Under Oath (Part 17)
Title: Under Oath (Part 17/?)
Authors: eric_idle_rules, homo_pink and wrestlemanix
Pairings: Ted DiBiase Jr./Cody Runnels, John Cena/Randy Orton
Rating: Overall NC-17
Summary: Ted is 47 and the President of the United States. Cody is a student at George Washington University in DC who applies for an internship program at the White House. His best friend is lawyer Randy Orton. John Cena is one of the president's most trusted security guards.
Word Count: 7107
A/N: This is our first ever ménage à trois, but it's been a great experience trying to get all three of our styles to blend together so smoothly. I hope you all enjoy this! I sure know we have!
Disclaimer: None of us own the WWE. Or the US government
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16
Banner made by Cassie, one of my friends on FB
Carol actually smirked at him. He’d never seen her smirk before. “So, maturity, experience, good conversation, a big shoe size and what was it? Right, amazing accent. Like what? English? Scottish? Australian? Or maybe you like those down home Southern boys,” she said.
Cody hoped the shock didn’t read on his face at that little comment. “No, I, um… all of the above.”
“So, you’re not that picky, then?” she asked.
“As long as all the other criteria are met,” he replied.
“I can’t believe you’re single, though,” she then said.
“You can’t? Why’s that?” he asked her, looking slightly amused.
“I mean, you’re gorgeous for starters. Can I just tell you that if I were a man and I were gay, I would hit that?” she then confessed to him.
“Thank you… I’m sure if you were a gay man, you’d be just as handsome as you are pretty,” he replied. “And I’d probably want to hit that, too.”
She smiled and pushed his shoulder lightly. “And there’s another reason why I can’t believe you’re single. You’re funny and charming and you are a great conversationalist. What guy wouldn’t want you?”
Cody shrugged. “It’s probably more on my end,” he told her. “Believe me, I’ve met plenty of guys that want me… it’s just that I don’t want them. I mean, not for any significant sort of relationship. A blowjob is one thing, a relationship is another,” he muttered to her.
“Cody!” she exclaimed, but kept her voice low.
“Well it’s true,” he said with a grin.
“You’re so wicked,” Carol giggled and Cody found himself chuckling along with her. It’d been a while since he’d met a girl he could just get on with; most of them, even if they sussed he was gay, seemed determined that they could ‘change his mind’ and then became all offended when he was pretty honest with the fact that he wasn’t interested. This was definitely a refreshing change.
“Well, no sense in lying about this sort of thing,” he said, “If you’re after something then you need to be completely honest about it right from the get-go.” Carol cocked her head to the side contemplatively and smiled, “I’ll be sure to point them in your direction if I ever meet any attractive gay men.” After all, if Phillip got his act together then she would owe Cody one.
Knowing the chances of this happening were slim but appreciating her sentiment all the same Cody nodded, “Go for it.” He did cast a furtive look around to make sure that Ted wasn’t anywhere in the vicinity; the last thing he wanted was to rouse the man’s jealousy again… even though it was incredibly erotic when he got all possessive over him.
“So, given your description,” Carol asked, pretending to be messing with some paperwork when they attracted momentarily attention, “Is there someone you like?” Cody could have sworn her eyes moved to Chad for the moment and he almost choked on nothing. No offence to their fellow intern but he just wasn’t the sort of guy he’d go for.
“I can’t really say that there is,” he answered, wanting so badly to look towards Ted’s office. Sitting right there was the man that he knew he loved, yet he couldn’t tell a single person about it. It stung a bit; he’d never been with a guy before and not been able to talk about their relationship.
“Are you sure?” she asked and this time Cody was positive that she glanced at Chad. “Not even for a blowjob?”
Cody snorted, but then promptly covered his face with his hands as a few people looked towards them. “Excuse me,” he said, trying to cover it as a sneeze.
“Bless you,” Carol added, playing along.
Cody thought about her question for a moment. If he hadn’t fallen for Ted, he honestly probably would have taken Chad back to his place. But he had fallen for Ted and the older man was doing everything he could to make it up to him for treating him the way he did. Had he run into Chad that night instead of… whatever his name was, he would have let him suck him off. But the fact of that matter was that he was with Ted, in a matter of speaking, and he couldn’t bring himself to get sucked off by anyone else, even if he wasn’t able to be with Ted much and he really, really needed to get off. “No, um, I don’t think so.”
“Really? You don’t sound very sure of that.”
“I’m… yeah, I’m sure.”
“I still think you’re lying to me,” she said.
“I’m not lying.”
She raised her eyebrows at him, still not believing that he was telling her the truth. “Maybe you’re just not giving the right guy a fair shot.” Cody just shrugged at her. “Unless you’re lying to me about being single because you don’t want me finding out too much about your personal life?” she suggested.
“No!” Cody looked startled at the assumption. “I’ve never lied about anything to do with my personal life and I’m not about to start now. Besides, lying about relationships is what spotty pre-pubescent bullies do,” he said with a firm nod. Obviously that wasn’t counting the fact that he had been fucked by the President. And had sucked the President’s cock. Numerous times now.
“Sorry, sorry,” Carol said, realising that she might have pushed a button with him a little and then cursing herself for not realising how her words might be taken. “But really, what if I said I knew there was someone who would be interested in going out with you?” she asked him, suddenly rather eager.
“Well, we’ll have to see after Friday won’t we?” Cody said, knowing he had to keep up a pretence of looking forward to this date and all since Carol was under the impression that that was how he felt about it. “Who knows, if it doesn’t work out then I could probably do with the pity-fuck,” he added the last part to ease off the seriousness of the conversation a little.
And mercifully, as he had hoped, Carol bought it, startled into a fit of giggles once more. Cody returned his attention back to work before more pointedly exasperated looks could be levelled at them, looking at his phone on his knee. Would it be completely inappropriate to give Ted just a little text?
Nothing like before (he’d need to have another look at those pictures later) but just to see how he was doing. There was a small, somewhat daring part of him that also wanted to tell him that Carol was apparently attempting to set him up with someone and how he could best handle it since that someone, he was pretty sure, was a fellow intern.
However, he found that he had no time to send even a quick text to Ted, because one of the employees came over to his desk, dumped a large stack of papers on his desk and told him that they all needed to be organized and filed before being presented to the President for review.
When the man was standing in front of his desk, Cody rolled his chair in closer to the desk, phone sitting on his leg as he brought his other hand to rest on the desk, all the while praying that his phone didn’t drop to the floor, because he did not need to have his phone taken from him for having it on his person while on the clock. Especially considering just what was on that phone.
He managed to slip his phone back into his desk before beginning to sort through the papers. He never knew just how easy it was to tire of manila folders. At least everyone else in the room was given pretty much the same task.
Watching a few people bring their stacks of folders into Ted’s office, Cody decided to sit back and wait. Ted would get his folders eventually, and he didn’t think he could face Ted in front of others after what they did last night… and he was sure that Ted wouldn’t do too well seeing him after what they did last night.
Cody remained at his desk, pretending to still be filing papers into their proper folders as he watched the interns file in one by one. Chad, however, stopped by Cody’s desk as he waited for him to finish talking to Jeremy. “They must love all this free help.”
“I would imagine… who wouldn’t love having ten young, brilliant minds doing your work for you for free?” Cody asked, keeping up conversation. He just knew that Carol had been sending a message to Chad, and he was guessing that Chad had received it by now.
“Exactly. You think he’s gonna hire any of us on as permanent staff?”
“Maybe if they’re hiring new staff members and anyone here wants to stay on here,” Cody said. “Does that mean you’d want to stay working at the White House?”
“Are you saying you wouldn’t want to stay here even once the internship is over? It’d be a nice, steady job at least… right in the heart of the political world.”
“I didn’t say that,” Cody replied. “I wouldn’t mind staying here at all.” It would at least give him an excuse to be close to Ted… “But on the same note, I wouldn’t mind going out and entering that very same political world.”
For a moment Chad looked surprised, “You mean go out there and work your way up again somehow?”
Meeting his eyes Cody shrugged and nodded, “Well, yes, why not? Staying here would be all well and good, and interesting, but at the same time I can’t help thinking it’d be stupid to pass up potential experiences that I could gain for myself because I’ve gotten comfortable here.” He fell quiet when he realised Chad was staring at him, fighting the urge to blush suddenly.
