Date: Thu, 15 Nov 2012 15:26:02 -0500 (EST)
From: Bwstories8@aol.com
Subject: What They Don't Know, chapter 5

What They Don't Know – By BW
Copyright 2012 by BillWstories
Chapter 5: Growing Tensions.

I drove over to Ethan's house in the morning and we rode into work
together.  Along the way, we talked about Chad and debated whether he'd
followed us to the movie the previous day or if it had merely been one of
those freak coincidences.  We decided to act as if it was the latter, but
we'd also try to see if we could spot him doing anything else that seemed
suspicious during the week.

Even though we didn't see Chad anywhere around that morning, something
unusual did happen.  About an hour before our lunch hour started, Maria
came over to ask us a question.

"Do you two know where you're going to lunch today?" she asked, while
flashing us a sweet, angelic expression.

"We haven't decided yet," Ethan replied.  "Why do you want to know?"

"I was hoping you'd pick something up for me," she stated.  "I forgot to
bring anything from home and I don't have a car, so I was going to give you
some money and ask you to bring something back for me.  My lunch hour
doesn't start until you two get back from yours, so it will work out
perfectly."

Her request sounded reasonable, so we elected to cut her some slack.

"What would you like?" I asked next.

"It depends on where you're going," she answered.

"Since we haven't decided on any place in particular, what are you up for?"
I countered.

"Well, the Santa Fe Baking Company has a really nice chicken Caesar Salad,"
she hinted.  "I wouldn't mind one of those."

"That will work for us, since we like to go there every now and then.  They
have a fairly decent lunch menu and the food there is always delicious, so
we'd be happy to bring you back a salad, if that's what you want," Ethan
agreed.

Maria seemed very happy and quickly handed Ethan a $20.00 bill.  Seeing she
already had the money with her, I felt she was being sincere about her
inquiry, so we decided to write this off as just another weird coincidence.

Since she had caught us early and our lunch hour didn't actually start for
another thirty minutes, we both finished up what we had been working on
before we left.  When we got to the Baking Company, we discovered another
little surprise waiting for us inside.  Almost as soon as we entered, we
noticed that Chad was already there ahead of us.  This immediately sent up
all kinds of flares, so Ethan and I quickly discussed whether we should go
somewhere else today.

We thought it might be best if we did, but we had promised to get Maria a
salad from here, so we were hesitant to leave.  Then I had an idea.  I
quickly walked up to the register, placed a take-out order for her salad
and informed the person I'd be back to pick it up in about fifty minutes.
Then Ethan and I went down the street to eat at another cafe.

"That was weird," I stated, once we were seated at the other location.

"Although I wasn't sure before, I now tend to believe that Maria set us
up," Ethan observed.

"You really think she did that?" I asked.

"Don't you find it a little strange that she asked where we were going to
have lunch, so we could pick something up for her," he began, "and then we
find Chad there when we walk in?  I'm sorry, but that's just too much to be
a coincidence for me."

Unfortunately, I had to agree with him.  It did appear as if Chad might
have asked Maria to find out where we were going for lunch, so he could be
there when we arrived.  That way it wouldn't appear as if he was following
us, since he was there first.  What better way was there to convince people
you aren't following them than by being where they're going to be before
they arrived?

After putting that behind us, we ate our lunch and enjoyed the rest of our
noon hour together, but we were still concerned about the implications of
what had happened.  It was bad enough to know Chad might be trying to catch
us doing something wrong, but it was even worse to believe that one of your
co-workers was helping him do it.

After lunch, we headed back to the office.  Luckily, I remembered the salad
before we drove all the way to work, so Ethan did a quick U-turn, drove
back and pulled up in front of the Baking Company.  Ethan didn't even park
the car, because we were only going to stay long enough for me to run
inside to get her salad.

