DAMIEN
I was thrilled to get that text from Meara asking if she could come over. I didn’t want to reach out myself because I wanted to give her space. Sean told me what happened between them, but the way he put it, it was a one-off thing. He hadn’t meant to kiss her; he was just swept up in the moment.
“I don’t even think about her like that, bro,” Sean explained, pacing my office.
“It’s okay,” I said.
“Are you sure?” he asked. “Because I wouldn’t complain if you wanted to punch me right now.”
“I don’t want to punch you,” I scoffed. “I don’t have any claim to Meara.”
“That’s bullshit. You guys are in here every afternoon.”
“Every afternoon except this one,” I agreed. “But that’s just to show her the ropes. There’s nothing illicit happening in my office.”
“Pity.”
“I thought you said you weren’t interested in her.”
“I’m not,” Sean said with a grin, “but that doesn’t mean I’m blind.”
“I appreciate your honesty.” I tried to shut the conversation down. It had gone on long enough and I was getting uncomfortable.
It was true that Meara and I weren’t exclusive. We hadn’t talked about going steady or whatever it was called when you were an adult. No trust had been violated by a simple kiss, and even though I did want something more with our new intern, I couldn’t be angry with Sean. He came straight to me to let me know what had happened. That wasn’t the action of a back stabber. I forgave him easily and looked at the encounter as water under the bridge. It just fortified my determination to talk to Meara. I needed to tell her how I felt and ask her if she would like to be monogamous. That way, I could be sure that random kisses wouldn’t happen again.
Kent walked in as we were winding up. He looked from one to the other of us and asked what was going on. It was clear that we weren’t discussing work-related things from the general air of the room.
“Sean kissed Meara,” I offered.
“What?” Kent demanded.
“It was just a friendly kiss,” Sean defended himself. “She sent flowers to my father, and I just wanted to thank her.”
“With a kiss?”
Sean shrugged. “It seemed appropriate at the time. Afterwards, I started thinking.”
“There won’t be any awkwardness in the office,” I assured our third partner. “Sean and I are cool.”
“That’s great,” Kent scoffed, folding his arms over his chest. “It looks like I’m the only one who hasn’t kissed her.”
“This isn’t high school,” I snapped, irritated by his proclamation. “We’re not going to pass Meara around like some slut.”
“Hey, man,” Sean objected.
“I said we weren’t going to do that,” I clarified.
“That’s not what I meant,” Kent defended himself.
“So, what did you mean? You think you have a right to kiss her now because Sean did?”
“I think both of you knew that I was interested in her.”
“Was?”
“I am interested in her. But I took a step back because she is clearly into you.” He pointed at me. “I didn’t realize that we were all going at the same time.”
I wanted to punch him. He was being so vulgar and so entitled. Just because Meara had chosen to sleep with me and chosen to kiss Sean didn’t mean that Kent had any chance. We all worked in the same office, but that didn’t mean a goddamned thing. I knew that he was interested in her because he wouldn’t shut up about it. I wished he would just keep his opinions to himself.