“Do I have food on my face or something?” he knew very well that he didn’t but it seemed to make Chad realise that he had been seconds away from getting to gawking and he grinned at him. “Nope…” his eyes drifted over Cody’s face, “Your face is perfect.” Cody wanted to roll his eyes but refrained; it could have been a genuine compliment and it wouldn’t do to offend him. It’d be awkward.
But, still, how many times had he heard that over the years once puberty had hit? Of course his mum and dad had always called him perfect but that was a parents’ love for you; he could have been born with a third eye in the middle of his forehead and he knew his doting folks would still claim he was the most handsome man to ever walk the earth.
“You seem to have thought it through quite a bit,” Chad said suddenly, cutting through Cody’s thoughts and the intern had to work quickly to catch his mind up to what his colleague had said. “Oh, yeah, well, never too early to think about the future right? And being even an intern here is sure to open up doors for us once the programme’s over no matter where we end up.”
Chad looked contemplative for a moment and nodded before winking in what was a slightly charming, if unbelievably smarmy way, “I think I’ll stick with the cushy job here if the offer gets thrown my way though.” Someone called out to Chad suddenly and Cody was sure he didn’t imagine the disappointed look that appeared on his face before he bid him goodbye and headed off.
Sighing slightly (he really hoped Chad just had a temporary crush or was just in want of a lay otherwise this could get problematic) Cody then gathered up the folders and headed towards Ted’s office when he saw that Jeremy had vacated it. He was the last one now, just as he had planned it. He composed himself as best he could and then knocked on the office door, waiting for Ted’s admittance.
“Come in!” Ted called, knowing who would be entering his office.
Opening the door, stepping inside, then shutting the door behind him, Cody headed over to Ted’s desk and set the files down. “I’ve gone all day without seeing you,” was the first thing Cody said.
Ted didn’t say anything before he stood from his chair, walking the few short steps from his seat to the edge of his desk where Cody was. He then ducked his head and brought their lips together in a kiss. His hands cupped Cody’s cheeks as their tongues slid together. Once he pulled away, Ted told him, “I’ve been wanting to do that since last night.”
“Damn,” Cody muttered, slightly disappointed when Ted sat back down in his chair. “You really did like those pictures, then.” He then moved around to the front of Ted’s desk and sat in one of those chairs.
Ted opened up the top folder as he looked to Cody. “I never…” he shook his head slightly. “Those pictures…” He looked back down at the files, unable to come up with the words to describe them.
“I really liked the pictures you sent me, too,” Cody said. “A lot.”
Without looking back up, Ted nodded in agreement as he signed off on one of the papers. “Yeah… I did, too.”
“Ted… I want you again,” Cody whispered across the table. He figured that was a given considering what they had said and sent to one another the night before.
“I do, too. But I… I don’t know…” He briefly looked up to Cody, his eyes saying all that he couldn’t. That he wanted Cody, too, but he had no idea when they’d be able to do it again. He then looked back down at the papers he was supposed to be reviewing.
“I hate this,” Cody said. “It’s just not fair. I could go out, fuck some skank at a bar and it would be ok… but I can’t be with the one person that I really want to be with.”
“I know, Cody. I know. I… Last night I wanted you there with me even more than I did before. I wish things could be different for us,” he said.
“I don’t mean to complain,” Cody murmured. Randy called him a whiny bitch all the time and he knew he had a tendency to be as such--- something he didn’t want Ted to see if he could help it because it really wasn’t flattering. “But it’s just hard, you know?” and for once he wasn’t making some innuendo. Ted nodded, his expression softening, “I know. Believe me, I know.”
That was reassuring; at least it wasn’t just him finding it hard to cope.
“You’ve been pretty busy today, huh?” Cody asked, striving for something else to talk about since this would be the last he got to hear Ted’s voice that day before he clocked off for the night in less than an hour. Unless he called Ted later… but he wasn’t sure that he could actually risk that. For all he knew he’d have security on his head if they checked Ted’s phone records and sussed out it was his number.
Not that they would know what they were talking or texting about unless they bugged the phone--- and he knew that there were rules about that even for the president limiting what can and can’t be done. “You doing anything tonight?” Ted asked him and for a moment Cody had the surreal thought that Ted was asking him out--- and then he twigged.
“Oh, not much… bit of food shopping probably and a couple of boring domestic chores that nobody likes doing…” and that he knew Ted probably no longer had to do for himself anymore. He had no idea if he could cope like that; he was too independent to give up things like that even if he did generally hate them. “What about you? Not working all night surely?” he asked.
“I’ll try not to,” Ted shrugged and then waved a hand at the pile of paper that he still had on his desk, “But from the look of things I’ll at least be eating dinner in the office.” Cody immediately looked unhappy about that, but it wasn’t as though he could comment. It wasn’t his place and it wasn’t as though Ted could exactly scrimp on his work.
“Nothing I’m not used to, though… Well, when Kristen’s home, she does get me out of here for dinner, at least,” he said. “But then it’s usually right back here… she doesn’t like when I bring work into our living quarters.”
That hit Cody like a ton of bricks. Ted had a wife. He had a life with her. A life where they could be together and they lived together and slept together… the kind of life that Cody could only dream about. “Oh.”
“Shit,” Ted muttered. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be… Sorry. My dog doesn’t like it when I bring work into the living quarters, either,” he then said, that being his best attempt at changing the subject.
“Well, yeah, you can’t neglect the dog,” Cody replied.
“No you cannot,” Ted agreed, smile returning.
“You ever let him run around this place before?” Cody asked.
Nodding, Ted answered, “Not intentionally. It was about a week after we moved in… we’d been really good about keeping Riggs in our wing, you know, where the bedroom and living room is… and then that day he managed to get away. We must have chased him through every damn wing in this building.”
“Where’d you end up catching up to him?” Cody asked, now curious.
“Just outside the front door taking a shit in my wife’s flower garden,” Ted recalled with a smirk.
Laughing, Cody said, “I imagine the folks out walking around Pennsylvania Ave got themselves an eyeful that day. The President and First Lady running around breathless to catch their dog taking a shit for the public to see.”
“Yeah, what a way to welcome us to the White House.”
Cody grinned. At least for a split second. “Well, I should probably get back to my desk.”
“Probably,” Ted agreed, though he sounded highly reluctant. They were running out of time to be together before Kristen came back. Tomorrow was the last day that Cody would be in for the week, and Kristen was due back Friday. And when she got back, she would probably want to spend as much time as possible catching up with Ted. Wonderful.
Before Cody could get completely out of the office Ted found himself blurting out, “Cody, may I call you later on?” that was probably going to be the best they could do after all, since meeting was impossible.
Or almost impossible since Ted knew that his security had been upped a little after his disappearing spell that other time he went to Cody’s, though he knew that they didn’t think he had noticed anything. Surprised, Cody glanced over his shoulder and then gifted Ted with that beautiful smile that he always found himself spacing out over.
“I’d really like it if you did,” he told him honestly. He would have called Ted if he could, but it was more risky for him to catch Ted at a bad time than it would be for Ted to catch him. “I’ll… talk to you later then,” he smiled and nodded and Cody nodded in return before excusing himself and heading out of the office. He sighed softly as he settled back at his desk.
“What’s that sigh over?” asked a voice suddenly and Cody jumped, banging his knee on his desk, yelping softly. Carol immediately looked stricken, “Sorry, I’m sorry! I thought you heard me come over.” Near the end of the workday things got a bit laxer so the interns moved freely from one another’s desks the way they couldn’t risk doing earlier on. “Not quite,” Cody mumbled.
“Sorry,” she repeated and Cody waved a hand to let her know it was OK, pushing his chair back enough to stretch his leg out and rub his knee lightly. “What did you say?” he asked her, having missed her question because of his knee having a close encounter of the painful kind with his desk. “I asked why you were sighing,” she repeated, wheeling her chair up beside him.
“Oh, nothing, just beginning to feel a bit tired is all,” he told her with a moment’s quick-thinking to cover his lie. It wasn’t as though he could tell her the real reason, regardless of the fact that they seemed to be getting closer to one another now. She nodded, apparently accepting his reasoning without hesitation, “You don’t realise just how tired paperwork can make you, do you?”
