Good Friends

She had to admit it though, he was Elliot's best friend and he hadn't so much as touched her since the incident. He had also never tried it again. She often wondered whether it had been as bad for him as it was for her. Even though she hadn't let him ejaculate inside of her, she cleaned herself out very thoroughly. Three times in fact, but she still hadn't felt clean for days afterwards.

Kathy also thought that Mark, as they'd aged, was beginning to think about a home and family of his own. Lately he'd been doing things around the house with Elliot. He'd even expressed interest with her earlier about whether or not there was the possibility of Steph being his child.

She really needed to talk to Elliot as soon as possible. He was acting weird. Usually that meant he was nervous or planning some kind of surprise for her.

"Mark, do you know anything about why Elliot is acting so weird?" she asked.

"Well, he almost bit my head off when I asked him if he wanted me to go on the beer run with him," said Mark. "So I'm sure that something is going on."

"Mark is he planning on surprising me with something today?" asked Kathy.

Mark looked away from her and refused to make eye contact.

"God Damn it Mark," snapped Kathy. "Cut the bullshit and just tell me. You and I have too much shit between us and too many secrets for you to pull this shit now."

"It's nothing bad," said Mark. "If I tell you, it'll wreck the surprise. I couldn't do that to him."

Kathy just looked away and checked on the rest of her guests. It took Elliot nearly 2 hours to come back from his beer run. The party was in full swing when he got back. Elliot noticed that Mark was keeping himself scarce. If Elliot didn't know better, he'd have suspected that Mark knew that Elliot knew.

Then Elliot noticed the reason for Mark's anxiety. Sally was at the party. This was the first time that she'd been to any social event that Elliot could remember since her divorce that Mark had also attended. Even at work they avoided each other.

Since their children had been born, Kathy didn't work any longer. So Elliot doubted that Kathy knew that Mark and Sally avoided each other.

Sally was sitting with the kids talking to them about school and other things. She looked up and smiled when she saw Elliot. "Hi Elliot," she smiled. "My God, they're getting bigger every day." Elliot had to tread very lightly around certain subjects with Sally. He tried to stay away from talking about the kids, because since her abortion had gone badly, Sally couldn't have kids.

He also tried to avoid talking about his marriage most of the time, because Sally had been one of the victims of the battle between the sexes. She had taken her shots at love and lost every time. Her husband, whom she now idolized and hoped would someday return to her, had never tried to contact her. As far as she knew they were still legally married, he'd just run off.

Mark, the man she had played around on her husband with, had also dropped her like a hot rock as soon as she'd gotten pregnant. She'd dated a lot of men since then but none of them seemed to want her as more than just a temporary bed partner. She envied Elliot and Kathy so much. If only she knew, thought Elliot.

"When I look at them I remember all the way back to when you were the shyest man alive. That asshole friend of yours had to scheme and plot to get you two together. Did I ever tell you that it was us who came up with the idea to siphon the gas out of Kathy's car?" she asked.

"You always were a good friend, Sally," said Elliot sadly. "You were there from the very beginning of this thing. I guess it's only fitting for you to be here at the end." His words chilled Sally. Before she could ask him what he meant by that, Elliot walked away. Sally was about to go after him and ask him, but Kathy came over to her and hugged her.

"What's wrong Sal," asked Kathy cheerfully.

"Oh nothing," said Sally. "Just something Elliot said.

"What did he say?" asked Kathy. Before Sally could answer Kathy saw Elliot make a beeline for the house. She'd thought she heard the doorbell ring, but everyone she had invited was already here. She looked over the fence and saw what she thought was a minister standing at their front door.

Mark was standing near her smiling. He nodded his head at her. Kathy watched as Elliot gave the man some money and he left. Elliot was too nice for his own good. Even though he didn't really go to church, some preacher came by and Elliot gave him money.

"What a softie," she said. Kathy looked over at Mark expecting him to agree with her but saw that Mark had a weird look on his face.

"Mark, what the fuck is going on?" she asked.

"I don't know," said Mark. "Maybe he changed his mind. I'll try to find out."

Kathy saw that everyone was sitting around in small groups eating. Elliot was sitting with her parents talking and laughing as if everything was normal. There was something seriously wrong though, she could feel it. The odd thing was that only she, Mark and Sally had noticed.

