figure out what needed to be done. I and Bella were the only ones that could make the decisions. For the first time Mutual Friend had no say so. This was going to be an interesting wedding and honeymoon. Fast forward again. Four months before the big day. I had to talk to Bella. All three of us were pretending everything was okay. I finally told Stephanie everything that Mutual Friend and I have been going over things. She was mad at me, and she had reason to be. I told her I loved Mutual Friend and didn’t want to see him hurting, but I loved her too and didn’t want to be without her. Mutual Friend didn’t want to be without us. She didn’t know the answer to the situation. But I did. I told her to hear me out and don’t judge me. I said if she and Mutual Friend wanted to have a day or a week alone, they had my permission. I know some of you fainted right now. But if you have been following this blog, you know this was only natural, there wasn’t anything odd. And of course, I would not mind. I would leave town, and let them be alone. Stephanie was appalled as you might say. I told her don’t be angry. To think about it, really think about. Could it be any other way? He loves you, and I told her that I knew she loved him. I see the way she looks at him, how she laughs with him or at him when he is being a joker. The way they hug each other and hold hands. You could switch Mutual Friend with me. You could not tell the difference. I told her this. She finally admitted it and this is why we should not marry. She could not have both of us. No, not morally maybe. (but who’s to say). But we will always have Mutual Friend in our lives. He will not leave us, it will be almost the same. We’re still the three Musketeers. We had little time before the wedding. She needed to think. So she did what she did best when she needed to think of something heavy and life changing. She left the country. Her story next…….. It’s been a long time since you heard my point of view, and I think this is the perfect point of the story where I can give my view.
Just to confirm everything Mutual Friend was saying. It was rough on him. I didn’t have to imagine how bad it was for him, I could see it and feel it. I hurt for him too. I also hurt for Bella (Stephanie). I will explain later. I wanted to marry Bella, I was ready, been ready for years. And yes, she was allergic to marriage. She’s seen so many of her friends and relatives in marriage, some so-so, some bad and saw that the woman seemed to be chained to the men and had to answer to them. I would not have done that to her. I know she is a free spirit, and I know she would never stray or embarrass me. But she felt that ring was like handcuffs. Then Mutual Friend put in his two cents. His reasoning was of course different. He didn’t want me to marry Bella because he knew that would stop any chance of him being with her. True. I had to really rethink things. Did I want to postpone asking her to marry me, because of another man? Mutual Friend is not just any man to me. I knew his feelings for Bella was more than physical. He grew to love her as I did. This was a problem. Now I was confused about all three of us. How were we going to work this out? In my mind, there was only one way. To allow Mutual Friend to be a bit closer to Bella. Have sex with her? Hell No! But, he could take her out when I was busy. He could be alone with her. I trusted him. You may be saying this was a recipe for a problem. Mutual Friend would never betray me. I decided to make rules. But telling them and showing them was different. I needed to show him I was okay with him being close with her. Naptimes and bedtime One incident happened before a trip we were taking. A road trip to San Francisco. It was going to be a long drive, so we made sure to get our rest the night before. I and Bella slept in the master bedroom, Mutual Friend was going to be in the guest. He was going to drive first that morning, I was going to drive that afternoon, and Bella would take the last hours. Bella was already in bed when Mutual Friend was heading to his room. I told him to wait and come in the room. He did. And his eyes went to straight Bella, sound asleep. I told him to stay and talk with me until I fell asleep. He agreed and went to a nearby chair. I told him to get on the bed beside Stephanie, she’s a sound sleeper. He hesitated of course. But after a few minutes he did. I was on the other side of Stephanie. She was snoring. Yes, she snores sometimes. I told Mutual Friend that I wouldn’t mind if he slept with us on occasion. I mean, if we all happened to fall asleep together, no sense in getting up leaving and waking the other one up. Besides it was innocent, nothing was happening. Of course those nights that I wanted to be with Stephanie on intimate terms, of course he was the leave. We continued to talk about it and other things, and of course I fell asleep. So did he. I woke up in the middle of the night. I went to sleep holding Bella, now Bella was snuggling with Mutual Friend. They both looked very happy, comfortable. I got up, went to the kitchen for water, you know, things you do in the middle of the night. I came back into the room, and looked at the two. Mutual Friend was happy. I could tell. And I was happy, there was no harm in him holding her. But there was one person left out of this agreement. I didn’t know how Stephanie would feel. I don’t think she even realized that she was snuggled up with him. I got back into bed, careful not to disturb the two. The next morning proved interesting. Stephanie woke up at the crack of dawn and saw she was in-between the two of us. She screeched. She got up out of bed and went into the other room. Mutual Friend was clueless of course, then he realized what happened. Oh shit! I think I fucked up on this one. “You need to explain that to her,” Mutual Friend said. Yep, I needed to explain that. I went to her. I remember she was sitting in a chair looking scared as hell. I mean really frightened. I needed to ease her quickly. I told her that Mutual friend and I were talking, we both fell asleep and instead of waking you up, I let he stay there. Not a problem. She looked at me like I was crazy. This was a problem, she never slept with two men at the same time. Whoa, whoa! I told her that we were actually sleeping together, not sexually sleeping together, totally