“It’s all that tiny black text on the blindingly white paper… that you’re stuck reading for line after line,” Cody said.
“True enough,” Carol agreed. “Gonna be an early night for you, then?”
“Most likely,” Cody said.
“Well, you’ve got to rest up for tomorrow, anyway,” she told him, giving him a sly little wink.
“What exactly are you thinking will happen tomorrow, anyway?” Cody then asked, smirking a little, which probably didn’t help her ideas out in the least bit.
“Oh, nothing,” she replied.
“Nothing? Really? The way you keep going on about it… talking about resting up for the date… Carol, are you really promoting sex on the first date?” he asked her. As if that would actually happen… unless Ted really did manage to screw everything up between today and tomorrow and Cody ended up in need of a desperate fuck… but then Randy said the guy didn’t put out on the first date, so that plan was out the window.
“I never said anything of the sort!”
“Besides, the guy who set me up told me that the prude doesn’t fuck on the first date,” Cody told her.
“Does that mean you do?” she asked, raising an eyebrow at him.
“A true gentleman never kisses and tells.” Her eyebrow seemed to rise even higher. “Ok, fine, I have before. But not all the first dates I’ve been on. Just once. Back in college. Funnily enough it was actually Marcus, the guy who owns the salon I told you to check out,” he said.
“You used to sleep with him?!” she asked, astounded, but she still managed to keep her voice low enough that others wouldn’t hear what they were talking about.
“Yeah… we’re still friendly, though… I mean, he’s a bit older, and he ended up finding a guy closer to his age and they’re actually married now,” he said. “I still get all the perks, though,” he said, now slipping her a wink.
“You mean all the freebies at the salon?” Carol asked and Cody nodded, privately thinking back to a very amusing post-wedding party that had ended up culminating in several embarrassing photos that they burned whilst nursing the mother of all hangovers and complaining about what the greasy-food they had consumed the night before was going to do to their waistlines.
“Were you upset when you broke up?” she asked curiously and Cody leant back in his chair, thinking about it. “Yeah, I was a little, I mean, we had a good time together you know? But I really like his husband and they are perfect together, and he and I still get on the same as ever… just minus the sex. We weren’t in love or anything.”
And, even if she asked, she wasn’t going to be told who was the only person he had been in love with prior to Ted-but of course he wasn’t about to tell her about that either. If word got around even slightly about that then he knew that Ted wasn’t the only one who would react badly to it; John would undoubtedly have some negative feelings towards it too.
Not that he blamed either of them but he would still prefer not to go through that. “We had a good run, and it got me the best salon care and treatments known to man so I’m not complaining. He’s the reason my skin looks so incredible by the way.” It was one of the first things he’d been asked by the female interns, ironically, when they had actually begun making an effort to speak to him.
“I’m definitely going to check that place out… and shamelessly exploit the fact that I know you, but you already said that I’m allowed to so I won’t feel guilty about it.” Cody laughed at the rather swift comment and gave a playful little clap, “You’re getting quicker Carol; stick with me and I’ll have your acid tongue in top shape in no time,” he teased.
“That a promise?” she asked.
“Of course. Though soon enough you may very well be putting said tongue to other uses,” he replied, smirking.
“Cody!”
“What? Are you saying that we can talk about my sex life but not about yours? Really? After all I’ve done in getting Philly over there to actually man up and do something about his little schoolboy crush on you? No, you’re not getting out of it that easily,” he told her.
“A lady never kisses and tells,” she replied.
“Unless she’s gushing to her gossip hungry girlfriends,” he said, pointing to himself.
She rolled her eyes. “Well, it’s not as though there’s anything to tell, is there?” she asked.
“No, not about Phillip… not yet, anyway… that doesn’t mean that you don’t have a past that you’re just waiting to spill to me about,” he said.
“Well, right here’s not the time or the place to have that conversation,” she told him. “Come out with me after work. We can go grab a coffee, wind down. I promise I won’t keep you out past your bedtime,” she added teasingly.
“Are you sure Phillip won’t get jealous?” he asked, grinning at her.
“Now that’s a promise that I can’t keep. If that happens, you can just remind him yet again how gay you actually are.”
“It just astounds me in the first place that I had to tell him how gay I actually am to begin with. I mean, it’s not like I’m trying to be obvious about it, but people do tend to notice,” he said.
Carol nodded. “I know what you mean… It took me a little bit of time to figure it out, but once I did-”
“You asked me how I got my skin so perfect?” he finished for her. It had been rather out of the blue, he’d been minding his own business, waiting to clock in, when the two women came up to him to compliment him on his skin.
“Actually… yes,” she admitted. “I feel like such a… such a douche for not trying to ever get to know you before that.”
“All water under the bridge now,” Cody promised her, patting her hand lightly.
Though he wouldn’t deny that there were occasions when he could be a right bitch Cody never held a grudge… unless it was something major and he had as of yet any way of being able to get revenge on them for it. And even then those occasions were far and few between and more contained to his younger days than now. Carol looked hopefully at him.
“Really?” she said and Cody nodded his head, “Honest and truly, Carol.” He knew she had just been lashing out at the time because she was in a male-dominated environment and he had obviously been the easy target since Ted had personally acknowledged him. He could just bet how much they would hate him if they knew how Ted really felt towards him.
“So, are we going for a coffee after work?” she asked and then grinned, “Who knows? Play your cards right and I may even let you treat me to dinner.” Cody once again fell into light laughter at that; she did seem to be coming out of her shell a little more thanks to her interactions with him. “Yeah sure,” he nodded, “Though dinner we’ll have to see about.”
Company would be nice even though he had promised he would try to limit how much he had been eating out, but then he had to remember that Ted had promised to call him… and what if he called him when he was out with Carol? Cody would quite possibly kill himself for that call because that night would be the last night they could call before his missus returned.
And again, despite himself, Cody felt jealousy rearing its ugly head towards Kristen. He couldn’t fault her for anything, it wasn’t her fault she had fallen for Ted and married him, but at the same time Cody couldn’t help but feel an intense animosity towards her because she had what he wanted. Why couldn’t he have been born earlier or something, damn it?
The final few minutes ticked away until it reached 5 o’clock. When it was time to clock out, everyone got up from their desks to go and grab their things and make their way out. Carol caught up with Cody, who was waiting just outside for her (though he was wishing he could have gone in and seen Ted just one more time). “Any ideas about where you’d like to go?” Cody asked as soon as he saw her.
“We are in the center of a major city… I think we’ve got a few places to pick from,” she replied. “Do you have any favorite coffee places?”
“Of course I do,” he began, looking around quickly to make sure that Phillip wasn’t around before he continued, “but you are the one that asked me out.”
“So, you’re saying you want me to decide?” she asked, to which he nodded. “Ok, then. Get in your car and follow me.”
They both got into their cars and headed out of the parking lot. Cody followed her closely, running a few near red lights in the process. When she put her blinker on in the street, he knew she was pulling down into a little side lot. They managed to both find spots, not next to each other, but they were still in the same lot. They met up by her car before walking up to the front door. “You been here before?”
“Yup,” he answered. He didn’t come here too often, since he was on the other end of the city, but it wasn’t as though he excluded this place completely.
“Ok. You like it here?” she then asked him.
“The couple times I’ve been here, yeah, they’ve been really good,” he told her.
“Good. I mean, it’s not like I’d have changed my mind on where we were going, I’d have just made you dig a little harder to try and find some coffee drink here that you like.”
“I do like their smoothies here,” he said.
“Those are good,” she agreed with a little smile. “That what you’re getting, then?” she asked.
“Don’t know yet… you can order if you know what you’re getting, though,” he said, looking behind the counter to the chalk board menu. “I can’t decide if I want the berry smoothie or the mocha latte.”
“You really are such a girl.”
“I get manicures and this is just occurring to you now?” Cody quipped and Carol chuckled in amusement, hanging back with him until he made his choice. “Why don’t you mix the smoothie and latte together?” she teased him as he still seemed to be struggling to decide which drink he preferred. The look Cody gave her suggested he thought she had gone mad.