When we returned to the office, we didn't find Maria at her cubicle, so we
thought she might have gone to the break room already.  Unfortunately, our
lapse in memory had made us a few minutes late, so her lunchtime had
actually started before we got back.  Since it wouldn't take both of us to
do this, I offered to take her salad and see if that's where she was.  When
I walked in, I found Maria sitting at a table, along with Chad.

Feeling that we'd definitely been had, I walked up to where they were
sitting and handed Maria her salad and change.  She thanked me, but Chad
looked a little guilty that I had caught them together.  He didn't speak to
me, but he did seem uncomfortable that I had found him there with Maria,
especially since I knew that he'd had his lunch already.  In fact seeing
him here seemed even stranger now than I'd first thought, because it
suddenly dawned on me that Chad always ate during the second lunch hour.
This meant that not only had he already eaten, but he must have also
switched his lunch hour for today and, therefore, didn't belong in the
break room now.  When I got back to the department, I immediately went over
to inform Ethan about what I'd just seen.

"I think that proves this was NOT a random coincidence," I told him.  "It
looks like she wanted to know where we were going to lunch so she could
tell Chad and only asked us to pick up the salad as a cover story.  Not
only had Chad switched his lunch hour so he could spy on us, but I'll bet
it was also the reason he was in the break room when I went down there.
I'm convinced he was there to tell Maria that we spotted him and then went
somewhere else to eat.  This convinces me that his showing up at the
theater was not just a chance occurrence either."

"I'll agree it does look very suspicious, but I can't imagine what he
expects to catch us doing," Ethan stated.  "There is still a small chance
that Maria isn't working with him and merely wanted a salad today, and it's
also possible that Chad just has a thing for Maria, so that's why we've
seen him with her so much lately.  Besides that, there's still a
possibility that his being at the theater and restaurant were just a
coincidence, because who knows how many other people might have been at
multiple locations with us too.  It could be that we've only noticed Chad
there because we know him, but I'll agree it's looking more and more
suspicious every time something like this happens."

"You seem to be willing to write this off more easily than I think you
should, but I'm still going to watch them both very closely from now on," I
stated.  "I'm sorry if you don't agree, but I just don't trust Chad."

"I'm just attempting to look at this from all angles, not trying to write
it off," Ethan challenged.  "You know I don't trust Chad any more than you
do, but I just want to keep us from jumping to conclusions before we have
all the facts."

"I'm telling you there have been enough coincidences to convince me that
this has all been intentional," I argued.  "He's a sneak and I don't trust
him."

After a few seconds, Ethan finally agreed that there have been too many
things happening to reasonably write them all off as pure chance, but he
still didn't want me to get too worked up about this.  He was afraid I'd
get upset and then do something foolish, which would play right into Chad's
hand.

For example, Ethan suggested that if I were to get mad enough and punch him
at work, then I'd get fired and Chad would have created the opening he was
looking for.  Ethan then went on to say it was bad enough that Chad might
be trying to dig up dirt on us, but it would be even worse if we were the
ones who foolishly supplied him with exactly what he was looking for, just
because one of us lost his temper.

Even though I understood Ethan's point and would try to control my emotions
concerning Chad, I still couldn't totally forget about what had happened
for the rest of the afternoon.  In fact, it was still on my mind when I
said goodbye to Ethan at his place later.  I was just about to get into my
car and drive off when I had another thought.

"Ethan wait up a second," I yelled out to him, as he was unlocking his
front door.

I quickly started walking toward Ethan and he made his way back to meet me
halfway.

"What's up?" he wanted to know.

"I was just thinking that maybe we should both keep on the lookout for Chad
in our neighborhoods this week as well," I suggested.  "I believe it would
be wise to see if he is actually following us around or hanging out near
our houses, so it might be smart for us to go out for a walk around the
block at some point during the evening.  It will appear as if we're only
going out for some exercise, but if we spot him at either place, then it
will prove I'm right."