Kathy was sure that Mark didn't know what was going on. He did know something about some surprise that Elliot had for her but that was all. She needed to talk to Sally again, but when she looked for her, Sally was gone. Kathy knew that Sally couldn't stand to be around Mark for very long. She'd probably come to the barbecue, saw Elliot and herself, played with the kids for a while and then left.

Kathy knew that looking at Mark always reminded Sally that she had ruined her life and her marriage for sex with a man who's only value was between the sheets. The other 98% of the time Mark was useless.

Just thinking about it made her realize her needed to hug her husband at that moment and let him know how precious he was to her. She looked over to where he'd been sitting with her parents and found him gone again. Someone told her when she asked that he'd gone into the house again. This was frustrating for Kathy. They had guests so she couldn't simply disappear, but she really needed to be with Elliot. She put it in the back of her mind. She was a grown woman. She was thirty four years old for God's sake. She didn't need to hug Elliot or hold his hand every five minutes, did she? Okay, maybe she did, but they'd be together tonight as they always were.

Had they ever gone this long without kissing each other though? At breakfast things were normal. He'd kissed her right after breakfast while she loaded the dishwasher. He even did that silly thing he did where he stood next to her and spoke to the kids. All the kids ever saw was their daddy standing next to their mommy with his arm around her. They never even paid them any attention. What they didn't know, was that while they spoke, their daddy had his hand under mommy's dress and in her panties from behind. That was why she had told Steph to tell him that he was going to get it tonight.

Tonight and every night, she thought. Things had been normal then. Slightly after breakfast Mark had arrived with his bimbo du jour. The two of them had gotten into an argument right on the front porch and she'd called a cab and left. That asshole didn't even have the class to drive the woman home.

Kathy had actually seen Mark do that several times. He'd purposefully done and said things to goad the girl into an argument so she'd leave. He always did that when women got clingy or hinted that they wanted something other than just sex. What a bastard.

Shortly after Mark arrived, their other friends stared to arrive as well. That was when Elliot had bolted for upstairs and Steph had found him. Kathy didn't know whether or not to believe the part about him crying. He hadn't spoken to Mark yet, but it looked like either Mark or one of their other friends had upset Elliot.

The thing she couldn't figure out though was why he hadn't confided in her. Surely he knew by now that she loved him so much that she'd give her life for him. As a matter of fact, he hadn't spoken one word to her since just after breakfast. She hadn't realized that it had been that long. There was definitely something wrong. The bulldog started to come out. Everywhere Kathy looked she saw freeloaders. Fucking cheap assed people, masquerading as friends who only wanted to eat her food, drink her liquor and keep her away from her husband.

Mark came over and asked her where the pool scoop was because the kids were throwing toys in the pool again. Kathy looked at him as if she was going to kill him. "As often as you're over here you really should fucking know that by now!" she snapped at him.

A second later she remembered that it had been losing her temper that almost lost her Elliot, so she forced the bulldog back in his cage.

"I'm really sorry Mark," she said. "I'm really worried about Elliot. There's something going on and it's driving me crazy. He hasn't kissed me since breakfast."

"Kathy, Elliot loves you," said Mark. "You can take that to the bank. Never doubt it. I've never seen anything like it, I was jealous of it for a while. Don't tell him I told you. Let's make this another one of our deep dark secrets but he hired a minister to renew your vows today, in front of all of your friends and family. I don't know why he didn't go through with it. You know how he gets those attacks of Shy Elliot syndrome from time to time. But he really does love you."

"I know," said Kathy. "But I just have this feeling that something is hurting him and he won't let me share it with him. The pool scoop is just inside the garage. Thanks Mark, for helping and for being so understanding." In most cases there'd have been a friendly hug at a moment like this, but neither of them even thought about it. Kathy and Mark never touched each other, ever.

"Why don't you go and find him and hug his brains out," said Mark. "There are only a few people left, just your parents and one or two stragglers. I can handle them. I'll cover for you."

Kathy looked throughout the house and couldn't find Elliot anywhere. He wasn't in their room or the den, or the office or the kitchen. She checked the kids' rooms and even the garage. On a whim, she checked the spare bedroom. Elliot was lying face down on the bed. She went over to him and saw that he was asleep.

