Date: Fri, 23 Nov 2012 14:53:48 -0500 (EST)
From: Bwstories8@aol.com
Subject: What They Don't Know, chapter 7

What They Don't Know – By BW
Copyright 2012 by BillWstories
Chapter 7: The Problem Escalates.

The next morning I met up with Ethan and we rode in to work together, as usual.
As we entered our department, we were somewhat surprised when several of our
coworkers began welcoming us back, because they also seemed eager to learn
if we had a good time at the wedding.  We weren't exactly ready for this type of
greeting and didn't understand how so many of them were aware of what we had
supposedly done.

We had only told Maria about the made-up details concerning our trip before we
left, because Ethan and I didn't feel we should share this information with more
than just her.  After all, 'our trip' was entirely fabricated in the first place and we
realized that it was usually best not to spread a falsehood.  This was due to the
fact that the more people who knew about a 'lie,' no matter how innocuous and
trivial it might seem, the greater the likelihood that someone would uncover the
truth and you'd get busted.  Therefore, we tried to remain silent on this issue, but
it now appeared as if someone else must have spread the word about what we
were supposedly up to.

When it came to the question about why both of us took the same day off, Ethan
and I had anticipated the others would conclude that we had done it so we could
go to an appointment, run some errands or possibly that we had something else
planned that was far less exciting than going on a trip.  We never expected they
would assume we took the day off so we could go somewhere together, let alone
to a wedding, but apparently that wasn't how it turned out.

Since we'd only told one other person about our cover story, it now appeared that
we'd discovered something else about Maria.  Along with everything else we'd
suspected about her, it now seemed as if she also liked to gossip.  I would
definitely try to keep this in mind when I had any future dealings with her,
especially if there was something I wanted to keep secret.

This bit of knowledge also provided me with the answer to another unasked
question I'd been wondering about.  If she was the one who told everyone in our
department about what we'd supposedly been doing this past weekend, then it
seemed only logical that she would have also told Chad about our plans.  Even if
he hadn't directly asked her to seek out this information for him, I felt he probably
still knew about it anyway.  After all, I was fairly positive she wouldn't have
excluded filling him in about this bit of gossip, since they often spent time
together, or so it seemed.

Actually, I should be fair to Maria and not automatically assume that she was the
one who told EVERYONE else about our plans.  It was possible that she might
have only told one or two others about it and then those people spread the word
to the others in the department, until everyone knew the story.  Even if that was
the case, Maria still had no right to tell ANYONE else our business.

This situation was still on my mind when Ethan and I went out to lunch that
afternoon, so I decided to check with him about something else that had been
bothering me.  I wanted to know if Maria had approached him again, in order to
gain more information about our fictional weekend away.

"Did Maria ask you about the wedding?" I confronted him, as soon as we were in
the car.

"Yes, she did, but I just gave her an abbreviated version of the cover story we'd
agreed upon," Ethan advised me.  "Did she ask you about it too?"

"She certainly did and I told her the same story," I confirmed.  "When did she
come to you?"

"I ran into her shortly after we first arrived this morning," Ethan informed me.  "I
was heading back to get a couple of things out of the supply cabinet when she
stopped me.  She made it sound as if she was just being friendly."

"Friendly my eye, but that means she got to you first," I announced, sarcastically.

"So when did she ask you about it?" Ethan wondered.

"She didn't ask me until mid-morning," I confessed.  "I was on my way back from
the men's room when she stopped me in the hallway.  I'm not sure if she followed
me out there and then waited for me to finish up my business, or if she just
happened to be there when I came out.  It certainly makes me wonder though."

"Yes, I think it would definitely be more worrisome if she followed you out there
just to ask you about the wedding," Ethan confirmed.

"I'm not sure I follow your line of thinking," I confessed.  "Why do you think that
would be worse?"

"I suspect that if she followed you out there, then it would seem to indicate that
she wasn't just trying to sate her own curiosity," Ethan explained.  "Otherwise, I
think she would have just waited and asked you the next time she ran into you.  I
have a feeling it means that she'd been requested to get this information for
someone else instead.  I think that hunch is corroborated by the fact that she
asked both of us the same types of questions again."

"Why do you say that?" I followed.  "She didn't do anything different than what
she did before we left, because she asked us both about our trip then too.  So
why do you think this time was different or worse than before?"

"Well, I understood why she asked both of us the first time, since I kind of
brushed her off and only told her we were taking the day off for personal reasons,
" Ethan reasoned.  "This time, however, I gave her a decent answer, so my
explanation should have been sufficient to satisfy her curiosity, if she was only
interested in seeing if we'd had a good time.  Since she asked both of us again, it
makes me think she was not only trying to find out what we did or if we'd had a
good time, but I have a sneaking suspicion that she was also trying to trap us
and find inconsistencies between our stories."