different. And she needed to look at it like that. Nothing happened, there was nothing wrong with it. I reminded her too, that she traveled the world and sleeping together like we did was normal. Nothing sexual about it. She remined me that we were in America. SIGH. This was not going to be easy. We got our road picnic together and we hit the road. Mutual Friend was at the wheel. I was riding shotgun and Bella was in the back. Nothing more was said about what happened that night. We talked about other things, listened to the radio, sang songs, checked out the scenery. Then of course, Bella talked about all the shops and food places she wanted to visit. Safe conversation. When it was my turned to drive, Mutual friend and I switched places. We ate in the car and continued to look at the scenery. There was still a huge gorilla in the car as you say. Nobody dared mentioned the sleeping arrangements. Not until we arrived in San Francisco. We had two rooms. Bella and I had one, Mutual Friend had the other. I wanted to change that. There were two beds our room. Lets save money. Cancel Mutual Friends room and he could sleep with us. It was no different really than when we were all just friends, traveling all around the world. Yes, sometimes it was me and Mutual Friend in one room and her in another, but there were times we came in talked and watched television, then fell asleep. So the sleeping arrangements were basically the same. But Bella want to know about, what if we wanted to have sex. Where was mutual friend going? Walk around the streets, go to the lobby? Good question. I told her for this trip, we’ll abstain. She did not like that. I told her the alternative was wait until he fell asleep. Mutual Friend jokily said, he wouldn’t. watch. I thought it was funny, Stephanie didn’t. I really needed to talk to her. I think this was beyond the napping together. In the end Mutual Friend kept his room. I did not want to ruin the trip for any of us. But I needed to discuss some things with Stephanie. We would enjoy our trip. No talk of naps, sleeping in the same bed. Bella and I did make love. But something was bothering both of us, and we both knew it. It was time to have a meeting when we got back home. Until next week….. Mutual Friend here.
Yes, it’s been a very long time. But time is what we have now, so let us pick up where we left off. So what was the bombshell, that my good friend, almost blood brother drops on me? You can guess, I am sure. He wanted to marry Stephanie. When he told me that, my heart sank. I did not give a damn about the woman I was with or anything anymore. And this time, I did not hide my feelings. I told Giuseppe, that maybe he should wait. And also, Stephanie was not into marriage. She hated the idea. It wasn’t about marrying him, it was marrying anyone! She did not; want to be tied down, she didn’t want to answer to anyone, she didn’t want to be a domestic goddess as she put it. She loved her freedom. Giuseppe, bless his heart knew he could change her. I knew otherwise. I told him do not ask her, you’ll get your feelings hurt. Be her long-term boyfriend, but do not put a ring on her finger. Then Giuseppe said something that hit home. “You’re hoping that you might have a chance?” I told you, we are closer than blood brothers. He knows my heart as I know his. I did not answer right then. I just told him, that if she wasn’t pushing marriage, then don’t ask. He would be the first one she would hint to anyway, don’t you think? He gave me that look, that told me that he wasn’t buying my explanation. But he did wait. In fact, he said he was going to work harder on the relationship, to show her that marriage wasn’t some life sentence in prison. So she was living with him. They were basically husband and wife. Even if I had the slightest thought of trying to seduce her, it was really out of the question now. I was an outsider now. Even though Stephanie tried to include me in things as much as possible, I was still on the outside looking in. I watched them hold hands, snuggle, cuddle, laugh at secrets…go off to the bedroom for lovemaking. I went back to my last girlfriend. But things changed. She could tell. Remember I mentioned she wasn’t too bright? She picked up on this. She told me my attitude towards her changed as soon as Giuseppe told me that he wanted to marry Stephanie. We broke up. I did not want that to happen. When Stephanie and Giuseppe found out about it, they were upset, especially Stephanie. Giuseppe knew what was going on. We had a conversation, just the two of us. Giuseppe wanted me to be honest. How did I feel about Stephanie? I told him it would pass. It was just a matter of me wanted something I couldn’t have. He was not buying it. He told me if my feelings were real and as strong as his about her, this was a problem. We needed to talk things out, just me and him. To tell Stephanie, she would leave the situation. We know her. She would feel that she was coming between two friends. Neither one of us wanted that. What was the solution? Take one day at a time. Giuseppe couldn’t promise me anything, but he said he would hold off asking for a year. I had a reprieve. Or did I? I was still stuck. The only physical contact I had with her was kissing her on both cheeks—with Giuseppe watching closely. Did he lose his trust in me? I do not think so, but it was human nature. He had a claim on her now. They have been sleeping together. And even though I am his closest friend, I’m sure seeing me touch Stephanie raised the hair on his neck. Let’s fast forward a bit. Something interesting happened three more months into this. I was spending the night with them. We just came back from a charity event, and it was late. So as always, no one lets the other drive when it’s real late and no sleep. I was in the guest room of course. The next day, we stayed at the house, we were still tired. We played games, watched television, read to each other…all the things we always did as friends. But this took on something different. Stephanie likes to nap in the afternoon. So she laid on Giuseppe’ lap and took a nap. I was tired too. I was on the couch with the both of them because we were playing video games. Once Stephanie was getting ready to nap, I was falling asleep, and so was Giuseppe. But instead of the two of them going to the bedroom, they stayed So guess what? I was on Stephanie’s