She decided to let him sleep until she got rid of everyone and then she'd find out what was going on.

An hour later, Kathy was back in the spare room. "Elliot, Honey get up and come to bed," she said. "Unless maybe you want to try out this room instead?"

She shook him and tried to wake him up. "I'm sorry, I'm not feeling well," he said.

"Well come on and come to bed," she told him.

"Kathy, I don't want to risk giving you whatever I have. I think I'm going to sleep in here," he said.

"No," said Kathy. "I don't want you to sleep away from me."

"Kath..." he began.

"No God Damn it," she snapped. "Not now, not ever. Whatever you have, we'll just both have it."

Elliot wouldn't budge. So Kathy just said, "Fine." She stretched out on the bed next to him and wrapped her arms around him. "Tomorrow we're going to talk about this."

Kathy and Elliot were both very heavy sleepers. They often woke during the night and went to the bathroom to relieve themselves and got back in the bed and resumed sleeping. Elliot got up very early that Monday morning, showered and went to work. What was different about that Monday was that he took two suitcases full of clothing and personal items with him as well as a number of suits and shoes.

When Kathy got up the next morning to get the kids ready for school, she felt strange for a while and didn't remember where she was. Then it all came back to her. Elliot had been sick last night and had wanted to sleep in here to avoid making her sick. He must've felt better this morning and went to work. She vaguely remembered him kissing her goodbye and saying something to her before he left. She couldn't remember what it was, but the kiss alone had made her feel better.

She got her rug rats off to school and preschool and came home to start cleaning what was left of her house after the party. As she came into the kitchen she saw the message light blinking on the phone. Sally had called her this morning. She remembered that she'd wanted to ask Sally about something at the party the day before so she decided to call her back.

"Hey Sally," she said. "What's it like to still be a working slob after all of this time?"

"You could have told me?" said Sally. "When Elliot made that weird crack yesterday, it made no sense to me."

"What weird crack?" asked Kathy.

"Yesterday I reminded Elliot about how I helped to get you guys together all of those years ago," said Sally. "He said that since I'd been there in the beginning it was fitting for me to be there in the end."

"He said what?" asked Kathy.

"But then this morning when he handed me his paper work to start processing, it made sense. It's going to be a really sad place around here and things will never be the same," said Sally.

"Sally, what the fuck are you babbling about?" snapped Kathy.

"Elliot handed in his resignation this morning," said Sally. "They haven't accepted it and they'll probably try to talk him out of it..." Sally stopped talking when she realized that Kathy had hung up the phone.

Kathy called Elliot as quickly as she could dial the phone. His cell phone went straight to voice mail. The changeover was immediate so she knew that he had blocked her calls. She went into their bedroom to change clothes so she could go to the plant. She always just threw on a pair of sweats to take the kids to school but she needed to dress to go to the plant.

Kathy felt terror as soon as she opened the door. All of Elliot's drawers were open and empty. His closet was nearly half empty as well.

Kathy called Elliot's office and spoke to his secretary. Rhonda was a nice older woman who'd been at the party yesterday. She put Kathy through after thanking her for the invitation and the wonderful time she'd had.

"Hello," said Elliot.

"Elliot, what's going on?" asked Kathy in tears.

"Look Kath, Rhonda wasn't supposed to put you through. I guess habit got the best of her. But we may as well do this now. I really can't begin to tell you how much I loved you. You were my world. You'll never even know that I'm gone, financially. I'll make sure that you always have enough money. This won't ever be like Sally and Bob, so don't worry about that," he said.

"Elliot what are you talking about?" screamed Kathy.

"Kathy, I know," he said.

"You know what?" she screamed. "What the fuck do you know that's making you act crazy?"

"I heard you and Mark talking yesterday," said Elliot. Kathy's head exploded. Her worst nightmare had just come true.

"Elliot, that was over six years ago," cried Kathy. "Please don't do this, can't we talk about it?"

