THE OTHER WOMAN
Kate-Lyn Therkelsen
Jason led Amber out onto the deck of the luxury paddle steamer. Amber's best friend Mischa was holding her birthday party, which buzzed around them as they looked over the dark, glistening water in the bright night. Amber looked over into Jason's casual eyes in the moments that followed.
She ever so slowly came towards him, and he slowly turned and guided his arm around her waist. Amber leaned closer to him, and she felt her body tingle.
She listened to him breathing steadily as his face slowly came an inch closer to hers. She felt his lips touch hers. They trembled there for a moment, and for that moment Amber felt like she'd completely lost control of herself. A pit in her stomach filled with warmth as her lips moved slowly against his. She just wanted more. She wanted him more. She kissed him slowly back, her heart pounding between their chests.
Amber slowly pulled back and looked Jason in the eye. The two of them lingered a few moments, inches from each other. Amber softly smiled between them.
Amber sat down at the kitchen bench. Isabelle stood behind it and started making cups of tea.
'So how are you and Jason going,' Amber asked.
'Great. We've been going out for four months this Wednesday.'
Amber awed.
'How long have you known him for again?'
'We were friends for two years before we got together. He was...a friend of Mischa's.'
Isabelle flicked her shoulder-length blonde hair off her shoulder with her finger.
'I don't really talk to Mischa anymore,' she curiously stated.
'Why not,' Amber asked, sipping her tea.
Isabelle rubbed her finger and thumb around the tip of her mug.
'We just... drifted apart, I guess.'
Isabelle sighed.
'But I have Jason now. I'm really lucky with him. Our families get along really well. I feel really at home with his family. And my family have really welcomed Jason.'
'I'm happy for you,' Amber said.
Isabelle grinned at Amber.
'Thanks.'
Isabelle swam through the water, feeling the water stream past her bikini. She pushed herself upward and broke into the surface. She wrapped her arms around Jason's neck, her hair dripping down her back. He slipped his arms around her waist.
'Jason, do you remember where we had our first kiss,' she asked, rubbing her bare skin against Jason's lean, muscular torso.
His black hair glittered with water. He looked down at Isabelle with his dark, seductive eyes. He brushed his desirable lips against hers, and held her slender body against his and leaned down and kissed her. Isabelle's arms rubbed against his bare skin. He cornered her against the edge of the pool. His hands rested on her hips and his thumbs slipped inside the sides of Isabelle's bikini.
Isabelle gently scratched the skin above Jason's board shorts with the tips of her fingers.
Mischa and Jason sat across the table from each other in a quiet little restaurant.
'Stay tonight,' she requested.
'I can't. Isabelle and I are going to the movies.'
'Jason, you spend every last second with Isabelle,' Mischa stated, holding a glass of red wine to her lips.
'You're always together. Don't you get bored? Don't you ever hang out with your friends?
Anything to do in your spare time than hang around with girls?'
'I don't know, I thought that would have been every guy's dream.'
Mischa frowned.
'I hope I'm not just an accessory to you, Jason. I mean, I know this is an affair, but I really hope I did have a sense that somewhere inside you somehow you really cared about me.'
She paused a moment, looking down at her glass.
'Jason, have you been thinking about the future,' she asked.
She took a sip of the wine and held the glass away from her mouth a little, looking over at Jason again.
'I mean, I know 'a serious future' practically doesn't exist in an affair, but affairs are called affairs because they don't last forever.'
'...What are you trying to say,' Jason asked.
He sipped his own wine.
Mischa felt slightly awkward.
'...If, in the future, you were going to ask either me or Isabelle to marry you, which of us would you ask?'
Jason bit his lip.
'...You know, I actually haven't considered that.'
Mischa glanced away for a moment.
'...I was hoping you'd say it would be me.'
Mischa looked back at Jason, holding her glass loosely.
'I don't want to feel like I'm no more important to you than her. Why are you with me if she's just as important to you? Jason, I have to know I'm important...'
'Then why are you sleeping with your ex friend's boyfriend?'
Mischa glanced away. She folded her arm in front of her on the table and sipped her wine.
She'd had never expected all this to ever happen. She'd never expected them to actually give in to it.
To act on the feelings. But it was always expected of them, the forbidden fruit. It was always there. And now it was coming forward.
The first time they'd slept together, Mischa hadn't even thought about what they'd do afterwards. She was just in the moment, so glad to finally have Jason again. All she wanted to do was be with him. It felt so good, he felt so good.
The day after the first time they'd slept together, Jason and Mischa had gone for a walk in the park. They'd ran around together, smiling and holding hands like a real couple.
Mischa had felt so confident at that point. She'd missed him so much. It was obvious they were meant to be together. He'd come back to her after so long. She still hadn't thought about facing Isabelle. She'd wanted to avoid it for as long as she could. One thing she had known was that this would change everything in her life and Isabelle's for good.
Things would never be the same between them again.
Mischa had guessed she'd try to avoid Isabelle and keep Jason for as long as she could. They had to go back to reality at some point, but she wanted to take Jason with her.