lap and she on Giuseppe’s. Stephanie woke up first. She nudges us and jokingly said, “This makes an interesting picture I bet.” Giuseppe looked at me. It was a different kind of look, I can’t describe it, but he was daring me to say something and at the same time, he wanted to say something. Instead I got up, cooked dinner for us, then left for my home. Giuseppe called me, to one, make sure I got home okay, and two to talk about what happened. I told him he was making a big deal out of nothing and Stephanie was just talking, and yes, it did look a bit interesting, but that was it. Then he said something that almost made me fall out of my chair. “You know, if we take a nap again, there is no harm in you napping with us. I’m sure she won’t mind.” I did not know what to say to that. Instead I told him again, that it was nothing, and that we were all too beat to make it to the bedrooms, so we slept there. No harm, nothing other than that. He said fine, but the invitation still stood. I was confused. But then I thought about it. There was nothing wrong really. Our friendship was still strong. We napped like that before Giuseppe stared dating her, why should things be different. Of course, this is what I am trying to convince myself. Something did change. But it wouldn’t be for months until Giuseppe’s true intentions began to show. Until next time…… Hello there. It’s Mutual Friend, (nickname may change soon) LOL
I will jump into this. You read Giuseppe’s, take on things. This is mine. So here goes. I was miserable the whole time! The end. Okay, I will elaborate as you say. Giuseppe and Stephanie got familiar with each other as girlfriend and boyfriend. They were a cute couple. I was happy for them. Really, I was. I love Giuseppe, he’s closer than a blood brother to me. It’s deeper than you think. His happiness is my happiness. Stephanie, I fell for her after about a month of knowing her. I feel the same way about her. So, you are asking what did I do all the time they were dating? Sat back and watched, and played referee to their arguments. I didn’t go out with them on every date. It was only when they invited me that I came along. That was usually when we all went to the movies, the opera, things like that. But for those more intimate moments, of course it was just the two of them. We would hang out at each other’s homes on the weekend sometimes. Watching movies, reading. Stephanie was getting into her writing then. It was as if we were still the Three Musketeers, except, that the one Musketeer was lonely and in love with the other Musketeer that was dating the other. See how complicated this was getting? Did I ever tell Giuseppe my real feelings for her, or how I felt about the relationship? No. This would pass. I would get over it eventually. Maybe it was just a strong infatuation for her. Stephanie is funny, strong willed, smart and cute. Easy to fall for even though, she didn’t fall in love easily. You are saying I could have sabotaged the relationship. NO. Like I said, I love them both. Very complicated, I know. All relationships are. Giuseppe and Stephanie thought they would help me out by finding me someone. Stephanie had a girlfriend that she went to high school with. She’s been out of a relationship I believe a year. The guy was a jerk, she wasn’t looking anymore. Stephanie convinced her that I was the one. That lasted for about two months. The girl was nice, cute sweet. Even funny. She wasn’t Stephanie. I know a lot of you are saying, Get over it, she’s with someone else. Not that simple. By the time they started dating I had known Stephanie for over a decade. We all traveled together, we worked together, we’ve been through so much joy, pain together. You can’t let that go. But one day I decided I would try, then Giuseppe pulls something that threw me off guard. He had to go out of town, and he needed Stephanie and I to stay at the office and hold things down. He told me to spend the night with Stephanie, because he didn’t want her alone at night in her new neighborhood. She had just moved. No, she did not move in with him—right away. It took some time. I wanted to protest. If we were all still just friends, yes, I could do that. But knowing how I felt and they are now going together, this was not right for me. However, I gave in. I didn’t want Stephanie to be alone either. The neighborhood was nice. But being a single woman and new, things can happen. Neighbors needed to know he had some guys watching over her. It was only for a week. But it was a torturous one. I slept on the couch. We ate breakfast, lunch and dinner together. We watched T.V., we hung out, just the two of us. It was nice…until the last night. There was a rainstorm. She hates it when it thunders and lightnings. And this was a bad one. She called to me from her room. I came, and sat in the bed with her. I could have taken advantage of the situation, or at least tried. But, no, I’m not as trifling as some may thing. So I held her, she buried her face in my chest, because of the noise and the lightning lighting up the room. This was a really bad storm. I rocked her, stroked her, and we fell asleep together. Nothing happened. But I felt guilty as fuck! How guilty? I told Giuseppe when he returned. I told him nothing happened. And he looked me straight in the eyes and said…. “I know.” Yeah, I’m that kind of friend as you say. So, what does this lovely couple do next. All three of us take a trip back to my home in Italy. I am from Southern Italy, the rough part. In fact, our villa now is what is considered a rough part, but we’re in farmland. I digress. So we are back in my home and Giuseppe and Stephanie decided to find me a nice Italian girl. HELL NO! If I wanted an Italian girl, I would have kept my ass in Italy. This, for some reason was the last straw. I was getting tired of them trying to hook someone up for me. It left them there and returned to the States. They came back a day later, wondering what the problem was. It was time for me to have a heart to heart with my best friend. This was not a conversation I wanted to have with Stephanie. But before I did that. I decided I would look for someone on my own. Maybe I wasn’t trying hard enough. Okay, I found someone. It was someone that neither Giuseppe nor Stephanie knew. That kind of pissed them off, but they said okay, as long as I was happy and the