Actually, Carol thought in amusement, that would probably be the look that would appear on Cody’s face were someone to suggest to him that he should go and find a woman to bed and give up his gay lifestyle. “No then?” she said innocently.
“I will buy you the drink and pay you $10 if you drink that,” Cody said and she waved a hand. In the end he finally settled on the latte (“You don’t hesitate this much when it comes to picking what you want to eat do you?”) and they moved up to the counter. Carol almost felt sorry for the girl behind the counter; she was turning on the charm and Cody was just unaffected.
They accepted their drinks and then headed to a table over by the window, sitting down. Cody hummed lightly as he took a breath of the scent of his latte and mentally debated on just getting the smoothie when it was time to go. Carol added the condiments that she liked to her own coffee and then wrapped her hands around the mug, taking a tentative sip after a moment.
“So Phil still hasn’t manned-up and asked you out yet?” he asked and Carol grinned wanly before shaking her head, “He’s at least approaching me more at work-“ even if it was for supposedly work related topics, “So that’s a plus, right?” After all, before Cody had put him in his place the other man hadn’t done anything with regards to approaching her.
Cody sighed, “Honestly, straight men are such cowards.” And people claimed that it was men like him that were somehow cowardly or ‘not manly’ just because they liked other guys. “I applaud your patience with him… though, of course, you could assert yourself on the matter and approach him,” he suggested lightly, “Nothing wrong with taking charge.”
“You think he’d like that?” she asked.
“I can tell that you’re not passive by nature… I remember when we first started at our internship and you talked about how hard you worked to become one of the two women to actually get the internship. You’re obviously determined in your working life, why not take charge in your love life, too? I mean, I doubt you’re the kind of girl that just lays there and takes it.”
“Cody!” she exclaimed with a blush.
“What? Am I wrong?” he asked, taking a sip of his latte.
“Didn’t I say before that a lady never kisses and tells?”
“And didn’t I say before that a lady always wants to talk to her girlfriends about it anyway?” he asked in return. “Wasn’t that the reason you asked me to coffee in the first place?”
“Ok, so, you’re not wrong,” she confessed to him. “It’s just been a while since I’ve really been in a relationship since I am so career driven.”
“And by that you mean you haven’t even had some… casual hookup?” Cody asked.
“Nope. Nothing,” she answered, leaning back in her chair.
“And how long is a while, exactly?”
“Sophomore year of college… so it’s been three years.”
Cody’s jaw practically hit the floor it opened so wide. “Years? You haven’t had sex in three years? Christ, I’ve been going on a week and I’m already going stircrazy,” he said.
“You’re going on a date on Friday and you were just sleeping with someone else last week?” she asked him.
He shrugged. “Yeah, well… anyway, this conversation isn’t supposed to be about me. It’s supposed to be about you. So, three years… you have a will of steel. But now I gotta say yet again that you need to make a move at him. The fact that you are so career driven and yet are interested in pursuing a relationship with him says a lot. Don’t let him be a little bitch and let this opportunity pass you both by.”
“Nice way of phrasing it,” Carol chuckled as she took a sip of her coffee and Cody shrugged; he wasn’t about to sugar-coat it that was exactly what he was. “If he’d been gay,” Cody said simply, “He would have been eaten alive by now I can tell you that much.” It was so sad that he almost, almost felt sorry for him, but realistically he definitely felt even sorrier for Carol.
“Wow… so gays can be aggressive huh?” she asked and Cody knew she wasn’t trying to be funny or anything. It was obvious that she hadn’t known many gay men well, if she’d even knew any at all. Some people were more obvious than others after all and some were very good at hiding.
“I have a question for you,” Cody said, pulling his phone out of his pocket and bringing up an image of Randy, “If I showed you him--“ he held his phone out so that she could see, “What would you think?” Carol’s eyes widened and she looked up at him, “I’d say if this is your blind-date I will kill you if you don’t try and get him in your bed as soon as possible. Or, you know, call me…” she trailed off.
“Don’t worry,” Cody grinned as she obviously realised what she’d said and looked embarrassed, “I won’t tell Phil. And, sadly, I’m afraid you’d miss out dear.” For a moment she clearly wanted to ask why, but then it occurred to her and she looked startled. “Is he gay?” she asked in a low voice and Cody nodded his head. “And he’s not my blind date… he’s my best friend,” he chuckled lightly.
“Wow…” she shook her head, “Talk about GQ. What does he do?” she looked impressed at hearing his occupation, but then clearly there was something else that she wanted to know more. “Have he and you ever… done anything?” she whispered and Cody paused momentarily. Now, he had to be careful about answering this; if Carol talked there was a chance John could overhear.
“You have to promise me that anything that’s said at this table doesn’t get repeated to anyone, ok? Not Jeannine, not Chad… no one. We don’t talk about this at the office, either.”
“Ok,” she said seriously, nodding. “Same goes in return, right? You won’t go running to Phil telling him that I haven’t gotten laid in three years, will you?”
“Of course not!” he replied, sounding hurt. “So… to answer your question… yes, many, many moons ago.”
They both chuckled at that. “He’s hot,” she said then. “How did you get to be friends with this guy, anyway?”
“We grew up here together,” he said. “We’ve been friends pretty much for life… he was the first person I ever slept with back in high school,” he confessed to her. “He was already studying at Harvard.”
“Are you serious? So in high school, you were sleeping with a college student?”
“Yeah,” he answered.
“But… you’re not sleeping together anymore?” she asked, unable to imagine how they could still be best friends after having such a history with one another.
“Right… we haven’t slept together in… a while,” he said. It had been quite some time since they stopped fucking regularly, but they’d had their handful of indiscretions in between. “It was kind of a mutual thing, because we realized that we weren’t ‘the one’ for each other, but the whole break up process was rough. He was the first person I was ever really emotionally attached to. I don’t know what I’d have done, though, if we didn’t stay best friends. I couldn’t imagine him not being in my life.”
“So you’re not ‘the one’ for each other… does that mean he found his ‘one’?” she asked, using air quotes.
“Not at the time we broke up, no… not that he looked too closely… but, uh, he just started seeing this guy not that long ago, but it’s already looking good for him,” Cody told her.
“Really? Is it some guy he works with?” she asked, thinking it was really sweet.
“Oh, no. He doesn’t sleep with people he works with. Maybe one day I’ll show you a picture of the two of them. They look really good together,” he said with a soft smile. He had promised to show her a picture of John’s significant other, this would just be a double whammy.
“I’ll be looking forward to it,” Carol said, definitely interested. After all, looking at that guy it would probably have to be someone pretty special to attract his attention. That wasn’t as though she voiced that though because she could just bet that she would probably have seemed silly. “You’ll have to take a pic of your blind-date guy.”
“Why?” Cody asked without really thinking, then realising how stupid that sounded but it wasn’t as though he could retract it. “Because he might be gorgeous and I’m going to be vicariously living through you before I get things into motion for myself.” After all she’d need to do a little bit of pre-planning before she made her move.
Unable to help himself Cody snorted lightly with laughter, looking at Carol and wondering whether she was joking or not. He then shrugged and nodded, “Alright, I’ll take a picture if I can.” For all he knew the guy was attractive since he’d been on Randy’s radar at one point. But even if he was good looking it wasn’t going to mean anything to him anymore. He now had Ted after all.
Well, OK, maybe that was a little bit much because he didn’t have Ted the way he would really want to, but that didn’t matter. He and Ted had something and that much he knew for sure. They chatted for a while longer and finished their drinks, getting another one before they then headed out of the café and walked back to where their cars had been parked beforehand.
“Sorry about having to cancel our potential dinner-plans,” Carol said apologetically, “But it seems like my room-mate’s in the midst of a crisis and…” she waved a hand slightly and Cody nodded his head. He smiled, “Don’t worry about it, just go and see her and I’ll see you at work tomorrow.” They bid one another goodbye and parted ways, Cody driving himself home.
When he reached home he checked his phone for what had to be the hundredth time since he had walked out of the café with Carol. He hadn’t missed any calls or texts (from Ted) so that filled him with some relief at least. When he got home he debated on what to make himself for tea, and he was just in the midst of cooking it when his phone began to ring.