"I've already agreed with you that he might be up to something, but I don't
want us to become overly paranoid about what he's doing," Ethan responded.
"If we do that, then we're bound to make a mistake and do something foolish
that will clue him into the fact that we have something to hide.  I'll do
what you want though and go out for a walk tonight, if it will make you
feel better.  I do think he's probably watching us at work, but I'm not as
convinced that he's stalking us at home."

"He has stopped by your place before and besides, how else would he have
known what theater we were going to be in?" I reasoned.  "I just think we
have to do this to protect ourselves, that's all."

"Look, I said I'll do it, if it will make you feel better," Ethan agreed.
"Just don't start acting as if you've definitely got something to hide.  I
think Chad would pick up on that."

Since we had this ironed out, Ethan went into his house and I drove back to
mine.  I kept peeking out my windows all night long and I also took a walk
around the neighborhood, which I seldom do.  I didn't think it would look
suspicious if the neighbors saw me doing this, but I never spotted Chad or
anything out of the ordinary anyway.  It wasn't for lack of trying though,
because I continued glancing out my windows until it got dark.  After it
began to get late, I got my things ready for work and then went to bed.  I
fell asleep still wondering if Chad was actually out there somewhere.

"Did you catch your spy last night?" Ethan teased, when I showed up at his
house the next morning.

"No, I didn't see anything at all," I admitted, in a hushed tone.

"I didn't either, so maybe he's not as intent on catching us as you fear,"
Ethan offered.

"I'm not sure if I'd go that far," I challenged.  "Let's just keep an eye
out for him and do this for the rest of the week.  Ok?"

"Hey, I'll do it.  I'm just not convinced he's stalking us at home," Ethan
agreed.  "If he is, I think he'd only do it on the weekend and not during
the week."

"Maybe," was all I said in response.

"Hey, why don't you have dinner with me tonight?" Ethan wondered.  "I have
something I want to run by you."

"What?" I asked.

"I'll tell you tonight," he repeated.  "I'll fix us a nice dinner and then
explain everything while we're eating."

I agreed to his proposal and we took off for the office.  I wasn't sure why
he wouldn't just fill me in during the ride to work or even while we ate
lunch, but for some reason he wanted to do this over dinner.  This wasn't a
problem for me, seeing it would give us some extra time together, but it
just made me wonder why he was being so secretive about whatever he wanted
to tell me.

The day seemed to drag on forever, because I kept wondering what Ethan had
up his sleeve, but I didn't see him do anything that made me suspicious or
had me worried.  Ethan and I also went to lunch together, as usual, but
this time no one asked us to do any favors and we didn't see anyone
following us or at the restaurant where we ate.  I still believe I'm right
about Chad, but maybe I am being a little overly paranoid.

I did, however, ask Ethan what he wanted to talk to me about, but he
insisted that he'd do it over dinner later.  I'm not sure what was up, but
he seemed set on how he wanted to do this.  Anyway, we returned to work and
finished the day, with me even more curious about what Ethan wanted to tell
me.

We didn't stop at the grocery store on the way home, so Ethan must have
picked things up for dinner some other time.  When we got to his place, we
took a quick dip in the pool, because it gave us an opportunity to relax
and unwind a bit first.  Well I'm not really sure if Ethan needed to unwind
as much as I did, because I had a lot on my mind.  Not only was I curious
about what Ethan was up too, but I also started looking for signs of Chad
tailing us as soon as we left the office.  In the end, our time in the pool
helped me to calm down a bit.

After we dried off and got dressed, Ethan began dinner and I set the table.
We had just sat down and hadn't taken more than a few bites when the
doorbell rang.  Ethan hadn't even started to tell me about his important
news yet, when he got up to see who was there.

"Oh hi, Chad" I heard him say, once he saw who was at his door.  "What can
I do for you?"

"I need to ask you a question in private," Chad announced.  "May I come
in?"

"Uh, yeah.  Sure," I heard Ethan offer.

I don't think he wanted to ask Chad inside, but I could tell Ethan was
curious about why he had shown up here.

