When Barry Met Sally

Every part of her shook violently with tremors of passion. Oscillations of an intensity that caused her to totally miss the fact that Barry had also exploded, sending a firestorm of whiteness deep within her for the second time that night. She was just too wrapped up in sheer joy to pay attention to anything else.

Despite her earlier assertion that the walls of the old apartment were so solidly build as to be practically soundproof, Barry felt certain that their cries had reached all the way to the back bedroom if not beyond. If so, he hoped Sally got a good earful.

Even lost in his own desire, part of Barry still concentrated on bringing the older woman every measure of gratification he could manage. He continued to move inside of her until the last of his own energies faded. By the time that happened, Bernie's body had already come to an exhausted stop. Satisfied, he collapsed alongside her on the bed.

It took a while for either of them to catch their breaths, and in the end it was Bernie who summed it up in three little words.

"That was fun," she said.

Still breathing hard in his own right, Barry could only nod his agreement.

-=-=-=-

"Barry?"

The young man jumped at the sound of his girlfriend calling his name. Her voice had sounded as clear as if she was standing right next to him and when he opened his eyes, he was actually surprised not to find her standing there.

His first impression, upon hearing her voice, was that she was ready to announce that she was finished with what she had came here for and was ready to leave. That he might not be really to go yet, he thought, would never occur to her.

"Barry, are you there?" Sally's voice repeated, dispelling his just reached conclusion that he had been dreaming.

"The intercom, Honey," a just awakened Bernie said from over his shoulder as she pointed to the small white speaker box on the night table.

Barry reached for the talk button, taking note that according to the adjacent clock that it was quarter past two in the morning. He and Bernie had been asleep for almost two hours, having spent the previous two hours just talking. For someone he viewed as belonging more to another world than just a different generation less than half a day before, he had found her to be incredibly easy to talk to, on just about any subject.

"Sally?" he asked as he pressed the talk button.

"Barry," she repeated, with no apology for having awakened him, "Dave asked me if I wanted to stay the night and I told him that I would. Is that going to be a problem for you?"

He paused before answering. Looking back over his shoulder at Bernie, he wondered if she was thinking the same thing that he was. That, seeing that it was already the middle of the night, it didn't make sense for her to call and ask him about staying the rest of it now. Unless, he thought, she was hoping that it was a problem for him and having lived up to the terms of their deal and screwed the old lady, he would be more than happy to head home at the first opportunity. Even if that meant going alone.

"If that is the case," he told himself as he turned back to the talk box, "then she's in for a disappointment."

"No, that's not a problem at all," he said, adding "Have a good night." before he released the talk button.

"Oh, okay," Sally said with enough of a touch of disappointment in her tone for him to recognize that he was probably right.

"I hope that it's really not a problem," he said to Bernie as he turned back to her once again. "I gu"Oh God, oh God," the twent you first."

"I get the impression that she was hoping that you couldn't wait to get out of here," she replied, ignoring his question and confirming his guess.

Barry just shrugged his shoulders, not wanted to say that he thought that was the case as well. In the course of his talk with the older woman, he had told her a great deal about Sally and their relationship. While she didn't come right out and say it, it was pretty clear that Bernie had a rather low opinion of his girlfriend.

Silence filled the room as Bernie seemed to be still waiting for an answer. Barry was also hoping for an answer, even if it was only a "see you in the morning" from the woman beside him before she rolled over and went back to sleep.

"You know," Bernie finally broke the silence as she leaned closer and said in the kind of low conspiratorial tone that people reserved for sharing secrets, "On special occasions, my late husband like to get really naughty and fuck my ass. Since it looks like you won't be leaving for a while, and I sort of think this is a special occasion, do you think you'd like to try and give that a go?"

Barry felt flustered for a moment and actually thought he might faint. On his short list of unfulfilled sexual fantasies, Bernie had just crossed off number one.

"I think I might be game for that," he said, finding it impossible to wipe the smile from his face.

-=-=-=-

Six days later, Sally and Barry were officially no longer a couple as she announced that she was moving out. Neither seemed too upset about the break-up, and Barry didn't even regret losing out on his promised menage a trois with another woman.

When asked, Sally wouldn't tell him where she was moving to, but that didn't matter because Barry already knew. Just a few days before the relationship formally ended, he had been surprised at his office by Bernie who wanted to take him to lunch. An invitation he readily accepted.

Over a very nice meal, Bernie confided to him that her brother had asked Sally to move in with him and that she had already said yes. The older woman wanted Barry to know because she didn't want to see him get hurt. Barry thanked her for her concern and assured her that things had indeed changed between him and Sally and if she wanted to go, well she had always been free to do so.

Bernie told him that she was glad to hear that because, however she felt about Sally, she felt a little guilty about her brother's actions. After all, if it weren't for her the two of them would never have even met. Barry again assured her that there was nothing for her to feel guilty about.

"Oh there is one other thing," Bernie said as she paid the check. "Dave told me last night that he couldn't remember if, in the heat of passion, he had made it clear to Sally that the condo they were in didn't belong to him, and that the invitation to move in with him applied to the little three room apartment he had downtown."

Barry looked at her as if to say, "Oh really?"

"Do you think that he should call her and make sure she understood that?" Bernie inquired. "He was afraid that if he called your apartment and got you instead of Sally, that you might cause a scene."

"Tell him not to give it a second thought," Barry said after letting the question hang in his mind for a few moments. "I distinctly remember Sally mentioning to me that Dave had the cutest little apartment over on the west side. So I wouldn't even bring it up again."

"You mean the cutest little apartment downtown, don't you?" Bernie asked.

"Of course, how could I make a mistake like that," Barry smiled, "I remember it even clearer now, that's exactly what she said."

"I thought it might be," Bernie smiled.

"Besides, Sally's not the kind of girl who's going to be overly influenced by material things," he added.

"I think you're pushing it a little there, Tiger," Bernie laughed softly. "I think you should just leave it as remembering that she mentioned that she knew he lived downtown."

"Okay," Barry said, realizing that he was indeed pushing it.

"Well I have to get going then," Bernie said as she flagged down a taxi. "I have an appointment to do something about this white hair of mine. Lately I've been thinking that it makes me look a little too old."

"I don't think you'll ever be really old," Barry smiled.

Bernie started to get into the taxi, then stood back up and turned back to Barry. Her expression was one of having remembered something else.

"I was just wondering," Bernie said as she motioned for the driver to wait just another minute. "Since you're now going to be free next weekend, would you like to come over for dinner, say Saturday at eight?"

"I'd like that," Barry replied, his smile growing even larger. "but only on one condition."

"Which is?" she asked curiously.

"That you let me bring the dessert," he answered.

"Oh I was counting on that," Bernie softly laughed as she turned and ducked into the waiting cab, "something hard with a creamy filling."

Watching the cab pull away, Barry thought to himself that life does indeed take some interesting turns when you least expect it.

END