Authors: eric_idle_rules, homo_pink and wrestlemanix
Pairings: Ted DiBiase Jr./Cody Runnels, John Cena/Randy Orton
Rating: Overall NC-17
Summary: Ted is 47 and the President of the United States. Cody is a student at George Washington University in DC who applies for an internship program at the White House. His best friend is lawyer Randy Orton. John Cena is one of the president's most trusted security guards.
Word Count: 7107
A/N: This is our first ever ménage à trois, but it's been a great experience trying to get all three of our styles to blend together so smoothly. I hope you all enjoy this! I sure know we have!
Disclaimer: None of us own the WWE. Or the US government
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16
Banner made by Cassie, one of my friends on FB
Carol actually smirked at him. He’d never seen her smirk before. “So, maturity, experience, good conversation, a big shoe size and what was it? Right, amazing accent. Like what? English? Scottish? Australian? Or maybe you like those down home Southern boys,” she said.
Cody hoped the shock didn’t read on his face at that little comment. “No, I, um… all of the above.”
“So, you’re not that picky, then?” she asked.
“As long as all the other criteria are met,” he replied.
“I can’t believe you’re single, though,” she then said.
“You can’t? Why’s that?” he asked her, looking slightly amused.
“I mean, you’re gorgeous for starters. Can I just tell you that if I were a man and I were gay, I would hit that?” she then confessed to him.
“Thank you… I’m sure if you were a gay man, you’d be just as handsome as you are pretty,” he replied. “And I’d probably want to hit that, too.”
She smiled and pushed his shoulder lightly. “And there’s another reason why I can’t believe you’re single. You’re funny and charming and you are a great conversationalist. What guy wouldn’t want you?”
Cody shrugged. “It’s probably more on my end,” he told her. “Believe me, I’ve met plenty of guys that want me… it’s just that I don’t want them. I mean, not for any significant sort of relationship. A blowjob is one thing, a relationship is another,” he muttered to her.
“Cody!” she exclaimed, but kept her voice low.
“Well it’s true,” he said with a grin.
“You’re so wicked,” Carol giggled and Cody found himself chuckling along with her. It’d been a while since he’d met a girl he could just get on with; most of them, even if they sussed he was gay, seemed determined that they could ‘change his mind’ and then became all offended when he was pretty honest with the fact that he wasn’t interested. This was definitely a refreshing change.
“Well, no sense in lying about this sort of thing,” he said, “If you’re after something then you need to be completely honest about it right from the get-go.” Carol cocked her head to the side contemplatively and smiled, “I’ll be sure to point them in your direction if I ever meet any attractive gay men.” After all, if Phillip got his act together then she would owe Cody one.
Knowing the chances of this happening were slim but appreciating her sentiment all the same Cody nodded, “Go for it.” He did cast a furtive look around to make sure that Ted wasn’t anywhere in the vicinity; the last thing he wanted was to rouse the man’s jealousy again… even though it was incredibly erotic when he got all possessive over him.
“So, given your description,” Carol asked, pretending to be messing with some paperwork when they attracted momentarily attention, “Is there someone you like?” Cody could have sworn her eyes moved to Chad for the moment and he almost choked on nothing. No offence to their fellow intern but he just wasn’t the sort of guy he’d go for.
“I can’t really say that there is,” he answered, wanting so badly to look towards Ted’s office. Sitting right there was the man that he knew he loved, yet he couldn’t tell a single person about it. It stung a bit; he’d never been with a guy before and not been able to talk about their relationship.
“Are you sure?” she asked and this time Cody was positive that she glanced at Chad. “Not even for a blowjob?”
Cody snorted, but then promptly covered his face with his hands as a few people looked towards them. “Excuse me,” he said, trying to cover it as a sneeze.
“Bless you,” Carol added, playing along.
Cody thought about her question for a moment. If he hadn’t fallen for Ted, he honestly probably would have taken Chad back to his place. But he had fallen for Ted and the older man was doing everything he could to make it up to him for treating him the way he did. Had he run into Chad that night instead of… whatever his name was, he would have let him suck him off. But the fact of that matter was that he was with Ted, in a matter of speaking, and he couldn’t bring himself to get sucked off by anyone else, even if he wasn’t able to be with Ted much and he really, really needed to get off. “No, um, I don’t think so.”
“Really? You don’t sound very sure of that.”
“I’m… yeah, I’m sure.”
“I still think you’re lying to me,” she said.
“I’m not lying.”
She raised her eyebrows at him, still not believing that he was telling her the truth. “Maybe you’re just not giving the right guy a fair shot.” Cody just shrugged at her. “Unless you’re lying to me about being single because you don’t want me finding out too much about your personal life?” she suggested.
“No!” Cody looked startled at the assumption. “I’ve never lied about anything to do with my personal life and I’m not about to start now. Besides, lying about relationships is what spotty pre-pubescent bullies do,” he said with a firm nod. Obviously that wasn’t counting the fact that he had been fucked by the President. And had sucked the President’s cock. Numerous times now.
“Sorry, sorry,” Carol said, realising that she might have pushed a button with him a little and then cursing herself for not realising how her words might be taken. “But really, what if I said I knew there was someone who would be interested in going out with you?” she asked him, suddenly rather eager.
“Well, we’ll have to see after Friday won’t we?” Cody said, knowing he had to keep up a pretence of looking forward to this date and all since Carol was under the impression that that was how he felt about it. “Who knows, if it doesn’t work out then I could probably do with the pity-fuck,” he added the last part to ease off the seriousness of the conversation a little.
And mercifully, as he had hoped, Carol bought it, startled into a fit of giggles once more. Cody returned his attention back to work before more pointedly exasperated looks could be levelled at them, looking at his phone on his knee. Would it be completely inappropriate to give Ted just a little text?
Nothing like before (he’d need to have another look at those pictures later) but just to see how he was doing. There was a small, somewhat daring part of him that also wanted to tell him that Carol was apparently attempting to set him up with someone and how he could best handle it since that someone, he was pretty sure, was a fellow intern.
However, he found that he had no time to send even a quick text to Ted, because one of the employees came over to his desk, dumped a large stack of papers on his desk and told him that they all needed to be organized and filed before being presented to the President for review.
When the man was standing in front of his desk, Cody rolled his chair in closer to the desk, phone sitting on his leg as he brought his other hand to rest on the desk, all the while praying that his phone didn’t drop to the floor, because he did not need to have his phone taken from him for having it on his person while on the clock. Especially considering just what was on that phone.
He managed to slip his phone back into his desk before beginning to sort through the papers. He never knew just how easy it was to tire of manila folders. At least everyone else in the room was given pretty much the same task.
Watching a few people bring their stacks of folders into Ted’s office, Cody decided to sit back and wait. Ted would get his folders eventually, and he didn’t think he could face Ted in front of others after what they did last night… and he was sure that Ted wouldn’t do too well seeing him after what they did last night.
Cody remained at his desk, pretending to still be filing papers into their proper folders as he watched the interns file in one by one. Chad, however, stopped by Cody’s desk as he waited for him to finish talking to Jeremy. “They must love all this free help.”
“I would imagine… who wouldn’t love having ten young, brilliant minds doing your work for you for free?” Cody asked, keeping up conversation. He just knew that Carol had been sending a message to Chad, and he was guessing that Chad had received it by now.
“Exactly. You think he’s gonna hire any of us on as permanent staff?”
“Maybe if they’re hiring new staff members and anyone here wants to stay on here,” Cody said. “Does that mean you’d want to stay working at the White House?”
“Are you saying you wouldn’t want to stay here even once the internship is over? It’d be a nice, steady job at least… right in the heart of the political world.”
“I didn’t say that,” Cody replied. “I wouldn’t mind staying here at all.” It would at least give him an excuse to be close to Ted… “But on the same note, I wouldn’t mind going out and entering that very same political world.”
For a moment Chad looked surprised, “You mean go out there and work your way up again somehow?”
Meeting his eyes Cody shrugged and nodded, “Well, yes, why not? Staying here would be all well and good, and interesting, but at the same time I can’t help thinking it’d be stupid to pass up potential experiences that I could gain for myself because I’ve gotten comfortable here.” He fell quiet when he realised Chad was staring at him, fighting the urge to blush suddenly.
