The Other Woman

Friends at the bottom of the bottle

"So what's been up with you, Dez?” Erin asked her. They were all out drinking. They being Dez, Erin, Hex, Carmen, and Byron. It was Saturday night, still pretty early, and they were on their first drinks. Nothing too strong, the shots would come later.
Dez gulped down some beer, marveling at the fact that it went down so easily. It was exactly what she needed after working earlier. “Nothing much. I worked today since my dad's knee has been acting up. I almost had sex with a married woman.”
She tacked on that last bit before drinking some more.
“Excuse me?” Carmen asked, leaning across the table. Her shaggy blonde hair was in her eyes and she brushed it back.
“Yeah, my dad's knee. He has arthritis in it, I think. It's been killing him lately. I've been telling him to go to the doctor, but–” Dez laughed when Hex pushed her shoulder.
“Stop fucking with us,” they said. “How do you almost fuck a married woman?”
“Well, my hand was down her panties, but she stopped me at the last second. She came onto me, mind you, but then called it off, saying she was married and that it was wrong.”
Carmen shook her head. “You guys got that far? And you were at work? This happened today?”
Dez waggled her eyebrows. “Don't tell my dad.”
“Was she hot?” Erin asked next.
“Fucking fire. If I was better prepared for the opportunity I would have had her bent over so fast. The ass on that woman was sinful.” Dez practically panted. She drank some more beer to cool off.
Byron came back to the table from the bathroom. He looked at Dez. “Who's ass are we referring to?”
“The one of the woman who almost took Dez's second virginity,” Erin deadpanned.
“Oooo, you getting back out there, bro? Man, I am so glad to have my wingman back.” Byron gushed as he took his seat.
“Maybe. Maybe not. Charlotte was probably just a one off. She checked all the boxes for me physically, and she came onto me. You know how much I love it when a woman makes it clear about what she wants.” Dez shrugged.
“There's no way being that close to pussy hasn't reawakened the beast. You don't need to commit to every chick you get between the legs of.” Erin said in her classic tactless way.
“Crass,” Hex muttered.
“But am I wrong?” Erin looked around the table. No one argued with her. “I dare you to take a woman home tonight. Break this celibacy trip before everything dries up down there.”
Carmen interjected before Dez could respond. “I feel like you are a little too invested in Dez's sex life. If she wants to stay single and sex free, then that's her business.”
Dez tilted her beer in Carmen's direction in thanks. The conversation seamlessly moved on to other matters, but Dez's head stayed on the subject. On Charlotte. She sort of lied to her friends. Yes they hadn't had sex, and yes it was because Charlotte put a stop to it and told Dez that she was married. But then Charlotte had walked Dez to the door and before she could leave Charlotte asked for her phone. Dez was still reeling from the rejection and the lingering sexual arousal, so she did as she was asked. Charlotte had typed a few things into it before handing it back, ushering Dez out with the parting words, “maybe we can be friends”. Dez didn't know what to make of it. Before all of that the woman's behavior was bizarre, but Dez chose to ignore it in favor of getting some. But giving someone you led on your number, and stating a possible future friendship with them, was beyond insane.
The thing was though, Dez was kind of thinking about it. And that was a problem–for obvious reasons–one that she didn't need her friends knowing about. Erin definitely wouldn't approve of her being friends with someone who was that fickle, and wouldn't hesitate in making her opinion known. The rest of her friends would just think she was crazy, which she was for even considering it, but would be a lot more supportive. She had no plans on telling them about having Charlotte's number either way. Hell, she wasn't even sure she was going to contact the woman, so it might not even matter.
The night wore on, and Dez managed to finish two more pints before they moved on to shots. Hex got to choose the type of liquor, and of course it was tequila because they obviously loved torturing Dez. After the second round of shots, Dez seriously questioned why she did this knowing she would arrive home barely able to stand, and then wake up feeling like shit.
So fucking stupid, she thought as she cheers'd with her friends before throwing back another shot. But I guess if I'm already making bad decisions…
She sat the glass back on the table, and fumbled with her phone. Dez squinted at the screen until it came into focus. She tapped the phone icon on the bottom corner and went to her contacts. There she scrolled to the “C's” and grinned broadly when she saw the contact named “Charlotte's Web”.
“That's funny. She's cute,” Dez mumbled. It took a minute for her to remember how to open a new text thread, but eventually she got it.
The text she sent read: “Hey beautiful. I can't not be friends with someone as beautiful as you so of course I wanna be friends. I'm drinking right now with the homies, but maybe we can hook up next weekend. Whatever you wanna do just say the word.”
Then she thought of something else to add: “And I promise to keep my hands to myself.”
“Perfect,” Dez did a chef's kiss to her phone.
Several hours later, Dez rolled over at the crack of dawn and grabbed the water bottle on the end table by her bed. She almost choked trying to drink from it while laying down, but managed not to die. She still felt a little drunk, which meant the hangover hadn't hit yet. Maybe the water would deter it. She put the bottle back. Her phone’s  screen glowed from where it was charging on the end table, catching her eye and jumpstarting her memory.
“I'm such a fucking idiot.” Dez picked up her phone and saw she had a couple notifications. Text notifications. “Shit.”
One was from Erin in the group chat. It was a selfie of her and some random chick. She captioned it saying she was going to “fuck her good tonight”. The woman was hot, but Dez could tell Erin was plastered so odds were she wouldn't have been able to perform.
“Can't wait to hear all about that.”
The other text was from Charlotte and it was a voice message. Dez played it reluctantly. “From how the text read it seems like you are already deep in the bottle, so I hope you make it home alright. As for what you said in the text… you're cute.” Here Charlotte giggled. “I'll think of something for us to do and let you know.”
She said nothing about Dez stupidly adding that bit about keeping her hands to herself.
Small blessings. Dez put her phone down again and rolled over.