"Ok, I see what you mean now," I replied, "and that prospect would definitely be
quite troubling.  If she did follow me out there, then I agree it would certainly
indicate that she is working with Chad.  How do you think we can find out for sure
if that's what she did?"

"I haven't any ideas, unless someone else saw her do it, but now there is
something I want you to tell me," Ethan replied.  "How in the world did you know
we'd need a cover story in the first place?"

"I didn't know we would for certain, but I did figure that she might ask us more
questions about the wedding once we got back," I answered.  "Since she had
seemed so curious about what we were going to be doing before we left, I merely
assumed that she'd also show the same amount of interest about it when we
returned."

"So you came up with the story because of a hunch?" Ethan followed, while
eyeing me with a fair amount of skepticism.

"Sort of.  As you know, I've become extremely suspicious about her intentions,
because I'm still toying with the idea that she's actually working with Chad," I
confirmed.  "I really would like to know if she's doing that for sure, so we'd know
whether Chad sent her to ask us those questions or if she did it on her own.  It's
possible she may have simply been curious, or just plain nosy if you'd prefer.
The reason I say that is because there wasn't a great deal of time after word got
out about us both asking to take Monday off for Chad to put her up to it before we
left.

"The thing is," I continued, "she did seem really interested in what we'd be doing
when she asked me to give her all of the details about our trip.  I'm not sure why,
but I still got the feeling that she didn't want this information just for herself.  Even
if she had acted alone the first time, they definitely had time to conspire before
we got back, so I'm slightly more convinced that by quizzing us both when we
returned that she's definitely working in collusion with Chad."

"If she isn't working with him, then it tells me that she must be the biggest gossip
around," Ethan observed.  "It was kind of obvious that everyone else knew the
supposed reason for our trip, so I can only assume she must have told at least a
few of them.  I have to admit that it really surprises me to discover this about her
though, because I've always trusted her and never suspected that she suffered
from this particular character flaw before."

"So you didn't know that she was a gossip before this happened?" I asked.

"I know some of the other people in the building like to spread stories around, but
I'd never heard that she was one of them," Ethan told me, before pausing briefly.
"You know, now that I think about it, I can remember another time when Maria
might have been the one to disclose information she was asked to keep secret.
Out of the blue, I just happened to recall another incident and now can't help but
wonder if Peggy Gruber told anyone else about her pregnancy or if Maria might
have been the one to spread that story around too."

"Huh?" I followed, somewhat moronically.

"Peggy Gruber is a woman who used to work here," Ethan answered, "and one
day when she was in the break room with Maria and me, she accidentally let the
news slip that she was expecting.  As soon as she realized what she'd done,
Peggy made us promise not to tell anyone else.  I wasn't sure why she did that,
except possibly that she was worried the State would make her start her
maternity leave before she wanted to, but I didn't think it was a big deal.  At the
time, I didn't suspect Maria would share this bit of information, especially since
Peggy had sworn us to secrecy.  That's why I was totally surprised a month later
when I heard that some of the other people in the building knew about Peggy's
situation and were planning to throw her a baby shower."

"So do you think Maria was the one who told them, even though she had
promised the woman that she wouldn't?" I challenged, to make certain I
understood what Ethan was saying.

"Looking back at what went down, I certainly have my suspicions now," Ethan
confirmed.  "Peggy told us that she was waiting to reveal the news to her
husband on his birthday and didn't want to take the chance that someone else
would tell him before she had the chance.  Unless she'd made a similar mistake
and told another person about it later, then Maria had to be the one who started
spreading the information.  I know for certain it wasn't me."

"So what happened when word got out?" I asked.  "Did it create a big problem?"

"Yes, someone happened to say something to Peggy's husband before his
birthday and it created a major hassle," Ethan explained.  "Peggy and her
husband even ended up getting divorced because of it, a few months after the
baby was born, and Peggy never came back here to work."

"What!  They got divorced just because someone else told her husband about
the baby?  Why would he do that, just because someone else told him she was
pregnant?" I wondered.

"Peggy's husband thought she hadn't told him because she wasn't sure if the
baby was his, not because she wanted to surprise him," Ethan informed me.  "He
felt that since she was trying to keep this information from him, it meant that
she'd been having an affair.  Even after the paternity test proved the baby was
his, he still had his doubts about whether there had been another man.  Besides,
by that point too many things had been said and too many feelings had been hurt
to make the marriage work again."

"Damn, that's awful!  Did you explain to Peggy that you never told anyone?" I
wondered.

"I did and she thanked me for keeping her secret," Ethan responded.  "She also
informed me that she wished others had been so considerate."

"Wow, I guess Maria really screwed things up for Peggy then," I mused.

"It certainly appears that way," Ethan agreed.