"Oh, sorry," he apologized.  "I didn't know you two were having dinner.
What no candles," he added, with a nervous little laugh.

"Chad, what is it you came here for?" Ethan demanded.

"Oh, right," Chad replied.  "I wanted to ask you about Maria.  I really
like her, but so far she hasn't accepted any of my offers to take her out.
Since you work with her and seem fairly close, I was wondering if either of
you guys know if she's seeing someone?"

"I don't know of anyone, do you Bryan?" Ethan asked.

"I haven't heard her talk about seeing anyone either," I confirmed.

"Maybe you just aren't her type," Ethan offered next.

"She doesn't seem to mind having lunch with me or chatting at work," Chad
explained, "but she turns me down every time I ask her to go out after work
or on the weekend."

"It might be a cultural thing," Ethan suggested.  "She spends a lot of time
at home with her family."

"You mean she doesn't live alone?" Chad followed.

"No, she lives with her parents and seems very close to them," Ethan
answered.  "Come to think of it, it might be a multi-generational household
as well.  If I remember correctly, I've heard Maria say something about her
grandmother, as well as an aunt, uncle and couple of smaller cousins living
there too.  Maybe it's just that she would prefer someone with a similar
ethnic background."

"Yeah, maybe you're right," Chad agreed, while looking quite dejected.

"Chad, I don't want to be rude, but my dinner's getting cold," Ethan
stated.

"Right.  I'll be going then.  Thanks for your help," Chad told us, as he
left.

"That was really strange," Ethan observed, as he took his seat at the table
again.

"Did you catch his comment about the candles?" I asked, concerned.

"I did, but didn't think much about it," Ethan replied.

"Are you kidding me?" I nearly shouted.  "He was implying that he was
surprised we weren't having a romantic candlelit dinner.  Don't you think
that means he knows about us?"

"I just thought he meant that since we were having a nice dinner, we should
have added the ambiance too," Ethan replied.  "You can have an elegant
dinner without it being romantic."

"Oh, come on," I whined.

"He didn't say why don't you turn off the lights and use candles instead,
because it sets a better mood," Ethan challenged.  "If he'd done something
like that, then I would agree that he was suggesting we were having a
romantic dinner."

"He did do that!  You just won't admit it," I challenged.

"Maybe he just has a thing for Maria and that's why we see him around so
much," Ethan offered.  "Maybe he's there to watch her, not us."

"Wouldn't dating Maria end his chances of transferring to our department?"
I challenged.  "If they were dating, then it would be no different than our
situation."

"True, but he still may be chasing her, not us," Ethan insisted.

"She wasn't at the theater with us when he showed up," I scoffed.

"Maybe not, but it's possible some of these things are just a coincidence
and the rest is because he's interested in Maria," Ethan reasoned, although
I still didn't agree.

"Maybe he knows that we've caught on to the fact that he's recruited
Maria," I offered, "so now he's faking having an interest in her to cover
up what he's actually doing."

Ethan shrugged his shoulders and we resumed eating.  After a few minutes of
silence, Ethan finally broached the topic he'd hinted at earlier.

"Bry, what I wanted to talk to you about..." he began, and then he
hesitated momentarily.  "I want us to go away for a weekend, where we can
be alone and do whatever we want, without worrying or caring about who else
sees us."

"Do you mean where we can have sex?" I countered.

"Not just to have sex, but somewhere we can kiss, cuddle, hold hands and
just enjoy each other for a couple of days, without having to do it behind
closed doors all of the time," Ethan replied.

"That sounds good to me," I confessed.  "Did you want to do it this
weekend?"

"I'm not sure if I can make the arrangements quickly enough for this
weekend," Ethan answered, "but I'll try.  If I can't, how about next
weekend?"

"Either would be fine with me, as long as I can be alone with you," I
confirmed.  "Do you have any idea about where you want to go?"