“Do I have food on my face or something?” he knew very well that he didn’t but it seemed to make Chad realise that he had been seconds away from getting to gawking and he grinned at him. “Nope…” his eyes drifted over Cody’s face, “Your face is perfect.” Cody wanted to roll his eyes but refrained; it could have been a genuine compliment and it wouldn’t do to offend him. It’d be awkward.
But, still, how many times had he heard that over the years once puberty had hit? Of course his mum and dad had always called him perfect but that was a parents’ love for you; he could have been born with a third eye in the middle of his forehead and he knew his doting folks would still claim he was the most handsome man to ever walk the earth.
“You seem to have thought it through quite a bit,” Chad said suddenly, cutting through Cody’s thoughts and the intern had to work quickly to catch his mind up to what his colleague had said. “Oh, yeah, well, never too early to think about the future right? And being even an intern here is sure to open up doors for us once the programme’s over no matter where we end up.”
Chad looked contemplative for a moment and nodded before winking in what was a slightly charming, if unbelievably smarmy way, “I think I’ll stick with the cushy job here if the offer gets thrown my way though.” Someone called out to Chad suddenly and Cody was sure he didn’t imagine the disappointed look that appeared on his face before he bid him goodbye and headed off.
Sighing slightly (he really hoped Chad just had a temporary crush or was just in want of a lay otherwise this could get problematic) Cody then gathered up the folders and headed towards Ted’s office when he saw that Jeremy had vacated it. He was the last one now, just as he had planned it. He composed himself as best he could and then knocked on the office door, waiting for Ted’s admittance.
“Come in!” Ted called, knowing who would be entering his office.
Opening the door, stepping inside, then shutting the door behind him, Cody headed over to Ted’s desk and set the files down. “I’ve gone all day without seeing you,” was the first thing Cody said.
Ted didn’t say anything before he stood from his chair, walking the few short steps from his seat to the edge of his desk where Cody was. He then ducked his head and brought their lips together in a kiss. His hands cupped Cody’s cheeks as their tongues slid together. Once he pulled away, Ted told him, “I’ve been wanting to do that since last night.”
“Damn,” Cody muttered, slightly disappointed when Ted sat back down in his chair. “You really did like those pictures, then.” He then moved around to the front of Ted’s desk and sat in one of those chairs.
Ted opened up the top folder as he looked to Cody. “I never…” he shook his head slightly. “Those pictures…” He looked back down at the files, unable to come up with the words to describe them.
“I really liked the pictures you sent me, too,” Cody said. “A lot.”
Without looking back up, Ted nodded in agreement as he signed off on one of the papers. “Yeah… I did, too.”
“Ted… I want you again,” Cody whispered across the table. He figured that was a given considering what they had said and sent to one another the night before.
“I do, too. But I… I don’t know…” He briefly looked up to Cody, his eyes saying all that he couldn’t. That he wanted Cody, too, but he had no idea when they’d be able to do it again. He then looked back down at the papers he was supposed to be reviewing.
“I hate this,” Cody said. “It’s just not fair. I could go out, fuck some skank at a bar and it would be ok… but I can’t be with the one person that I really want to be with.”
“I know, Cody. I know. I… Last night I wanted you there with me even more than I did before. I wish things could be different for us,” he said.
“I don’t mean to complain,” Cody murmured. Randy called him a whiny bitch all the time and he knew he had a tendency to be as such--- something he didn’t want Ted to see if he could help it because it really wasn’t flattering. “But it’s just hard, you know?” and for once he wasn’t making some innuendo. Ted nodded, his expression softening, “I know. Believe me, I know.”
That was reassuring; at least it wasn’t just him finding it hard to cope.
“You’ve been pretty busy today, huh?” Cody asked, striving for something else to talk about since this would be the last he got to hear Ted’s voice that day before he clocked off for the night in less than an hour. Unless he called Ted later… but he wasn’t sure that he could actually risk that. For all he knew he’d have security on his head if they checked Ted’s phone records and sussed out it was his number.
Not that they would know what they were talking or texting about unless they bugged the phone--- and he knew that there were rules about that even for the president limiting what can and can’t be done. “You doing anything tonight?” Ted asked him and for a moment Cody had the surreal thought that Ted was asking him out--- and then he twigged.
“Oh, not much… bit of food shopping probably and a couple of boring domestic chores that nobody likes doing…” and that he knew Ted probably no longer had to do for himself anymore. He had no idea if he could cope like that; he was too independent to give up things like that even if he did generally hate them. “What about you? Not working all night surely?” he asked.
“I’ll try not to,” Ted shrugged and then waved a hand at the pile of paper that he still had on his desk, “But from the look of things I’ll at least be eating dinner in the office.” Cody immediately looked unhappy about that, but it wasn’t as though he could comment. It wasn’t his place and it wasn’t as though Ted could exactly scrimp on his work.
“Nothing I’m not used to, though… Well, when Kristen’s home, she does get me out of here for dinner, at least,” he said. “But then it’s usually right back here… she doesn’t like when I bring work into our living quarters.”
That hit Cody like a ton of bricks. Ted had a wife. He had a life with her. A life where they could be together and they lived together and slept together… the kind of life that Cody could only dream about. “Oh.”
“Shit,” Ted muttered. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be… Sorry. My dog doesn’t like it when I bring work into the living quarters, either,” he then said, that being his best attempt at changing the subject.
“Well, yeah, you can’t neglect the dog,” Cody replied.
“No you cannot,” Ted agreed, smile returning.
“You ever let him run around this place before?” Cody asked.
Nodding, Ted answered, “Not intentionally. It was about a week after we moved in… we’d been really good about keeping Riggs in our wing, you know, where the bedroom and living room is… and then that day he managed to get away. We must have chased him through every damn wing in this building.”
“Where’d you end up catching up to him?” Cody asked, now curious.
“Just outside the front door taking a shit in my wife’s flower garden,” Ted recalled with a smirk.
Laughing, Cody said, “I imagine the folks out walking around Pennsylvania Ave got themselves an eyeful that day. The President and First Lady running around breathless to catch their dog taking a shit for the public to see.”
“Yeah, what a way to welcome us to the White House.”
Cody grinned. At least for a split second. “Well, I should probably get back to my desk.”
“Probably,” Ted agreed, though he sounded highly reluctant. They were running out of time to be together before Kristen came back. Tomorrow was the last day that Cody would be in for the week, and Kristen was due back Friday. And when she got back, she would probably want to spend as much time as possible catching up with Ted. Wonderful.
Before Cody could get completely out of the office Ted found himself blurting out, “Cody, may I call you later on?” that was probably going to be the best they could do after all, since meeting was impossible.
Or almost impossible since Ted knew that his security had been upped a little after his disappearing spell that other time he went to Cody’s, though he knew that they didn’t think he had noticed anything. Surprised, Cody glanced over his shoulder and then gifted Ted with that beautiful smile that he always found himself spacing out over.
“I’d really like it if you did,” he told him honestly. He would have called Ted if he could, but it was more risky for him to catch Ted at a bad time than it would be for Ted to catch him. “I’ll… talk to you later then,” he smiled and nodded and Cody nodded in return before excusing himself and heading out of the office. He sighed softly as he settled back at his desk.
“What’s that sigh over?” asked a voice suddenly and Cody jumped, banging his knee on his desk, yelping softly. Carol immediately looked stricken, “Sorry, I’m sorry! I thought you heard me come over.” Near the end of the workday things got a bit laxer so the interns moved freely from one another’s desks the way they couldn’t risk doing earlier on. “Not quite,” Cody mumbled.
“Sorry,” she repeated and Cody waved a hand to let her know it was OK, pushing his chair back enough to stretch his leg out and rub his knee lightly. “What did you say?” he asked her, having missed her question because of his knee having a close encounter of the painful kind with his desk. “I asked why you were sighing,” she repeated, wheeling her chair up beside him.
“Oh, nothing, just beginning to feel a bit tired is all,” he told her with a moment’s quick-thinking to cover his lie. It wasn’t as though he could tell her the real reason, regardless of the fact that they seemed to be getting closer to one another now. She nodded, apparently accepting his reasoning without hesitation, “You don’t realise just how tired paperwork can make you, do you?”