For so long she'd waited and waited and hoped for another man to come along. She'd felt so lonely for male companionship. She wanted to do all the things a couple did, go to the movies, out to dinner, parties, snuggling up. All her friends were settling down, and she wanted it to be her turn again. She didn't want to be an independent woman anymore. She wanted to be happily coupled.
Jason and Mischa lay together in Mischa's bed, the sheets tangled around them. His breath blew gently against her lips.
'So what happens now,' she whispered.
Jason was silent a moment.
'...Mischa...I have to go back to Isabelle...'
Mischa rolled over and threw the sheet off her. She sat on the edge of the bed.
'You know, I knew you'd do this,' she said. 'I should have known you were going to do this. Live out the fantasies you had about me, then move on. Use me, then go.'
Jason propped himself on his side on his elbow. Revealing his tempting body.
'Come on, Mischa. What did you think was going to come out of this? Did you think we could be together again? Do you really think that would work after everything that's happened between us?'
Mischa sighed and shook her head.
'Then why did we do this again, Jason?'
'...Because we had to. Neither of us could move on with our lives if we hadn't done all this. At least now we've done what we've wanted to for so long. We couldn't move on from each other. We don't have to be trapped anymore.'
Mischa looked behind her at Jason.
'I don't want to move on, Jason. I never said we had to. This is all your idea. Why don't you just choose me? Do you think we'd keep going behind Isabelle's back and doing this if it didn't mean something? Why do you want to stay with her when this is happening between us?'
She dropped her head to her hand.
'Don't talk about Isabelle, Jason. I don't want to hear about her. I don't care about her,' Mischa stated.
Jason lay behind her, saying nothing.
She didn't want to let Jason go again. He'd become hers again, the way she'd wanted for so long. And she didn't want to let him go.
He softly kissed her back.
'If we were together now, we'd always be carrying Isabelle with us. You know that.'
Mischa looked behind her at Jason again.
'Jason, I don't care about Isabelle. She is not in my way. I wouldn't be carrying her with me.'
Jason's eyes faltered from Mischa's a moment.
'...But you'd never be able to forget about her, would you,' Mischa stated.
She almost glared behind her at Jason. She sighed and stood up, and faced him.
'I think you should leave, Jason.'
'Mischa...'
'No, Jason, please,' she almost begged. 'I need to be alone for a little while.'
When Jason had gone, Mischa huddled beside her bed. She gently pulled on the sheet draping over the edge, staring sadly into space. All she could think about was Jason. Why was Isabelle managing to take Jason away from her over and over again?
The world had faded away around her. She didn't care about work or her own independent life anymore. All she wanted to do was make Jason hers for good. She was obsessed with it, she knew. But she wanted to be. She was scared that if she wasn't obsessed with it, if she didn't think about it every moment of the day, the last thread that kept her and Jason together would be cut.
When he wasn't there with her, she'd laugh and talk to him like he was. She'd huddle on the couch with him, and pretend to fall to sleep with him next to her. She pretended he was always there with her, happy with her.
Isabelle went into the bathroom after rising from bed. She saw a note on the bench, picked it up and opened it.
'Dear Isabelle
You're looking beautiful, as usual. I'm at work at the moment as you know, but I wanted to leave you this that you can keep with you until I see you next time.
Isabelle, will you marry me?'
Isabelle gasped.
'I didn't want to say all the soppy stuff before because I knew you'd know what I was on about. So, I left it until now.
Isabelle, I'm thankful every day that I met you. Every day since that day has been amazing, and the happiest days of my life.
I know we're going to be together forever, so I'm going to propose to you in person when I get home from work. I had the idea to propose in a letter when I was sixteen, and I can imagine you're probably screaming by now. I hope you accept my proposal, because I can't wait to be married to you.
See you tonight at 6:00 for dinner.
J
As soon as Isabelle heard her front door open, she ran to it and jumped into Jason's arms.
'I love you so much! I can't believe we're getting married,' she cried as Jason held her tight, lifting her off her feet.
It was still daylight when Jason and Mischa barged into Mischa's apartment. Their lips were so madly smothering each other it was barely a kiss. Jason's hands touching Mischa all over sent chills to her bones. He kissed her neck like a vampire, and the feel of his lips against her skin blew her mind.
As he made love to her, Mischa thought about what they were doing. Morally it felt so wrong. She'd never dream of doing this to Isabelle, even if they weren't really friends anymore. They'd been friends since they were babies. They'd done so much together.
Mischa and Jason lay in each other's arms. Jason glanced down at the sheets a moment, stroking Mischa's chest gently.
'...Mischa, there's something I need to tell you.'
'What,' Mischa tentatively asked.
'...I proposed to Isabelle the other day.'
Mischa almost jumped out of the bed.
'...You...you what? You what, Jason?'
'I proposed to Isabelle, Mischa.'
Jason stared up at her.
'...We're engaged.'