"I'm glad I know this about her now and I'll make certain not to tell her about
anything that I don't want spread around," I replied.  "It reminds me of the old
navy saying during times of war that 'loose lips sink ships.'  We don't have a ship,
but she could sink us nonetheless, especially if Chad is on a fishing expedition."

"You're right about that and I'm certainly glad you made us coordinate our story
before we came back to work," Ethan announced.  "If you hadn't been smart
enough to have us do it then we might have given her conflicting stories and
aroused their suspicions even more.  Then, she and Chad could have screwed
up our lives as badly as Maria did for Peggy."

It was a somber and terrifying thought.

When we returned to work after lunch, the rest of the afternoon proved to be
fairly quiet.  No one came over to talk to us about anything besides work related
topics and we didn't run into Chad until we were going to the car on the way
home.  This immediately raised my suspicions, because it appeared as if he was
waiting for us.

"Hey, guys.  Did you have a good weekend?" he asked, as soon as we got close.

"Yeah, it was better than most," Ethan responded, without elaborating.

"I take it to mean that you had fun at the wedding then?" Chad followed.

Although we were both somewhat surprised that he came right out and asked
this, Ethan managed to keep his cool and answered his question, nonetheless.

"Yes, we did," he confirmed.

"I was just a little surprised when I heard that you two were attending the
wedding of a mutual friend," Chad followed,  "Since Bryan just moved here a
short time ago, I didn't think you would have had time to make any friends in
common yet, except here at work."

We both thought this comment was more than a little forward and indicated that
he'd apparently put some thought into it before confronting us.

"Yes, I suppose that would seem a little strange," I responded.

I did this because I noticed that Ethan appeared to still be considering the
implications of Chad's last statement.  Since I didn't want Chad to read his
silence as an admission that his assumption was correct, I came up with another
story on the spot.

"In fact I was a little surprised myself when I discovered that Ethan knew
someone I had grown up with.  You see, I went to school with the bride, since we
grew up in the same town, so I was surprised to discover that Ethan had met her
after she had graduated from high school," I stated, but didn't elaborate further.

"Wow, it certainly is a small world," Chad commented.  "It's even more amazing
that you were each close enough to her that she invited both of you to the
wedding."

"That's not exactly how it happened," I clarified.  "The bride originally emailed me
to ask for my current address, so she could send me an invitation.  Since I hadn't
spoken to her in a while, I emailed her back and asked for her phone number, so
I could call and give her the information instead.  We ended up spending quite a
bit of time on the phone catching up on what each other had been up to.  Then,
after I gave her my new address she told me she went to college with a guy who
lived in New Mexico and told her he was applying for jobs in the Santa Fe area.
When she mentioned Ethan's name to me and asked if I happened to know him,
I was temporarily in shock.  Not only that, but she was absolutely flabbergasted
when I explained that I not only knew him, but we also worked together."

"So that's how you found out you were both invited to the same wedding?" Chad
pressed.

"No, she hadn't invited Ethan at that point, since they'd lost touch and she didn't
know how to contact him," I added.  "After she discovered I worked with him, she
asked if it would be alright if she included him on my invitation and said we could
both bring dates, if we wanted.

"When I told her she could definitely include him on my invitation," I continued, "I
also informed her that I wouldn't be bringing a date, since I hadn't met anyone I
was interested in yet.  I told her I'd find out if Ethan was going to come and if he
wanted to bring someone with him, and she told me that would be fine.  Then,
she stated that she hoped I could talk him into coming with me and even made
me promise to tell him that she'd love to see him again and hoped he would
attend the wedding.  When I relayed her message to Ethan, he said it sounded
like a great idea, because he'd like to see her again too."

"So you were close to her in college?" Chad followed, while staring at Ethan.

"We had quite a few classes together and took part in a great many of the same
study groups, since we had the same major," Ethan interjected.

Fortunately, Ethan seemed to pick up on my story and then built upon it.

"That is truly amazing," Chad responded, while giving us the impression that he
didn't buy any of it.

We finished our conversation shortly after that, so Ethan and I got into my car
and drove off.  As soon as we were heading out of the parking lot, Ethan turned
toward me and spoke.

"How the hell did you come up with that story so quickly?" he wanted to know.

"Well, I realized Chad was correct in thinking that it was a long shot that we
would know the same person, especially since I haven't been in the area for very
long, so I just took it from there," I replied.

"Yeah, I got that, but how did you come up with the story you told him, since we
never discussed anything like that before?" he challenged.

"I know we hadn't talked this over first, but I grew up having to think on my feet,
to cover for the fact that I was gay," I began.  "I merely figured that since I'd told
them the wedding was in Florida, then it would be more likely that I would have
known the person from when I lived there."