“It’s all that tiny black text on the blindingly white paper… that you’re stuck reading for line after line,” Cody said.
“True enough,” Carol agreed. “Gonna be an early night for you, then?”
“Most likely,” Cody said.
“Well, you’ve got to rest up for tomorrow, anyway,” she told him, giving him a sly little wink.
“What exactly are you thinking will happen tomorrow, anyway?” Cody then asked, smirking a little, which probably didn’t help her ideas out in the least bit.
“Oh, nothing,” she replied.
“Nothing? Really? The way you keep going on about it… talking about resting up for the date… Carol, are you really promoting sex on the first date?” he asked her. As if that would actually happen… unless Ted really did manage to screw everything up between today and tomorrow and Cody ended up in need of a desperate fuck… but then Randy said the guy didn’t put out on the first date, so that plan was out the window.
“I never said anything of the sort!”
“Besides, the guy who set me up told me that the prude doesn’t fuck on the first date,” Cody told her.
“Does that mean you do?” she asked, raising an eyebrow at him.
“A true gentleman never kisses and tells.” Her eyebrow seemed to rise even higher. “Ok, fine, I have before. But not all the first dates I’ve been on. Just once. Back in college. Funnily enough it was actually Marcus, the guy who owns the salon I told you to check out,” he said.
“You used to sleep with him?!” she asked, astounded, but she still managed to keep her voice low enough that others wouldn’t hear what they were talking about.
“Yeah… we’re still friendly, though… I mean, he’s a bit older, and he ended up finding a guy closer to his age and they’re actually married now,” he said. “I still get all the perks, though,” he said, now slipping her a wink.
“You mean all the freebies at the salon?” Carol asked and Cody nodded, privately thinking back to a very amusing post-wedding party that had ended up culminating in several embarrassing photos that they burned whilst nursing the mother of all hangovers and complaining about what the greasy-food they had consumed the night before was going to do to their waistlines.
“Were you upset when you broke up?” she asked curiously and Cody leant back in his chair, thinking about it. “Yeah, I was a little, I mean, we had a good time together you know? But I really like his husband and they are perfect together, and he and I still get on the same as ever… just minus the sex. We weren’t in love or anything.”
And, even if she asked, she wasn’t going to be told who was the only person he had been in love with prior to Ted-but of course he wasn’t about to tell her about that either. If word got around even slightly about that then he knew that Ted wasn’t the only one who would react badly to it; John would undoubtedly have some negative feelings towards it too.
Not that he blamed either of them but he would still prefer not to go through that. “We had a good run, and it got me the best salon care and treatments known to man so I’m not complaining. He’s the reason my skin looks so incredible by the way.” It was one of the first things he’d been asked by the female interns, ironically, when they had actually begun making an effort to speak to him.
“I’m definitely going to check that place out… and shamelessly exploit the fact that I know you, but you already said that I’m allowed to so I won’t feel guilty about it.” Cody laughed at the rather swift comment and gave a playful little clap, “You’re getting quicker Carol; stick with me and I’ll have your acid tongue in top shape in no time,” he teased.
“That a promise?” she asked.
“Of course. Though soon enough you may very well be putting said tongue to other uses,” he replied, smirking.
“Cody!”
“What? Are you saying that we can talk about my sex life but not about yours? Really? After all I’ve done in getting Philly over there to actually man up and do something about his little schoolboy crush on you? No, you’re not getting out of it that easily,” he told her.
“A lady never kisses and tells,” she replied.
“Unless she’s gushing to her gossip hungry girlfriends,” he said, pointing to himself.
She rolled her eyes. “Well, it’s not as though there’s anything to tell, is there?” she asked.
“No, not about Phillip… not yet, anyway… that doesn’t mean that you don’t have a past that you’re just waiting to spill to me about,” he said.
“Well, right here’s not the time or the place to have that conversation,” she told him. “Come out with me after work. We can go grab a coffee, wind down. I promise I won’t keep you out past your bedtime,” she added teasingly.
“Are you sure Phillip won’t get jealous?” he asked, grinning at her.
“Now that’s a promise that I can’t keep. If that happens, you can just remind him yet again how gay you actually are.”
“It just astounds me in the first place that I had to tell him how gay I actually am to begin with. I mean, it’s not like I’m trying to be obvious about it, but people do tend to notice,” he said.
Carol nodded. “I know what you mean… It took me a little bit of time to figure it out, but once I did-”
“You asked me how I got my skin so perfect?” he finished for her. It had been rather out of the blue, he’d been minding his own business, waiting to clock in, when the two women came up to him to compliment him on his skin.
“Actually… yes,” she admitted. “I feel like such a… such a douche for not trying to ever get to know you before that.”
“All water under the bridge now,” Cody promised her, patting her hand lightly.
Though he wouldn’t deny that there were occasions when he could be a right bitch Cody never held a grudge… unless it was something major and he had as of yet any way of being able to get revenge on them for it. And even then those occasions were far and few between and more contained to his younger days than now. Carol looked hopefully at him.
“Really?” she said and Cody nodded his head, “Honest and truly, Carol.” He knew she had just been lashing out at the time because she was in a male-dominated environment and he had obviously been the easy target since Ted had personally acknowledged him. He could just bet how much they would hate him if they knew how Ted really felt towards him.
“So, are we going for a coffee after work?” she asked and then grinned, “Who knows? Play your cards right and I may even let you treat me to dinner.” Cody once again fell into light laughter at that; she did seem to be coming out of her shell a little more thanks to her interactions with him. “Yeah sure,” he nodded, “Though dinner we’ll have to see about.”
Company would be nice even though he had promised he would try to limit how much he had been eating out, but then he had to remember that Ted had promised to call him… and what if he called him when he was out with Carol? Cody would quite possibly kill himself for that call because that night would be the last night they could call before his missus returned.
And again, despite himself, Cody felt jealousy rearing its ugly head towards Kristen. He couldn’t fault her for anything, it wasn’t her fault she had fallen for Ted and married him, but at the same time Cody couldn’t help but feel an intense animosity towards her because she had what he wanted. Why couldn’t he have been born earlier or something, damn it?
The final few minutes ticked away until it reached 5 o’clock. When it was time to clock out, everyone got up from their desks to go and grab their things and make their way out. Carol caught up with Cody, who was waiting just outside for her (though he was wishing he could have gone in and seen Ted just one more time). “Any ideas about where you’d like to go?” Cody asked as soon as he saw her.
“We are in the center of a major city… I think we’ve got a few places to pick from,” she replied. “Do you have any favorite coffee places?”
“Of course I do,” he began, looking around quickly to make sure that Phillip wasn’t around before he continued, “but you are the one that asked me out.”
“So, you’re saying you want me to decide?” she asked, to which he nodded. “Ok, then. Get in your car and follow me.”
They both got into their cars and headed out of the parking lot. Cody followed her closely, running a few near red lights in the process. When she put her blinker on in the street, he knew she was pulling down into a little side lot. They managed to both find spots, not next to each other, but they were still in the same lot. They met up by her car before walking up to the front door. “You been here before?”
“Yup,” he answered. He didn’t come here too often, since he was on the other end of the city, but it wasn’t as though he excluded this place completely.
“Ok. You like it here?” she then asked him.
“The couple times I’ve been here, yeah, they’ve been really good,” he told her.
“Good. I mean, it’s not like I’d have changed my mind on where we were going, I’d have just made you dig a little harder to try and find some coffee drink here that you like.”
“I do like their smoothies here,” he said.
“Those are good,” she agreed with a little smile. “That what you’re getting, then?” she asked.
“Don’t know yet… you can order if you know what you’re getting, though,” he said, looking behind the counter to the chalk board menu. “I can’t decide if I want the berry smoothie or the mocha latte.”
“You really are such a girl.”
“I get manicures and this is just occurring to you now?” Cody quipped and Carol chuckled in amusement, hanging back with him until he made his choice. “Why don’t you mix the smoothie and latte together?” she teased him as he still seemed to be struggling to decide which drink he preferred. The look Cody gave her suggested he thought she had gone mad.