woman was good to me. She was only good for one thing for me. At least she helped me in that situation. I did treat her nice, don’t think I just fucked her and that’s it. I put on the appearance of being her boyfriend and I was faithful for about year. I actually grew to like her. I actually thought for a minute that I would actually come to love her. So during that year, we double dated, we hung out, did things that couples do. Stephanie actually learned to like her, and that’s hard, she doesn’t take to people too quickly either. Giuseppe is real stand-offish. He does not trust anyone, unless he knows them for a year or two, LOL There was just one problem with this woman. She was not very bright. She wasn’t stupid, she had street smarts, but she wasn’t well traveled, or up on current events. However, hanging out with us, she learned things, and she was happy about that. We began spending more time alone, away from Giuseppe and Stephanie. And that’s when I thought that this was the woman for me—at least for a long-term relationship. So after a year, I was ready to move her in with me Then Giuseppe, my good old friend drops another bombshell on me. To be continued……. We’re back! Okay, it’s my turn. When we left off, Giuseppe and I finally started to date. It was awkward at first. But as the weeks and months went on, I was getting use to the idea. And Mutual Friend? I was getting use to him being around from time to time. Besides it wasn’t like he was around 24/7. In fact, we could go a whole month and maybe see him four times. At work of course we saw him, but it was always business. When we traveled, it was more like us just being the friends that we are. He respected our relationship, our space and time together. Sometimes, Mutual friend and I would be alone, because Giuseppe had work to do, or he was out of town on business. Mutual friend was left to hold down things, and we would hang out. Not once did he come on to me or suggest anything inappropriate. He respected and valued his friendship with Giuseppe too. Now, what the two talked about in private, I have no idea. To this day, I don’t have any idea what the two talked about that got us to this point. But I digress. Mutual Friend did nothing but try to bring us closer together. One Valentine’s Day, he bought us tickets for a seven-day cruise. Another time he got us hotel reservations at a fancy hotel with spa, just so we could spend time together, because work was driving us crazy. When Giuseppe and I got into arguments, and neither one of us wanted to speak to the other, Mutual Friend was there to help patch things up. I wondered about this. I guess being suspicious, not trusting that sometimes people did things out of the goodness of their heart. You get cynical in life you know. I asked Mutual Friend why he was so concerned about our happiness. This hit him hard. He was hurt by the question. I remember him saying to me: “All these years that the three of us have been to together, you haven’t figured out that I love both you and Giuseppe. I don’t want to see either one of you hurt or unhappy. I was in tears. This was such an unselfish love; I didn’t know could exist. And two, I wanted him to have someone special. He deserved someone that would worship him, treat him well, spoil him. So now I was on a quest to find him someone. This was hard. When Giuseppe and I went through my list of girlfriends that would be suitable for Mutual Friend. I had a huge list of crossed off names. Yeah, Giuseppe and I figured out that no one in my circle of friends was good enough. It wasn’t that they were bad people, or anything like that. But they didn’t have the free spirit that Mutual Friend needed. Which kinda surprised me, that I had friend that were that dull. Hmm. So one month Giuseppe and I decided to do something drastic. Go back to Mutual Friends’ home to see if there was a nice Italian girl for him BIG MISTAKE. Once we got there and Mutual Friend found out what we were trying to do, he left us there and came back to the States. SIGH Back to this later. Anywho, at the beginning of the relationship with Giuseppe, I was nervous over one thing. Sleeping with him. One would think, that since I knew him for so many years, and seen him naked at times, that this was a no brainer. It was actually harder. Even though we were going together now, I still saw him as a friend, A very good friend. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I wanted to keep our relationship pure. This was not going to work. After the six months, Giuseppe had had it. He said we either get married so we could consummate the relationship, or we have to figure something else out. Again, Mutual Friend ran interference. He explained the situation to Giuseppe and me. Yes Giuseppe was hurt, because of what I was thinking. I can see that. But we were still at an impasse. Mutual Friend said he could only do so much. We either got drunk and sleep together or figure something out. He thought maybe it was familiar surroundings. Everything reminded me of our friendship. So Mutual friend arranged it so that Giuseppe could take off from work for three weeks. My business I could do anywhere, and since I was helping them too, I had time off with Giuseppe. He gave Giuseppe and I a present. First of many as I mentioned earlier. It was reservations to a resort in Mexico. Funny enough, Mexico was one place I never visited. I guess because it’s right there I could go anytime. LOL But this was a lovely resort. Giuseppe and I were discovering new things, going to museums, hiking to ancient grounds. It was nice and relaxing. So relaxing, that I was able to let go of any hang-ups and Giuseppe and I made love for the first time. NOT GETTING INTO ANY DETAILS It was nice, he was sweet, I could tell be held back a lot. but that was okay. We had plenty of opportunities later. Once we got back home, Mutual Friend could tell everything was okay. He was happy, But Giuseppe and I were still sad for him. He deserved someone very special, not just any woman, that saw him as a sexy Italian. That kind of thinking can get old quick, trust me. LOL So without Mutual Friend’s knowledge, we were going to try to get him hooked up. Some of this ended up funny, angry and just plain indifferent and frustrating. That’s next time, and I think I’ll let you hear that from the horse’s mouth. The Hubster here.