'I know what it means, Jason,' Mischa shouted, pulling her dressing gown on roughly. 'Well, I know why you would. She's perfect. She's so damn perfect. She completed her Manager's certificate in Year Eleven, aside from all her other school work. She's now a hotel manager. She got her learners and P Plates the first time. She got the perfect boyfriend the first time.'
Mischa stood at the edge of the bed, furiously tying the sash around her waist.
'And she's more 'fulfilling' to you, isn't she? All I give you is sex!'
She slammed her arms firmly to her sides.
'Get out,' she spat. 'I hate you. How could you propose to Isabelle? How could you just toss me aside like that? Like I'm just a piece of paper you can scrunch up and get rid of when it's convenient?'
'Mischa...'
'Get out!'
Jason got up and pulled his clothes back on. When he was gone, Mischa collapsed onto her bed and scrunched her face into her pillows. Memories of her and Jason's time together flashed before her. She cried and cried and cried. She couldn't believe this was happening to her again. She just wanted to be with someone who she loved. And she loved Jason.
She thought she'd never run out of tears. She didn't know if she was heartbroken or angry. She wished she knew. She loved being with Jason so much, and now it was over. She didn't know if she'd find a more perfect man.
When would it be her turn to find true, lasting love? Why was it happening to her friends and not her? Why didn't she deserve it?
She would make Jason so happy if he married her. He'd admire her for being herself, such a beautiful, interesting woman. A woman like none he'd ever met. He wouldn't even consider being with another woman, because she satisfied him to all he needed. And she'd love him with all the love inside her, and her sole purpose would be to make him happy. Why couldn't he see that?
She grabbed one of the pillows at the head of the bed. She screamed hysterically back as she threw the pillow around the bed. She gripped it in two hands and ripped the casing into shreds.
She imagined Isabelle under her, screaming with a terrified look on her face.
'Shut up,' she shouted. 'Shut up! Stop screaming! Stop acting so innocent!'
She threw the scissors into the pillow over and over again, becoming covered in the goose feathers inside.
'He belongs to me! He belongs to me! He always has! He's mine, and you can't take him away!'
Mischa eventually collaped back amongst the destroyed pillows. She sobbed loudly and dramatically.
'What can't I give you,' she cried out. 'What can't I give you that Isabelle can? Tell me, and I can do it!'
She lay there sobbing for ages, gripping the sheets under her until her knuckles were white.
* * *
Six months later
'It's time now to ask the newlyweds to come up for their first dance as a married couple.'
The guests welcomed Isabelle and Jason onto the dance floor, and the music began to slowly play. Jason held her close. Isabelle rested her head against his chest.
She loved having him touch her. Holding her close. Any man could hold her like this, but it was because Jason loved her that made all the difference. She loved him, and all she wanted to do was show it to him all the time.
Jason slid his cheek along hers, and he could feel just a wisp of her skin against his lips.
'I love you,' he whispered to her.
Isabelle's cheeks tingled at the sound. She turned her lips slightly towards Jason's ear.
'I love you more,' she whispered back, a smile tingeing her lips.
She lifted her head away from him, and by then she realized the guests in the room had faded away from her atmosphere. It was just her, Jason and their wedding song.
Jason leaned slowly down to her and their lips touched gently. Isabelle reached up and rested her arm around Jason's shoulders. Around them, the guests erupted in applause.
Everything was so perfect.
Two months later
Mischa stood in the elevator on her way up to her apartment.
'Have you ever made out in an elevator,' she asked Jason.
'No,' he replied, grinning.
Mischa pressed him against the wall and clasped his cheeks in her hands. She kissed him, and they wandered around in the elevator. He pressed her against the wall and clasped her leg against his waist.
He kissed her neck, and Mischa could picture Isabelle innocently waiting for Jason to come home.
Later that night he lay beside her fast asleep. Mischa wondered if Isabelle did suspect something. She wondered if Isabelle thought it was her sleeping with her husband.
Mischa sat across Jason's waist, and gently kissed Jason, and he peacefully stirred from his sleep. He smiled contently and pecked her back.
'So what happens from here,' Mischa asked.
Jason sighed. Mischa knew what he would say. What he said after every time they slept together. She swiftly drew the knife from under the pillow beside them, seizing it above Jason. His eyes became wild and be began screaming and begging for his life.
'Isabelle took everything away from me. That night, on my birthday, she took you away. My best friend who I knew since I was born. She knew how happy I was with you, and as if she didn't have enough she took you too.'
Mischa threw the knife down towards him over and over again. He screamed and screamed and screamed under her as blood was tossed all over the sheets.
Jason lay limp under Mischa, who was covered in his blood. She slid off his body and stood next to the bed. She wiped a drip of blood off her lip with the side of her hand, staring down at him.
'This is for marrying the other woman,' she said.
Kate-Lyn Therkelsen started telling stories by drawing pages and pages of pictures before she even started school. It progressed to pictures with words when she reached primary school, and now at age 17 she has graduated to polished, full-length manuscripts and short stories. Her passion is writing cliff-hanger short stories and novels and her manuscripts are all part of yet unpublished series.