"I was thinking we could go to Vegas," he announced, "because there are
lots of things to do there.  We could catch a show or two, gamble, sightsee
or just spend most of the time alone in our suite.  What do you say?"

"I'd say it sounds really nice," I concurred.

"Great!  I'll start making the arrangements then," Ethan agreed.

We finished our meal and both of us were more upbeat than we were right
after Chad's unexpected visit.  We didn't say anything more about him, and
personally he never crossed my mind again for the rest of the evening,
because now I was thinking about Ethan's suggestion.  I was totally focused
on spending one of the next two weekends alone with Ethan and considering
all the possibilities it might lead to.

I really wanted to spend tonight with Ethan as well, but he said maybe we
shouldn't do anything like that until we went away.  Since Chad had shown
up earlier, he reasoned that if he was truly watching us, as I suspected,
then we wouldn't want him to see that I was spending the night after a
private dinner.  Ethan figured doing that might just be too blatant of a
clue for him to dismiss.  Reluctantly, I agreed and went home.  This time I
was kind of kicking myself for having managed to heighten Ethan's concerns
enough that he didn't want us to spend the night together.  I guess I only
have myself to blame though, since I'm the one who has been pushing my
suspicions about Chad.

The following morning, Ethan and I had another chat on the way in to work.

"I got on my computer after you left to see if I could make arrangements
for our little trip," Ethan announced.  "What I discovered is that we
actually can go this weekend, if you still want to."

"Yeah, that would be great," I agreed.  "I think we could really use a
weekend where we can actually be ourselves and totally enjoy each other."

"Great, then I'll firm up the plans later," Ethan announced.  "All you'll
need to do is pack a bag to take with you."

Ethan then told me what things he'd suggest I should bring with me.  Since
I saw no problems with his recommendations, I agreed with his proposal.  I
would pack my bag and then bring it with me Friday morning, when I met him
to go to work.

"What would you think about taking Monday off too?" Ethan wondered.  "That
way we won't have to rush and we'll be able to enjoy ourselves a little
longer."

"Will we both be able to get it off?" I challenged.  "Our department isn't
that large, so will they allow two of us to take off at the same time?"

"I don't think we'll have any problem with that," Ethan answered, "because
it's just the typical workload right now.  We're not at the end of the
month, so we don't have that routine to worry about, and we don't have any
special projects going on, so it should be fine.  I'll ask today and find
out if it's possible, as long as you're in agreement."

"Sure.  That sounds good to me," I confirmed.

The day passed by fairly quickly and quietly.  Ethan got the ok from our
boss for both of us to put in to take Monday off, so we filled out the
required paperwork for her to sign and forward to HR.  I was really upbeat
and looking forward to the weekend, as we drove home that night, but it
also made me a little sadder than usual when I had to say goodbye to Ethan
and got ready to go back to my place.  As I was driving away, it suddenly
dawned on me that I'd soon be spending the weekend with him, so that
thought made me feel really good again.

Thursday flew by in blur.  The workday went smoothly, except for when Maria
came over to speak with us again.

"I hear you guys are taking Monday off," she began.  "Are you going away or
something?"

I thought she was being a little nosy and almost told her to go away and
mind her own business.  Then, I realized that she might become even more
suspicious if I didn't respond to her question, so I was determined to give
her an answer, but with as little 'accurate' information as possible.

"We're attending a mutual friend's wedding over the weekend and we just
wanted Monday to recuperate," I told her.  "We'll probably be partying
pretty hard, so besides being worn out by the long trip, we'll most likely
be a little hung over too.  We just felt it might be best to have the extra
day to rest up."

"Ah, where's the wedding?" she wondered.

"It's in Florida," I told her.  "That where the bride and groom are from."

"It sounds wonderful, so have a good time," she offered, as she headed back
to her desk.

As soon as she walked away, I went over to Ethan's cubicle and mentioned
what had just happened.

"Yeah, she must have come to me first then," he confirmed, "but I just told
her that we were taking off to attend to a personal matter."