Actually, Carol thought in amusement, that would probably be the look that would appear on Cody’s face were someone to suggest to him that he should go and find a woman to bed and give up his gay lifestyle. “No then?” she said innocently.
“I will buy you the drink and pay you $10 if you drink that,” Cody said and she waved a hand. In the end he finally settled on the latte (“You don’t hesitate this much when it comes to picking what you want to eat do you?”) and they moved up to the counter. Carol almost felt sorry for the girl behind the counter; she was turning on the charm and Cody was just unaffected.
They accepted their drinks and then headed to a table over by the window, sitting down. Cody hummed lightly as he took a breath of the scent of his latte and mentally debated on just getting the smoothie when it was time to go. Carol added the condiments that she liked to her own coffee and then wrapped her hands around the mug, taking a tentative sip after a moment.
“So Phil still hasn’t manned-up and asked you out yet?” he asked and Carol grinned wanly before shaking her head, “He’s at least approaching me more at work-“ even if it was for supposedly work related topics, “So that’s a plus, right?” After all, before Cody had put him in his place the other man hadn’t done anything with regards to approaching her.
Cody sighed, “Honestly, straight men are such cowards.” And people claimed that it was men like him that were somehow cowardly or ‘not manly’ just because they liked other guys. “I applaud your patience with him… though, of course, you could assert yourself on the matter and approach him,” he suggested lightly, “Nothing wrong with taking charge.”
“You think he’d like that?” she asked.
“I can tell that you’re not passive by nature… I remember when we first started at our internship and you talked about how hard you worked to become one of the two women to actually get the internship. You’re obviously determined in your working life, why not take charge in your love life, too? I mean, I doubt you’re the kind of girl that just lays there and takes it.”
“Cody!” she exclaimed with a blush.
“What? Am I wrong?” he asked, taking a sip of his latte.
“Didn’t I say before that a lady never kisses and tells?”
“And didn’t I say before that a lady always wants to talk to her girlfriends about it anyway?” he asked in return. “Wasn’t that the reason you asked me to coffee in the first place?”
“Ok, so, you’re not wrong,” she confessed to him. “It’s just been a while since I’ve really been in a relationship since I am so career driven.”
“And by that you mean you haven’t even had some… casual hookup?” Cody asked.
“Nope. Nothing,” she answered, leaning back in her chair.
“And how long is a while, exactly?”
“Sophomore year of college… so it’s been three years.”
Cody’s jaw practically hit the floor it opened so wide. “Years? You haven’t had sex in three years? Christ, I’ve been going on a week and I’m already going stircrazy,” he said.
“You’re going on a date on Friday and you were just sleeping with someone else last week?” she asked him.
He shrugged. “Yeah, well… anyway, this conversation isn’t supposed to be about me. It’s supposed to be about you. So, three years… you have a will of steel. But now I gotta say yet again that you need to make a move at him. The fact that you are so career driven and yet are interested in pursuing a relationship with him says a lot. Don’t let him be a little bitch and let this opportunity pass you both by.”
“Nice way of phrasing it,” Carol chuckled as she took a sip of her coffee and Cody shrugged; he wasn’t about to sugar-coat it that was exactly what he was. “If he’d been gay,” Cody said simply, “He would have been eaten alive by now I can tell you that much.” It was so sad that he almost, almost felt sorry for him, but realistically he definitely felt even sorrier for Carol.
“Wow… so gays can be aggressive huh?” she asked and Cody knew she wasn’t trying to be funny or anything. It was obvious that she hadn’t known many gay men well, if she’d even knew any at all. Some people were more obvious than others after all and some were very good at hiding.
“I have a question for you,” Cody said, pulling his phone out of his pocket and bringing up an image of Randy, “If I showed you him--“ he held his phone out so that she could see, “What would you think?” Carol’s eyes widened and she looked up at him, “I’d say if this is your blind-date I will kill you if you don’t try and get him in your bed as soon as possible. Or, you know, call me…” she trailed off.
“Don’t worry,” Cody grinned as she obviously realised what she’d said and looked embarrassed, “I won’t tell Phil. And, sadly, I’m afraid you’d miss out dear.” For a moment she clearly wanted to ask why, but then it occurred to her and she looked startled. “Is he gay?” she asked in a low voice and Cody nodded his head. “And he’s not my blind date… he’s my best friend,” he chuckled lightly.
“Wow…” she shook her head, “Talk about GQ. What does he do?” she looked impressed at hearing his occupation, but then clearly there was something else that she wanted to know more. “Have he and you ever… done anything?” she whispered and Cody paused momentarily. Now, he had to be careful about answering this; if Carol talked there was a chance John could overhear.
“You have to promise me that anything that’s said at this table doesn’t get repeated to anyone, ok? Not Jeannine, not Chad… no one. We don’t talk about this at the office, either.”
“Ok,” she said seriously, nodding. “Same goes in return, right? You won’t go running to Phil telling him that I haven’t gotten laid in three years, will you?”
“Of course not!” he replied, sounding hurt. “So… to answer your question… yes, many, many moons ago.”
They both chuckled at that. “He’s hot,” she said then. “How did you get to be friends with this guy, anyway?”
“We grew up here together,” he said. “We’ve been friends pretty much for life… he was the first person I ever slept with back in high school,” he confessed to her. “He was already studying at Harvard.”
“Are you serious? So in high school, you were sleeping with a college student?”
“Yeah,” he answered.
“But… you’re not sleeping together anymore?” she asked, unable to imagine how they could still be best friends after having such a history with one another.
“Right… we haven’t slept together in… a while,” he said. It had been quite some time since they stopped fucking regularly, but they’d had their handful of indiscretions in between. “It was kind of a mutual thing, because we realized that we weren’t ‘the one’ for each other, but the whole break up process was rough. He was the first person I was ever really emotionally attached to. I don’t know what I’d have done, though, if we didn’t stay best friends. I couldn’t imagine him not being in my life.”
“So you’re not ‘the one’ for each other… does that mean he found his ‘one’?” she asked, using air quotes.
“Not at the time we broke up, no… not that he looked too closely… but, uh, he just started seeing this guy not that long ago, but it’s already looking good for him,” Cody told her.
“Really? Is it some guy he works with?” she asked, thinking it was really sweet.
“Oh, no. He doesn’t sleep with people he works with. Maybe one day I’ll show you a picture of the two of them. They look really good together,” he said with a soft smile. He had promised to show her a picture of John’s significant other, this would just be a double whammy.
“I’ll be looking forward to it,” Carol said, definitely interested. After all, looking at that guy it would probably have to be someone pretty special to attract his attention. That wasn’t as though she voiced that though because she could just bet that she would probably have seemed silly. “You’ll have to take a pic of your blind-date guy.”
“Why?” Cody asked without really thinking, then realising how stupid that sounded but it wasn’t as though he could retract it. “Because he might be gorgeous and I’m going to be vicariously living through you before I get things into motion for myself.” After all she’d need to do a little bit of pre-planning before she made her move.
Unable to help himself Cody snorted lightly with laughter, looking at Carol and wondering whether she was joking or not. He then shrugged and nodded, “Alright, I’ll take a picture if I can.” For all he knew the guy was attractive since he’d been on Randy’s radar at one point. But even if he was good looking it wasn’t going to mean anything to him anymore. He now had Ted after all.
Well, OK, maybe that was a little bit much because he didn’t have Ted the way he would really want to, but that didn’t matter. He and Ted had something and that much he knew for sure. They chatted for a while longer and finished their drinks, getting another one before they then headed out of the café and walked back to where their cars had been parked beforehand.
“Sorry about having to cancel our potential dinner-plans,” Carol said apologetically, “But it seems like my room-mate’s in the midst of a crisis and…” she waved a hand slightly and Cody nodded his head. He smiled, “Don’t worry about it, just go and see her and I’ll see you at work tomorrow.” They bid one another goodbye and parted ways, Cody driving himself home.
When he reached home he checked his phone for what had to be the hundredth time since he had walked out of the café with Carol. He hadn’t missed any calls or texts (from Ted) so that filled him with some relief at least. When he got home he debated on what to make himself for tea, and he was just in the midst of cooking it when his phone began to ring.