It has been a while, we know, but we’re back! Let me pick up where my good friend left off. Both Mutual Friend and I tried everything to get bella (Stephanie) to go with us. She was not having it. One day, I was spending the night at her condo. This was something that confused me. Why would you have a man that you don’t have romantic feelings for, with stay with you. She said that she considered me as a platonic friend and that she trusted me. I hated this. Guys do not like being in the Friend Box if they are attracted to someone. But I accepted it, as long as I was near her. This one night we got into an argument. I forgot what it was (I might remember it as I continue typing). But it was aloud argument, I do remember that, because a nosy neighbor of hers called the police. They came and asked the typical questions. They were the domestic violence kind of questions. There was none of that going on. But sometimes bella and I get loud. I have a loud deep voice already, and she tried to match me, and there you have it. The policeman had a sympathetic ear. I took advantage of that. I told him (while bella was stomping around in her bedroom) that I wanted to be her boyfriend, but she saw me only as a friend. (Now I remember what we were arguing about. The air conditioner. She had to have it Meat Locker cold, and I need heat to survive.) Back to the story. LOL I remembered the policeman called her into the room and asked why she didn’t give me a chance. We were both attractive people, why not, we were friends. She trusted me enough to have me spend the night. Why not? That was a mistake. Bella reminded him what job he had, and told him to go out and go catch some crooks. I love her fire! After we cooled off. I asked her why not? Why shouldn’t we at least try. We had a lot in our favor She knew me and I knew her We’ve been through so much together. We have seen the best and worse in each of us We found each other attractive. We shared interests. We had interesting conversations I had her! She could not fight me. With reluctance (which made me feel great – NOT!), she agreed. If I thought I was going to bed with her that night, I was mistaken. I was back on the sofa bed and she was in her bedroom. I thought at least I could cuddle with her. As the days and weeks went on. We dated. She wanted to act like we were meeting for the first time. I had to woo her as you say. And there was no sleeping together until she was ready. I bought her things, took her places, the whole thing. Meantime, Mutual Friend is saying he is happy for us. But I could tell, he was hurt. He dated other women, but I knew it was just to “fill in”. We did double date a lot, but I think it was because he wanted to be near her. He remained the perfect gentleman. He never came on to her and never suggested that he be with her alone at any time. I would not have mind, if he went over to her place when I wasn’t there. I trusted him. And I told him so. We were still the Three Musketeers. And from time to time he was with her alone, when I was either busy, or just couldn’t make it for some reason. Then one day, Mutual Friend told me, he could not do it anymore. I love him dearly. He’s closer to me that anyone except for bella. I understood, but told him, he needed to stay a part of my life as well as hers. As the weeks continued, the time for intimacy was past due, at least for me. Bella was hesitant. Bella still saw me as a “friend”. That’s fine, yes, I am her best friend, I should be. But I wanted to be more. I got unlikely help for this problem. Mutual Friend. He said that he would go talk to her. Find out what she was thinking. He said he was in a better position to do this, since it wasn’t me asking her questions. She would be more honest with him. He went to her, in fact they had a friend date. The movies, dinner hanging out at the mall late. This is not the first time Mutual Friend has run interference as they say. What bella told him was eye opening. And I was hurt. But thinking back, I understand She didn’t want to be hurt. She was afraid that she was just a conquest to me, and once I “had” her, that was it. All the chasing I was doing and her being hard to get I saw as a challenge, nothing more. OUCH! Mutual Friend knew this was not true. I spilled my guts out to him every night about how I felt about my bella. It is true, that Stephanie is not like most women. She doesn’t sleep on the first, second, third, hell, not even two months into dating. You know how long it was between the time we had out first date as boyfriend and girlfriend to the time I was in her bed? Six months! It was longer with me that with the other men she dated. They had three to four months. SIGH But I was still in that friend zone, and now according to Mutual Friend, she thought I saw her as some sort of game. When Mutual Friend told me all I needed to know, I was angry and hurt. He told me I needed to understand and look at it from her end. I did. It hurt, but I did. And then I did understand. I had to work ten times as hard to get her trust that I thought I already had. And give her the assurance that this was real. The feelings I had for her were real. Did Mutual Friend tell her how he felt? No. But she already knew. That was one of the main reasons why she didn’t want to date either of us in the first place. We both had to put her mind at ease for that. Mutual Friend was never jealous, just hurt. There is a difference. But as time went on, he accepted it and helped us get through some rough times. And there were some like most relationships. But I believe without our strong friendship, without Mutual Friend being there to be able to see things from the outside of our relationship, we may not have gotten through them. Maybe we could, but it would have been longer. But now we had another problem, that was totally outside all three of us. People wanted to know why Mutual friend was with us from time to time, when he wasn’t dating. He didn’t come on all of our dates. But sometimes when we did something that we use to do as friends, we invited him along. Bella was comfortable with him. I was too. I never saw him as a third wheel as you guys say. It was just natural, that he was included in things. Of course, when we wanted to be alone, we were and there was no discussion, it was understood. It was after dating for a year, that my bella and I realized that Mutual Friend was a part of us. And the funny thing is, it didn’t seem intrusive. It’s hard to explain. If we had movie night, where we would watch old movies on DVD. Bella would be on my lap, or vise versa. And Mutual Friend would be sitting in the chair, or sometimes on the couch with us. It was natural. We traveled still. Most of the time it was just bella and I. But sometimes, Mutual Friend was there too. It was the most natural thing, like when we were all just friends. When I wanted to have a “special” night with her, and spend the night. Mutual Friend would magically disappear for a few days. It was then we realized that we couldn’t do without each other and it was okay. The next update, will be from Stephanie’s (bella) point of view. She has an interesting view of this dynamic. This is Mutual Friend, putting in my two cents as mio bellissimo would say.