"Kathy ever since I met you, I've been walking around in a dream. I never could figure out what someone like you saw in me. I always figured that you should have been with someone smooth and slick like Mark. You know, a guy with a gift for dealing with women. I guess he had the last laugh after all. He's always told me that he fucked every secretary in the building, except one. Then when you quit, he was kind of glad. He told me that his record was perfect now. I always thought that it was because with you no longer working there, he'd fucked every secretary in the building. I see now that it was because whether you worked there or not his record was still perfect. I guess you guys have had a lot of laughs over the years. My lawyer will arrange my visits with the kids. We need to be very careful that this doesn't upset them any more than it has to. I know this doesn't mean much, but I really did love you."

"Elliot, don't say DID. It hurts too much. Please don't ever say that. You DO love me. And I love you too. Forever, remember. This wasn't what you think. Please let me explain this to you when you come home."

"Kathy, I won't be coming home, ever," said Elliot.

Kathy felt like she wanted to die as she heard the dial tone. Elliot was still at work. There was no way she was letting him leave her. She got into her Cadillac CTS that Elliot had given her for her birthday. In less than two minutes, she was on the freeway weaving in and out of traffic.

This was her worst nightmare. No wonder Elliot had acted so strangely. He'd carried all of that pain and rage around with him all day yesterday. Sitting and talking with her parents and their friends as if nothing was wrong, but all the while he had to be dying inside.

There was no fucking way she'd let her marriage end this way. She had finally started to relax about the whole stupid incident and now nearly seven fucking years later it was back. She told him a hundred fucking times to fight for what was his. So now she had to show him how it was done. She would fight for her marriage with everything she had. There was simply no way she would let Elliot leave her.

Kathy went into a tight corner way too fast. The sign on the freeway read "Speed limit on curve 25 MPH". Kathy was going nearly 80. Her car slid completely off the freeway into the concrete barricade that lined the curve. The car bounced off of the barrier and flipped over 6 times before coming to rest. The beautiful car that had entered the curve was gone leaving only a twisted hunk of metal with a fragile and torn up human inhabitant barely clinging to life inside.

The fire department did their best. The Jaws of Life cut, tore and pried the $60,000 dollar wreck carefully from around her. It was all up to the Med-Evac pilots from there. They got her to the hospital in less than five minutes.

Elliot got there 10 minutes after she was loaded onto the table. He pushed his way into the emergency room just in time to hear the ER doctor pronounce her dead. A burly security man pushed Elliot and Sally and her parents out of the room.

Elliot had tears in his eyes as he looked at the lifeless body on the gurney. As the security men tried to push him out of the room, he felt a strength he had never known. He simply refused to move, as the big security man pushed, Elliot stood fast. He heard the blaring alarm from the devices monitoring Kathy's vital signs and he let out a plaintive call. "Kathy," he cried.

Then he cried even louder as he tried to fight his way past the security men who were unable to move him. "Kathy!"

"Sir, you aren't helping anyone," said the frustrated security man. "Let the doctors do their jobs."

"She's gone son," said Kathy's father. "They didn't hold out much hope when they pulled her out of the car." He gripped Elliot's arm as if trying to give him strength.

"I just don't understand why she was driving that damned fast. According to the witnesses, she was going over eighty miles an hour into that curve. Mario Andretti couldn't take that curve at 80."

The door to the visitor's waiting room opened and Mark walked in. He walked over to his lifelong best friend to try and comfort him. "El, I'm so sorry," Mark began.

Elliot turned very slowly and punched Mark in the face as hard as he could. All of the rage he'd been holding in erupted into the punch and knocked Mark flat on his back. Mark was so dazed that he couldn't stand up. It didn't matter as Elliot threw himself on top of him and started beating Mark unmercifully.

It took a few seconds for the shock to wear off and for people in the room to grab Elliot and pull him off of Mark.

The security guards restrained Elliot and handcuffed him. They called for a nurse who took one look at Mark and got a couple of orderlies to load Mark onto a gurney and move him into another emergency room.

Mark had two black eyes. The orbit of his left eye was damaged, so he had to have an eye patch to limit the movement of that eye for a few days or at least until the swelling went down. His jaw was bruised and his nose was broken. Elliot's attack had been so brutal that Mark had gone into shock and had been unable to move for the first few moments. During that time he hadn't even been able to block or ward off Elliot's blows. His cheekbone had a hairline fracture, so talking and eating would be painful for a while as well.