Love Triangle

It was a Monday morning, a very sunny and bright one, for that matter. The brightness of the day mirrored the hopeful feeling that Lucy Palmer was feeling. Everything was right and perfect in her life, just the way she wanted it, and she would not have it any other way. She had her job as a personal assistant to the CEO of one of the most respectable and highly successful companies at present, and her salary was something only a few other personal assistants like herself would ever dream of making. She had only worked there for four months, going on five, and was about to go on a vacation next week, a vacation that she had planned with her fiancée, Robert. The thought of Robert caused a silly grin to burst out on her face, and added a spring to her step as she walked along the busy streets to dash into a*****e so that she could purchase clothes for her upcoming vacation. He was so handsome, hot and, what’s more, he loved her very much, just as she loved him too, and that was all that mattered if you thought about it. Yeah, her life was perfect, and she had all that she had ever dreamed of needing. She could not wait to get married to Robert in the next four or five months so that they could start their lives together.  “Hmm. Someone looks extra happy today.” Anthony, the doorman at the clothing store where her best friend, Amanda, worked remarked as she approached the store and got close enough for him to talk to her. Lucy was quite friendly with everyone who worked at the store because she visited Amanda a lot. “Hello, Anthony. How are you this bright and sunny day?” She asked him, smiling fondly at him as he opened the door to let her through.  “I’m very fine, thank you, and you?” “I’m also fine, as you indeed noted some moments ago,” Lucy told him, trying her best to wipe off the silly grin she knew she had on her face, especially when a woman who passed by her looked at her with raised eyebrows, no doubt wondering what was so funny and why Lucy was grinning to herself. She also did not miss the irritation in the woman’s face, although as far as she was concerned, she had every right to grin if she wanted to, and to hell with anyone who was annoyed by it. She became aware that Anthony was still talking so, she came back outside to hear what he was saying. “Sorry, I did not know you were still talking. What were you saying?” She asked him. “I was saying that Amanda didn’t come in today. She was feeling quite sick, so she took the day off. You’re going to have to shop and choose stuff by yourself today.” “Amanda’s sick. Dammit! Why did it have to be today of all days? I’m going on vacation next week, and there’s no way I’m selecting clothes for it by myself with my ludicrous fashion sense. In fact, I took today off just for shopping so she could select stuff for me. I called her yesterday and she sounded fine. Oops! I probably shouldn’t be saying that out loud.” She finished and giggled a little before slamming her mouth shut immediately. “Well, she sounded really ill when I called her earlier. I think it’s the flu or something.” Anthony informed Lucy, taking some moments to welcome and open the door for two classy-looking women who arrived at that moment. “I should probably visit her to see if she’s okay, then,” Lucy said. The shopping would have to be at the weekend, if Amanda felt better before then, that is. Amanda was way more fashionable and world-wise than Lucy was, and usually, Lucy didn’t care about her lack of fashion sense, but this time around, she wanted to get sexy clothes for her vacation with Robert, hence she needed her friend’s guidance. “That would be nice. Do well to tell her that I miss her and that she had better be well enough to haul her a*s out here tomorrow. I’ll still tell her myself when I go to visit her later in the evening after I close from work, but you can inform her beforehand.” Anthony finished, winking at her. She bade him goodbye and made her way away from the store, dialing Amanda's number as she did so. The phone rang, but Amanda didn’t pick up, and after calling again a couple of times without her friend answering the phone, Lucy gave up. Amanda was probably worse off than she had originally thought.  She still had a few errands to run, but deciding that her friend was more important, she dashed home and quickly prepared Amanda’s favorite soup, then packaged it well in a container so that it would remain hot, before dashing over to her friend’s apartment. Her repeated knocks went unanswered, despite how loud they were. Figuring that Amanda was feeling too ill to answer the door and probably needed to be rushed to the hospital, Lucy used the spare key that Amanda had given her to open the door, only to see that the apartment was empty. “Hmm. That’s weird. Where could she be? Has someone taken her to the hospital already?” Lucy wondered to herself. She dialed her friend’s number again, but still, there was no answer, and neither did she hear the phone ring inside the apartment. Perhaps Amanda had lied about being sick and was off somewhere enjoying herself. It would not be the first time that Amanda had done that, and it surely wouldn’t be the last. Deciding to worry about her friend later if she was still unreachable, Lucy took her container of soup and headed back home, wondering what on earth to do with the soup. She wasn’t really a fan of it and had incidentally made plenty so that Amanda could keep it in the freezer and warm it whenever she needed it. Now she was stuck with all this soup that she didn’t care for at all. Making a quick decision, she changed direction again, and instead, headed to Robert, her fiancée’s house. Maybe he would want the soup. In fact, come to think of it, the chances were that he definitely would. He was a ravenous eater, who would gladly eat any and everything. Soon, she was standing in front of his door, and knocking on it. There was no answer at first, and Lucy began to wonder where all the people she cared about had gone, that they were not answering their phones or doors. Robert was supposed to be off work today, and in fact, they had planned that she would sleep over tonight, so where the hell was he?  Since she also had a key to his house, just as she had one to Amanda's house, she opened her bag and brought out her bunch of keys so that she could open the door and drop the soup in his fridge. There was no way she was taking it back home with her. However, before she could insert the key into the lock, she heard footsteps, and then the door opened to reveal a shirtless and shell-shocked Robert. He was wearing only boxer briefs and a shell-shocked look on his face, his mouth wide open. “Hey you, close your mouth. You’ll catch flies.” Lucy joked, trying to move past him and go into the house, and wondering what the hell was wrong with him. He blocked her way, but before she could ponder on the oddity of this move, she heard footsteps approaching from inside the house, and then her dear best friend, Amanda, appeared at her beloved fiancé’s back, clearly n***d underneath the blanket that she had hastily draped over her n***d body.