I will move past 9/11. We were all traumatized, especially Stephanie, but Giuseppe and I helped her and got her back to normal. Now my problems started. Giuseppe was trying to get on her good side as they say. He was with her no matter. If she called him at 2 o’clock in the morning, he would drive to her. She was working in medical and working from home doing export. But if she was going out to lunch, he would drop everything. I was jealous but not in the usual way, I understood their closeness. She knew him two years before me. That is a lot of time to form something. I wanted that too. I had feelings for Stephanie. I will be honest, at first it was physical. She seemed open to things, but she put her foot down as you say when it came to Giuseppe and I. We were just friends. She would never be with one of us. She didn’t want to come between our friendship. I could understand that—to a point. You see I developed feelings for her too, and not just physical. I through the years, learned her sarcasm, cynicism, her spoiled ways, her childlike personality. I loved it and I loved her. And I told Giuseppe. He wasn’t moved. He said let her decide, but it wasn’t looking good for him either. Someone else was in the picture and they were over 7500 miles away. It was an old boyfriend, an Israeli soldier. She was still wearing his Star of David necklace around her neck. She lived in Israel in the early 90s for about eight months and that’s how they hooked up. He taught her Hebrew and everything. It was the year 1995 when Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated. She was at that rally, the soldier was a guard. She can tell you about it in another blog, but that’s when they became really close. They were broken up after she came back to the States then, but they still had something. Giuseppe and I were not happy. We decided to work together on this. True, she might only end up with one of us, IF she decided to date one of us. But at least she wasn’t dating him. I was to go to Israel to check this guy out. Then inform him that Stephanie was in a serious relationship and that the reason she didn’t say anything was because she didn’t want to hurt his feelings. Again, we didn’t think this through, but it was all we had. We told Stephanie of my trip, telling her that we had a new client that needed special effects for a commercial in Israel. I was to go and meet with them. Stephanie became alarmed. She didn’t want me to go, not after the attacks, and she knew Israel was dangerous already. She went every year since 1986. But after 9/11 she was having doubts. She begged me not to go and to email this new client, anything but don’t go. She started crying saying she couldn’t afford to lose me, that she cared deeply for me and that she wouldn’t know how her life would be without me. DAMN! Why are you telling me this now! Giuseppe and I looked at each other. We felt like shit because I wasn’t going over there for what she thought. But I found out something. She cared and loved me. Okay, maybe not like that. But it was something. I wasn’t just her guy pal that went shopping with her. The plan was canceled. Giuseppe continued to be at Stephanie’s beck and call as they say. I decided I could be her servant too. When she had woman’s issues, I did her housework, and shopped for her. I made her appointments for her business. I made sure her car was running properly. I took her cats to the vet when needed. Giuseppe did things for her too, but he also bought her things. Shoes, handbags jewelry. I did not go this way because I did not want to look so obvious. Then one day, someone broke a car window of one of her neighbors. No one knew who it was. Then it happened again a week later. Then another week. Then hers was broken. That was not cool. Giuseppe did some detective work and found out who it was. Some creep, and he was only doing the women’s cars. He needed a lesson. I was more than happy to give it to him. Giuseppe would be my look out. Let’s just say that there was a new vacancy in Stephanie’s condo complex the following week. It was then clear to both of us that we loved Stephanie. But it was frustrating because she put up the “Friend” Wall. So Giuseppe and I did what guys do—we dated other women. They were empty dates, with empty women. They were not fun, and if they were fun they had to get high or drunk. That’s what we loved about Stephanie. She was fun and crazy naturally. Sex? It was sex. You stick it in and she comes that’s it. I was getting depressed. Giuseppe was getting mad. He could not understand what the big deal was. We could all still be friends. I would not let Giuseppe go if he dated Stephanie, and I would never come between them. She was worried for nothing. She did not know how strong our friendship was. So we plowed into our work to get our minds off things. We got very busy. So busy that we needed Stephanie’s help. She quit her temp job at hospital and worked from home on her export and with us. She tried to convince us to hire more women on the job—besides her. Giuseppe wasn’t having it. Too many hormones and cattiness. I agreed. I didn’t have time for petty women. We got into heated arguments about this. But Giuseppe won, he was a private foreign registered company. He could do as he pleased. Months passed. Giuseppe wasn’t getting anywhere still with Stephanie. They went out on dates if that’s what you want to call it. But he wasn’t spending the night. A “Thank You” and a peak on the cheek was what he got. I was happy. It was my turn. I told her that maybe the reason she was not seeing Giuseppe as a boyfriend is because she met him in a friend situation. But me, when I met her I was already attracted to her, not as a friend but as a lover. So it would make more sense if she dated me, and kept Giuseppe as a good friend. She wasn’t going for that either. I never met a good American Girl before, until her. She didn’t even go to church every Sunday! Giuseppe and I were stuck. But then a miracle. Although I was not happy for myself about this, I was happy that my best friend was happy. But it was strange how it all went down. I will let Stephanie take it from here This is The Hubster – you know me as Giuseppe Spalino