"Well, I told her we were going to a friend's wedding in Florida," I
confessed.  "I hope I didn't do anything wrong by telling her that."

"Nah, it's no big deal," he responded.

We left the conversation that way until lunchtime, when, we picked it back
up and discussed it in more detail.

"Don't you think it's a little odd that she asked both of us?" I wanted to
know.

"Yes, I do find it a little strange, but it's probably because I didn't
tell her anything," Ethan admitted.  "I was afraid that if I gave her any
specifics then our stories might clash, so I chose to make up a vague
reason to explain what we were doing.  I figured I wouldn't give any
details and leave the story up to you – not that I'm saying you're a
better liar than I am."

"I'm glad you clarified that and I'm happy our stories didn't clash," I
added.  "I never considered that she'd ask both of us, but I thought it
would only make her more curious if I tried to blow her off.  That's why I
decided it would be better if I gave her some information, but I had to
come up with something quickly, so I hope my explanation was alright."

"Yes, you did well.  What you told her is a very plausible reason why we
would be going away together, so you handled that correctly," Ethan
offered.  "I'm also beginning to think you might be right about her working
with Chad.  They've just done too many suspicious things that are beginning
to add up to be more than just a series of random coincidences.  In fact, I
don't think she asked us about this trip for herself and I think Chad might
have asked her to get the information for him."

"I'm glad you are finally ready to admit that," I replied.  "I think Chad
is using her to spy on us and I think he is doing his best to dig up any
dirt he can, so he'll be able to get one or both of us fired.  If he's
successful, it will provide him with another opportunity to try to transfer
to our department."

"Unfortunately, I agree," Ethan confessed, "although I don't think our
manager wants Chad working for her either.  I'm not sure what it is about
him, but she doesn't seem to have a better impression of him than we do."

"Then he'll be doing all of this for nothing," I observed.  "I wish we
could just convince him that she'll never hire him anyway and then maybe it
would get him off our backs."

"If only it were that easy," Ethan observed.

After work, I headed home and finished packing.  I planned on taking my
suitcase with me in the morning, because we were going to drive to the
airport to catch our flight directly after work.  I was actually getting
very excited about this trip and had just dragged my suitcase into the
living room when the doorbell rang.  I just prayed it wasn't Chad checking
up on me.

"Oh hi, Joe," I said, when I saw my neighbor standing on the other side of
the door instead.  "Come on in."

"Are you going somewhere?" he asked, when he noticed my suitcase.

"Yes, Ethan and I decided to get away for the weekend, so we can have a
little privacy and enjoy ourselves," I explained.  "We think that guy from
work you overheard us talking about the other day is trying to catch us
doing something wrong so he can take one of our jobs.  We even think he's
recruited a girl in our department to help him too."

"I'm sorry to hear that.  It must be very nerve-racking," Joe said.  "So
where are you going?"

"We thought Las Vegas would be good," I replied.  "It's far enough away to
keep Chad and Maria from finding out what we're doing, so we'll be able to
be ourselves.  Maria was even nosy enough to try to find out what we had
planned and asked where we were going, so I told her we were traveling to
Florida to attend a wedding."

Joe laughed.

"Good one.  Hey, I'll keep an eye on your place for you, if you want," he
offered.

"Sure, that would be great," I answered.  "So did you come over here
because you wanted something?"

"Nah, I'm just being a good neighbor and thought I'd check in on you and
see how you are doing," Joe explained.  "I know settling in at a new
location can be tough, but you seem to be doing just fine."

"I am, but thanks for caring," I countered.  "It's nice to know you are
just next door."

After we talked a little while longer, Joe said goodbye and returned home,
leaving me to finish up my preparations for the trip.  I think I'd managed
to do everything by then, but I thought it would be best if I
double-checked, just to make sure that I hadn't forgotten anything.



I'd love to hear what you thought of this story.  Please email me
at bwstories8@aol.com.  Thank you.


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