Trixie-sharing?
Outwardly, Dan frowned in sympathy at his friend, but inwardly
he was doing his best to calm his blood pressure. He
bet he could keep up with Trixie, and what he wouldn’t give for the
opportunity. For years he had been in love---and in lust ---with Trixie Belden. But
Jim and Trixie had been in love since he had known them and he
respected both of them too much to mess with that. But
that didn’t stop the fantasies that came to him and he could just
imagine making love to her all night long. The
things I could do to her with a Slinky and a vibrator. Man,
if only.
A deliberate cough
shook Dan from his daydreaming
and he noticed Jim staring at him. “Oh, sorry, I
just started thinking about something. Something
completely unrelated.” Jim raised his eyebrows.
“Yeah, well, ummm…” Dan looked around desperately, trying to
change the topic. “Hey, did you know those
strawberries are all moldy?”
Jim looked down in disgust at his tray and poked at the
strawberries with his fork. “Great, they are
moldy. I am so tired, I am not seeing straight.”
“Well, you can’t trust the food here. That’s
why I stick to stuff from the vending machines,” Dan said, finishing
off his bag of chips.
“Yeah, well I was hoping for something with a bit more
nutrition.”
“Yeah, you’ll need all the vitamins you can get if Trixie keeps
expecting you to go all night long. Anyway, I need
to get to my next class.” Dan stood up, patting his black leather
jacket to make sure that he had everything. Noticing that his keys were missing, he
searched through the trash on the table, finally finding the keys under
the Doritos bag.
Jim stood up as well. “Yeah, I have to get
to my business class so I’ll walk out with you.”
* * *
The next day, Dan was once again sitting at the lunch table,
making eyes at the pretty brunette at the next table. She
was really cute, singing along with the bad music playing over the
loudspeaker. Her rendition of “Dancing Queen” was
good, but her version of “Tequila” was even better, especially when she
and her friend started talking about body shots while she peeked
glances at Dan.
He was just thinking of going over to the table and suggesting a
couple of variations on body shots when he saw Jim heading towards his
table, looking even more tired than the day before. Talking about
shots, I wish I could have a shot at Trixie.
“Hey, Jim.”
“Hey.” Jim eased himself into a chair.
“You OK?”
“Ah, I pulled a muscle last night.”
Dan started to laugh. “I think it would be
better if Trixie had pulled a muscle.”
Jim tried to frown at Dan, and then started to laugh.
The laugh quickly became a grimace, then a groan as he grabbed
his side in pain.
“Seriously, man, what did you do?”
Jim blushed. “Well, last night I was in the
living room when Trixie calls out from the bathroom that she’s out of
toilet paper. I brought some to her and then she
kinda ambushed me. She just grabbed my arms and
forced me into the bathroom, pinning me against the wall.
You’ve seen the miniscule size of Trixie’s bathroom, and well, I
must have twisted wrong or something.”
Dan nodded his head, trying really hard not to visualize himself
pinning Trixie in the bathroom. Blinking his eyes
rapidly to dispel that image, he focused on Jim. And noticed that it
wasn’t just physical pain that was making Jim uncomfortable.
Jim seemed to be looking everywhere but at Dan.
“What’s up?”
Jim looked up in surprise at Dan. “What…what
do you mean?” he stammered.
“Are you embarrassed telling that story? You’ve
told me worse, man. I mean, this isn’t anywhere
near as bad as the time the two of you got caught having sex in public
by that Japanese tourist and he started taking photos of you.”
Jim grimaced, “Yeah, that sucked. I can’t
even tell you how much money I had to give him to get the camera from
him.”
Dan laughed and then got serious. “So what’s
bothering you?”
Looking around the room, Jim scooted over as close as two men
would dare to get in public and started talking low. “Well,
look, in my business class yesterday, we were talking about how to
staff your company without overstaffing. Especially
various ways to keep down benefits yet keep your staff happy.
And one of the things they mentioned is ‘job-sharing.’
Have you heard of this?” At Dan’s no, he
continued. “Well, it’s when two people share one
job. Like two people, with part-time jobs, work the
same position at different times to make it one full-time job.
It’s particularly common for working moms, one could work Monday
and Wednesday, one could work Tuesday and Thursday, and then on Friday
they both work a half day.”
Dan looked at Jim in puzzlement, trying to figure out how the
heck this could possibly be embarrassing to Jim.
“And?”
“Well, look. I was thinking. Trixie
really is too much woman for one man. There is no
way I am going to be able to keep up with her at this pace.
So, I was thinking, well…ummm...”
Dan jerked back as he made the connection between Jim’s two
topics. “What? You’re
suggesting that you share Trixie with someone? Are
you insane?”
Jim flushed, with anger this time. “No, I’m
not insane. I’m tired. And look, I know you
want to have sex with Trixie anyway, so this would give you your
chance.”
Dan’s mouth dropped open. “Wait, you mean
you’re suggesting that Trixie and I…that we….that, what, that we..”
Jim interrupted
Dan’s stuttering. “Yes, I’m suggesting that.
OK? I figured we could work it around our
class schedule. Since my Tuesdays and Thursdays are
light, I can take her on Monday and Wednesday night. You
can have her on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. I
mean, you don’t have class on Friday, right?”
Dan nodded dumbly.
* * *
Jim and Dan could only stare as the man took
Trixie’s arm and escorted her out of the cafeteria.
Not only am I not making any money by using
(and abusing) my beloved Trixie Belden characters, but I’m not making
any money using Roarke either. But thank you so
much J.D. Robb/Nora Roberts for letting me borrow him. Oh,
and I guess we should thank Eve for letting us borrow him, although
really she’d kill Trixie before sharing Roarke.