I will be posting this update, with the help of mio bellissimo, my beautiful one, Stephanie. We left off with us talking to her at her mother’s over the phone. They were going to have a mother daughter outing with some other people. Shopping, eating a leisure day. I and Mutual Friend said our I love yous and disconnected, it was late that evening. The next morning Mutual Friend and I were going to go into the office early, we had a new client and we were going to have a breakfast meeting. I turned on the radio and heard something about an explosion in theWorld Trade Center Building. I thought I was still dreaming, but my dreams are of Stephanie and happy not crazy like this. I turned on the television. They showed a building with a huge hole and smoke coming out. I called Stephanie quickly then Mutual friend. All three of us were on the phone watching this craziness. Stephanie was calling her mother to the room and telling her to watch too. No one knew what was happening, it looked like a bad movie. We thought there was an explosion in the building then the new person said someone saw a plane go in the building. WOW! As we were talking, Stephanie remembered she had a cousin that worked at the Trade Center. She panicked. We tried to calm her and told her to stay on the phone with us and call her on the other phone. Just when she was about to do that, we all saw the other plane crash into the other building. Stephanie screamed. I knew then we were being attacked. I told her to pack a bag with her mother and stay there. I told Mutual friend to come over to my house. I just bought an enormous house in the Valley. It was the American way. I made money in my own business, so I bought a huge home. Unfortunately it was lonely there at nights. Stephanie did not want to spend the night with me. I had several bedrooms, but she said no. This time she had no choice. I did not know what was going on. They could come here to Los Angeles with planes and crash into buildings. I wanted her close to me. I drove and got her and her mother. I remember having her sit up front with me of course and telling her to go into he glove compartment and get the gun. We did not know what was happening. Now we see police cars going all over the place. Were they here now? We arrived at my home, Mutual friend was already there and fixed breakfast for all of us. We sat in front on the television watching the madness. Stephanie was shaking, she was so scared. Her mother was trying to calm her but it wasn’t helping. She called her ex-husband to see if he was okay and to have him talk to his daughter hoping it will help. It didn’t much. Her mother was calmer. She made all the calls to all family members, making sure everyone was okay. That cousin was okay, she did not go into work that day, but if she had, she would have been right where the plane crashed. That made Stephanie crazy. I held her close to me, and Mutual Friend came and helped. I held her tight, and Mutual Friend, rubbed her head and back trying to calm her down. After some time, she did. We all then continued to watch the horror on the television. The buildings collapsing, people running, The Pentagon! Stephanie started to get stress again. I asked her mother if it was okay for me to put her to bed and try to get her calmer. She said yes. She was still trying to call other people but the phone lines were bad. Mutual Friend and I took Stephanie into one of the bedrooms. I laid her down and rubbed her back, whispered to her telling her everything was going to be okay. I was here to protect her. Nothing was going to happen. Mutual Friend told her the same. She wanted to go into the next room with her mother and watch television. I told her no, that only upset her. If she needed to know what was going on, she could listen to the radio. Mutual Friend brought one in the room. I told him to go sit with her mother, that I would stay with Stephanie. I didn’t want to be disturbed. I shut the door behind him. I went to Stephanie on the bed and laid beside her. I held her and for once she did not fight me. She held me tight, real tight, scared tight. I was scared too. Who was attacking us? Why? Would they come to Los Angeles? It did not matter. I told her she was safe with me, nothing was going to get her, they would have to get through me. We all listened and watched that day. Later that night we found out who attacked us. Never heard of the group, but it didn’t matter, we were mad. We wanted to turn the place into a parking lot. Whatever the President had planned, we were all for it. That night, I made Stephanie go to bed. She wanted to stay up. Her mother was already asleep in other room. Mutual Friend and I stayed with Stephanie in her room. I stayed in the bed with her, Mutual Friend slept on the recliner by the bed. We kept the radio on, we didn’t know what was going to happen next. I kept the gun near too, I made sure everyone knocked or announced themselves in the house, so we knew who was who. As the night went on, Stephanie was falling asleep – finally. She reached for me and thanked me for getting her and her mother. There was no thanks needed. Later in the middle of the night Stephanie woke up and tapped me. She said thank you again, and that she loved me. My heart stopped. Then I went back to reality. She loved me for what I had done for her and her mother. She didn’t love me like a lover. She then reached her hand out to Mutual friend and said the same thing. Then I knew for sure. That was okay, it was something, I will take it. I would not take advantage of the situation, but I would stay close. For the next thirteen days, we stayed glued to the television as the rest of the world. Madness. Total madness. After another week, Stephanie felt safe to go back home. Her mother wanted to go back home too. She said they felt they were imposing. You know how mothers are. They were not. They could have stayed another month, however I understood. I took them back home. I took Stephanie back to her own place. I got her cats from her friend’s and Mutual Friend and I got her re-settled. It was at this point I was going to take a chance at something. I asked her to move in with me. She looked at me like I asked her to jump off a bridge. This was not going to go well But I had a reason for asking and I was going to try to convince her. I will end here. Mutual Friend will pick it up from here next week We’re Baaaacckkk!
