Don or Patrick?

June 2003

Monday morning rolled around and I was happy to see Shelly's civic parked behind the office when I pulled up. I still don't know what I was going to say to her but I know I had to talk to her. I made my rounds of good morning hellos and settled into my usual morning routine of checking emails and voice mail. Not long after I was made aware Don was ready to start the meeting.

Walking into Don's office I noticed he and Shelly quietly discussing something. Shelly was standing next to his desk and leaning over it. I would have to be blind not to notice how her blouse flowed openly right in his face.  I could even see the lacy pink bra she wore and I'm not dumb enough to think Don wasn't looking.  I took my seat in the chair on the side of Don's desk and waited patiently until they acknowledged my presence. Thankfully I didn't have to wait long before Don greeted me happily. Patrick and Karen followed in seconds later and we all rumbled our numbers off. I found it interesting Shelly managed to get 3 life policies when she was only in the office for two days last week.

"Wow Shell were those ones you've been working on for a while?" I couldn't help asking.

"No, just a couple cold calls," she flashed a smile at Don. He then proceeded to praise her. Normally I would feel like I failed a little and I'm not going to lie a tiny bit of jealously.  I'm not the jealous type but it's hard not to get a little competitive in sales. However if my suspicion was correct it would be impossible to keep up unless I joined the unethical train.

Patrick was next and I noticed Shelly squeeze his leg while telling him 'good job' on his numbers. OK five minutes ago I made up my mind it was Don she slept with, now I'm confused again. I guess I've always known Shelly was a flirt but with this little greasy secret I had, I was noticing everything.

Don gave a small 'keep up the good work' speech before ending the meeting. I got back to my desk and asked Shelly if she wanted to grab lunch today. After accepting I spent the next hour trying to focus on work and not on what I was going to say.

We walked to a sushi place in the same strip mall as our office, it wasn't the best sushi but you couldn't beat the location.  After putting our order in for spicy tuna and caterpillar rolls I asked how she was feeling.

"Oh...I wasn't really sick. Gavin and I drove down to  Rosarito, it's in Mexico on the water. It was so much fun Jules you gotta go. The food and alcohol is super cheap. We stayed out dancing and drinking until 4 am every night and slept till noon every day."

"Yeah sounds fun. Was it just you two?" Not sure why she didn't just ask for the time off but whatever.

"No, half the baseball team and a bunch of girls came too." She said before grabbing at the edamame our waitress set down. A part of me was a little disappointed if Cal went, no one invited me. But I guess it would have been obvious if we both went missing from work.  Besides would I really want to go on a trip with Cal? I don't actually know the answer to that. We only have an hour lunch and I hadn't gotten anywhere, it's time to get to business.

"I was daydreaming in our meeting this morning, and thinking who would I rather sleep with if we were on a desert island, Patrick or Don? Who'd you pick?" I said as I broke up some wasabi into my soy sauce.

"What made you think of that?" She raised her brows in surprise.

"Oh come on,  don't tell me you've never thought about it?"  Cooperate with me here!

She turned around scanning the restaurant before leaning in and whispering.

"I've already slept with Patrick,  but I would choose Don to be on a desert island with.  If I wasn't with Gavin I probably would have already tried with Don. Actually I did try with Don but he kind of shot me down, that's why I slept with Patrick." She said this so easily,  like she hadn't been keeping it a secret for months.

"Um what! When did this happen, why didn't you tell me, was it just once?" I spat out.

"Last July, right after I started. Remember the company dinner cruise we went on? You left right after but some of the other agents and staff went to one of the agent's house for drinks. I don't remember whose house because I had a LOT of champagne. I flirted with Don and basically told him he had the green light but he shot me down.  I was feeling rejected and a little dizzy so I went out front to get some air. Patrick joined me, He said a couple things about being attracted to me and I was buzzed enough to enjoy it. One thing led to another and he started kissing me. We almost did it right there on the porch swing," she laughed. "But instead he drove us somewhere and we did it in the back of his truck." She sighed to catch her breath before continuing.  "It was only once, God he was awful, very greedy and tiny you know what." She cringed and shivered at the memory.

"What happened after, he didn't try again since then."

"Oh trust me he tried, still does but no  thank  you. I still tease him a little here and there to get him excited, it's a hoot." She smiled wickedly.  I had to process this for a moment before diving back in. I was glad she opened up some, maybe she would continue.

"When in July, weren't you still with Allen?"

"Uh..no I think it was right after he cheated." Her demeanor instantly changed, she stiffened and gone was her smile.

"Wait, the cruise was the second week in July, I remember you had only been at work maybe a week. You weren't in the hotel yet and you said Allen couldn't make the cruise because he was back east. It wasn't til the end of July that you moved out and told me he slept with the maid right after he got back. I remember because you said you came home early to surprise him the day he got back."  Just tell me the truth already! She's been a friend for a while and I had a pit in my stomach thinking how easily she could lie to me.

"Jules, calm down, maybe I got my dates mixed up or something. Not sure why you care so much but I didn't sleep with Patrick until after Allen cheated on me. Can we just drop it, you're bringing back a lot of old memories I'd like to forget." She looked at me, her eyes pleading me to stop.

"Yeah sorry I just got on a rampage there a little, " I laughed it off and shoved a tuna roll in my mouth to shut me up.

Luckily our hour was up and we headed back to the office. I was nervous Shelly would be upset and I wouldn't have a chance to figure out the other issue I had, too my surprise though she spent the short walk back to the office gushing about her time in Mexico.

I got back to work and decided I needed a little more evidence about what she was doing to sell so many policies before going to Don. If she could keep lying to me I figured she wasn't about to tell me about her awesome sales techniques, even if she did I would have to tell Don anyways, right?  I don't know how I would get the evidence but I know I needed to. My thoughts were interrupted when Karen met me at my desk asking if her and Don could see me in his office.