Chapter 4 Maeve

"Marie! What the fuck?" I say after the one minute it took me to get from just had the best sex of my life with a stranger to my best friend is being psychotic.

"What the fuck? No! You, what the actual fuck??" Marie turns around to look at me from the drivers seat. Only then do I notice the out of place hair and dried tears on her face.

"Holy shit, what happened to you? Last I saw you, you were having the time of your life in there." Now I'm worried. This is very uncharacteristic of Marie.

"Yeah right. That is why you sneaked off to go fuck a stranger in his car." She says and even though it is not a scream in my face, it feels like it. The driver is a middle aged portly man and he flinches at the vulgar language and promptly increases the music's volume a little. I am equal parts embarrassed and angry.

"At least it is better than trying to fuck him in the middle of the club!" Now I yell. This driver is going to give us a one star customer rating.

Marie bursts into fresh tears at that. She asks the driver to stop, he looks uneasy and annoyed like he regrets major life decisions that made him a driver with hysterical female passengers.

Marie gets out and joins me in the back seat, the driver continues the ride like he can't wait to drop us off at our destination. I pull her to me, cooing and petting her. She smells like vodka and her favourite vanilla perfume that she doused herself in earlier before we left for the club, but I don't think being drunk is the reason for this outburst.

"The bastard I was with, things got heated and we were making out, but I changed my mind midway because something felt off about him. But he wouldn't listen, and got rough with me. A dude got involved and tried to help me and he pulled a gun and everything just went to hell." Marie says in one breath. Shuddering and blubbering her way through.

"Holy hell! What the fuck? Oh my God. That's horrible Marie. I'm so sorry." I say in a relatively louder voice than Marie used to narrate her story. She digs her nail into my arm and looks up at me with an angry look. I get the idea, we have harassed the driver enough with our woes tonight.

"Imagine my horror when I started looking for you so we could get the hell out and I found you in a car with an I just had sex face." Marie is done crying and if you didn't see her crying two seconds ago, you wouldn't have an idea. That's who she is. Forever bouncing back from whatever situation she finds herself in. Always ready to grieve, let go and move on. This is her most desirable trait and one of the reasons why I love her so much.

I try to suppress my grin to no avail, it bubbles out of me as I get flashbacks of Aiden's face watching me orgasm in his arms. That euphoric feeling would stay with me for long. Hopefully.

"Ah, look at that smile. You closeted hoe." She pushes me playfully. It only makes me smile wider like a loon. One thing goes my way for once in years and I just want to enjoy it for as long as it lasts. I would never see Aiden again nor would I ever do this again, because frankly no other sex with a stranger can top this experience. And I'm really not that type of girl. This was an exception I absolutely needed.

"Give me details, Maeve. At least one of us got lucky tonight."

Hearing my name from Marie makes me momentarily regret giving Aiden the fake name. I can't imagine how much better it would have felt hearing him say my name same way he kept saying the fake name. Marie nudges me again and I gear up to give her what she wants.

I was halfway into my how I fucked a stranger and was a badass at it tale which to be honest has me exxagerating my part of the story more and with Marie giggling and giving me the I know you and that's a lie, but go on. When the driver slams on the brakes, looks back at us with a badly concealed scowl and tells us that we have arrived at our destination.

"He is so judging us." Marie giggles into my ear as she leans on me on our way to the apartment building.

"His problem." I shrug determined to not allow anything ruin my good mood tonight. I jam my keys into the door, it unlocks with a crack and we push our way in. My place is a simple two bedroom with one general bathroom. The second bedroom is used as a makeshift office and whenever I get sleepover guests who are just my parents or brother and of course Marie, they sleep in the living room or with me in my room. Over the three years I've spent living here, I've managed to make it mine in some way. Comfortable and simple. I'm also a proud plant parent.

Marie pulls two bottles of beer out of the fridge and looks at me like she just realised something.

"Did you at least check if he was married?" She takes a long drag of the beer and lets out a loud burp. That's my sign to know she's really drunk. Sober Marie would never burp like a pirate.

"Um. Ah, it didn't come up."

Shit. Shit. Why didn't it come up? What kind of person am I really?

"Hm. That's bad luck." Marie says and she starts undressing.

"What do you mean?" I ask as a feeling of foreboding comes over me. Married men are off limits. I can't bear the thought of ruining a marriage for my selfish needs.

But it was just a one time thing. A Fling. That doesn't count? Right? Fuck.

Marie is done talking, she yawns, takes her beer to the bathroom, I hear the shower running and my own fatigue makes itself known.

I would never see him again. It doesn't matter. It was just a one time thing. It can't even be classified as a fling. I repeat in my head as I go about preparing to crash for the night.