So after our little fun in Hawaii, (yeah right), we got back to the main 48 and went back to work. It’s August 2001, and it’s my birthday month. WHOOT-WHOOT! Giuseppe and Mutual Friend had two huge accounts to do special effects for. YAAAY. I was scoring exporting contracts, that were bringing in good funds. So it was all good. My cousin that lives in Japan called me and asked me since I missed Sumo in May, will I come in September. I said sure thing. I love Sumo. There are some misunderstandings about the sport, and I will not go into the rules, and culture of it here. But I do suggest you research it, it’s a fascinating sport. Anywho, I wanted to do something exciting for my birthday I wanted to go to Spain again. And since I was the only one that could travel anywhere do to the type of business I had, it looked like I would have to celebrate with other friends and family members overseas. Giuseppe and Mutual Friend really wanted me to stay in the States, but I had wanderlust real bad again. However, being the stubborn wonderful guys, they were, they planned a huge party for me. They rented a ballroom at one of the swanky hotels in Beverly Hills and invited a lot of my friends and family that lived in L.A. We had a great time. Open bar for my peeps who drank, imported food, wonderful classical music. The guys really did it up for me. After the party, the Giuseppe came to me and asked me if I was seeing someone in Spain and if that’s why I wanted to go so bad. I told him no, it’s just that I like Spain and I have a couple of friends there that I haven’t seen. Plus I wanted to go there first before I went to Japan, because I always two months there. So Giuseppe figured he had to make is move—yet again. He asked if we could just date for a year, just to see if it worked out, that maybe we could be best friends and lovers too. I told him that never worked. It never worked with any of my friends, so why should it be different for us. He said because were different from all of our other friends. SIGH. I didn’t know what to say to that. Later that week as I was packing to leave, Mutual Friend came to my place. He wanted to know if I was really considering dating Giuseppe. I told him I didn’t know. And I really didn’t. A part of me wanted to date him just to show him that we were not compatible and that we needed to remain friends. Of course the risk in that is losing a friend. Mutual Friend said that If I decided to date him, don’t hurt him. Don’t hurt him? Was he kidding me? Mutual Friend explained to me that he and Giuseppe knew what they wanted in a girlfriend, lover, wife what have you. I seemed to check all the boxes. He said if I choose Giuseppe to date, he’ll respect that, just don’t play with him. I told them if I checked all the boxes, they need to re-check their requirements. Mutual Friend also said If I do decide to date Giuseppe, and it doesn’t turn out and we split on good terms, there is no reason while we cannot all remain friends. I agreed, but that would still be difficult. So, Giuseppe took me to the airport. He wanted to know if I was coming back to the States before I left again for Japan. I told him yes, that I was going to visit mom and stay with her a couple of weeks before I left. He said he would wait for me, hopefully I would think about where this relationship was going, if I was willing to take the chance with us being a couple. I told him I would truly think about it, but I had to be honest, I value our friendship more than anything, and I rather have that than a roll in the sheets. Giuseppe was a bit insulted. He said us becoming a couple wasn’t just about the bedroom, and if I thought that about him then I had him all wrong from the beginning. Ouch! Now I’m in Spain, I’m having the time of my life, as I always do when I’m in another country and have friends. Went to bullfighting, which I love. Yes, I love the sport. Yes, I know how they get the bull in that state of acting drunk. And yes, I have a bull’s ear given to me by a Matador. Bullfighting was legal in Catalonia then and people still flocked there. The whole time in Spain, I enjoyed the company, the food, and the sights. I arrived back home August 27th. I had a bit of a cold bug. Nothing serious, but my time schedule was already late. I wanted to spend time with mom before I left for Japan. But I wasn’t feeling it anyway. I stayed with mom, and after a week I was better. Mom wanted to me to go on to Japan, she’s like, “I’ll still be here.” It’s September 9th and I call my cousin. I told her I was going to be late, but I was going to be there. She was waiting for me and did a couple of Sumo bets for me. YAAAY! Sumo here I come! The evening of September 10th. I’m laughing it up with Giuseppe and Mutual Friend on three-way call. I’m telling them more stuff about my trip, they’re telling me about this new potential client, wondering if they should take him as a client. They asked me when I was leaving for Japan. I told them I couldn’t get a great flight earlier than Thursday, but it was cool. Sumo was all that month and I do other things in Japan anyway. Giuseppe and Mutual Friend said to take care and stay out of trouble. I remember laughing and telling them, don’t worry about me, it’s you two being bored that I worry about. We talked for hours. I went to bed late. Mom and I were going to the mall the next morning and have lunch at this new eatery. But things changed. I didn’t realize what a friend and caring man I had in Giuseppe and it took a tragedy to open my eyes. Until next time. |
AuthorI'm living a lifestyle that some might romanticize, while others condemn. But more importantly, I'm happy, And the guys that I'm with are happy too. Nuff Said! Archives
March 2022
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