"Yes, I got that part too, but how did you come up with the story about me?" he
continued.

"I just figured that if she and I had grown up together in Florida, then the only way
you could have known her too was if you had met her in college," I explained.
"Didn't you like my answer?"

"Like it?  I thought it was absolutely brilliant," Ethan confirmed.  "I was totally
impressed that you were able to come up with the whole damn story off the top of
your head and it was all totally believable."

"Thanks, and I'm glad you jumped in at the end, but I'm not sure Chad bought it
as well as you did," I confessed.  "He acted as if he thought the entire story was
just too big of a coincidence to be believable."

"It wasn't any more unbelievable that we knew the same person than having him
show up at all the same places, and at the exact same times, when we were
there," Ethan replied, as his way of letting me know it didn't matter.  "We both
know he's suspicious of us anyway, as we are of him, so why should we care if
he didn't really buy your story?  Even if he doesn't want to believe it, your
explanation still made sense and was very plausible, at least as plausible as
anything Maria and he have cooked up so far."

I had to agree with his analogy, but I was still slightly worried that this wasn't the
last time we'd hear from Chad on this matter.  I was concerned that he might
keep digging until he discovered a flaw in our story.

After we arrived at Ethan's house, I stayed there for about another half hour so
we could make out for a while.  Even though we were a little concerned that
Chad might have driven over to see what we were up to, we weren't about to let
that stop us.  We had double-checked and made certain there was no way he
could see into the house to find out what we were doing, so we didn't give a
damn if he sat outside and contemplated what we were up to.  Since our little
discussion in the parking lot, we didn't think he'd have the balls to actually walk
up and knock on the front door now.

Before I left, Ethan told me he was going to arrange for us to get away and spend
a little more private time together this weekend, but it wouldn't be an overnight
trip this time.  He'd concluded that since Chad was appearing more aggressive
about his suspicions concerning our possible relationship that it might be best if
we didn't hang out together locally.  Instead, Ethan said he'd figure out
something else we could do together, away from the local area.

While we were discussing this, we also agreed that we'd try to get away for an
overnighter at least one weekend a month, but without journeying too far away
from home.  These excursions would be just far enough from the local area that
we'd be out from under the attention of prying eyes, meaning Chad's, and none
of these forays would be as elaborate as our trip to Las Vegas.

We also agreed that we wouldn't be taking off any more days from work
whenever we went somewhere.  We felt it would definitely cause way too much
suspicion if we were to take more time off together or advertised that we were
going places with each other too often.  I'm certain doing that would only play into
Chad's suspicions and help to confirm that we had something to hide.  We still
were going to do it, but we were going to keep everything under wraps.

In addition to that, we also concurred that after we finished doing whatever Ethan
came up with for us to do this weekend, we would hang out for a while at my
place afterward.  I know we both wished we could spend the night together as
well, but it was just too risky, under the circumstances.  We concluded that it
would be best if we spent the night alone and slept in our own beds, just in case
either Maria or Chad were to drive by either place to see if both cars were in the
driveway.  It would be difficult to explain that away, if they noticed it late at night
when the house was completely dark.  This wasn't a perfect solution, but it was
the best one we could come up with for now.

While we were at it, Ethan also informed me that he was going to start exploring
some other employment options as well, such as finding out if he could transfer
to another department with the State.  He was also going to look into what other
positions might currently be available at one of the other local businesses.  The
only problem with this plan was that it wasn't exactly a good economic
environment in which to be job-hunting.  Regardless of how difficult it might be,
Ethan felt it was still worth looking into, especially if it would allow us to be
together and not have to sneak around any longer.

Since the employment situation was so tough in the current economy, Ethan had
also considered merely requesting that he and Chad be allowed to swap
positions, since he knew Chad wanted to move to our department.  Ethan then
explained that the biggest problem with this idea was that Chad had a very
boring and dead-end job, which could effectively curtail, or possibly even end,
Ethan's career.  It would definitely reduce any chance he might have to move
ahead with the State.

You see, such a move would effectively put him in a situation where there would
essentially be no way to advance within that department and he would only be
able to make lateral moves.  The only chance he would have to move up would
be if the department manager were to leave, and since there were several others
in the department with more seniority, the likelihood that he'd be the one chosen
to replace the manager was extremely slim.  Knowing this, it would mean that
Ethan would either have to transfer to another department later in order to get
ahead or leave government employment completely and try to get a job in the
private sector.

Seeing those would be the same choices he was currently facing, Ethan figured
he might be better off just going ahead and exploring those same options now.
Since he had come to this conclusion, he decided to forget about the idea of
swapping jobs with Chad.  It did, however, explain why Chad was so desperate
to transfer to our department.  The only question left was how desperate was he
and how far would he go to get out of the terrible situation he found himself in?




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


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