Title: Affection Multiplier App: The Boyfriend
By: BreaktheBar
Chapter 20
Becca and Ami had set up folding tables and rearranged the chairs on the top decks of both boats while most of the women (and JC) were having fun cooling off in the lake. When she shouted down that lunch was ready there was a stampede for the ladders and stairs and the food table was ravaged in a matter of minutes.
Seeing as I’d helped cook, I was one of the first people to get a plate of food and find a seat, and Becca joined me in the chair next to me. Cassidy also happened to be one of the earliest to the table—likely because she’d been keeping an eye on me from the lake and had gotten out first—and she came and sat on my lap again with her own plate of food as we made small talk with Becca.
The woman was smart and business savvy, and I quickly realized that if Cassidy ever wanted a mentor figure in the social media model game, Becca was the woman to ask. She was only a year and a half older than both of us, but had been doing cosplay and modelling since high school and also did some variety streaming on the side, and she never compromised her values in terms of what sort of content she did.
Then came the ask out of nowhere.
“Speaking of content,” Becca said. “Cass, if you don’t mind, do you think I could borrow Robbie tomorrow for a quick photoshoot? I had this whole thing lined up with Brodi, Wanda’s husband, where he was going to be Spider-Man and I was going to dress up as Mary Jane. I bought this really nice spiderman suit for him and everything, and I’d hate for it to go to waste.”
Cassidy looked at me with a twinkle in her eye. “Well,” she said, and I knew what was going through her mind. “I think there’s probably a deal that could be made here, because I happen to know that my fiance has a bit of a thing for the Mary Jane character and would be happy to pose with you.”
“Really?” Becca grinned, her interest obviously piqued. She hummed a little giggle, touching the tip of her tongue to her upper lip.
“What can I say,” I shrugged. “Ever since she dressed up as MJ for Halloween I’ve thought it was a sexy character.”
“So,” Cassidy continued, “I might also have brought a Mary Jane cosplay with me. How would you like to do the photoshoot together? Two MJ’s, one Spider-Man, I think we could get some spicy meme material out of it.”
“Oooh, that sounds like fun,” Becca nodded. “But fair is fair, then we need to figure out another shoot to trade for.”
“Girl, your platform is so much bigger than mine,” Cassidy said. “Just being in your shoot would—”
“No, no,” Becca shook her head. “I’m not paying you in exposure. That’s the kind of shit we have to fight in the real world all the time. We’re trading photo shoots.”
“Well, some of the other girls on our boat are putting together a sort of miniseries with Robbie giving them massages, and are going to release them at the same time and try to make him trend as ‘The Massage Guy.’”
“Is that seriously happening?” I asked.
“Yes, it is. Get over it,” Cassidy grinned.
“OK, I’m definitely in on that too,” Becca agreed, “Even if it’s just to see his face when he becomes internet famous. But that’s still not a fair trade, you should walk away with specific content too.”
“I don’t know,” Cassidy shrugged. “Honestly, I know some girls are planning to work like crazy this week, but I only brought plans for like 5 quick shoots over the week because Robbie and I need some vacation time, too.”
Becca chewed on the inside of her cheek for a moment. “Have you ever done a Stormtrooper shoot before?”
“Like the dudes from Star Wars?” Cassidy asked.
“Yeah,” Becca said. “I happen to have a couple of femme Stormtrooper sets of armour. I was planning on making a deal with Wanda to do a reshoot of one we did three years ago, but instead I could do it with you? I think you’d fit the suit pretty well.”
“She’ll do it,” I agreed for Cassidy.
“Really?” my fiance asked, and looked at my face then turned back to Becca. “Yeah, OK, guess I’m doing it.”
Both women laughed and shook on it and Becca promised to write the deal down for them both to agree to. We kept chatting with her for a bit, and I noticed something weird. Nothing was overly flirty between the three of us—I talked about my work at the hotel and planning events, and they talked about ConCrud and the frustrations of travelling with cosplay gear. But through it, Becca started to get more touchy. She’d reach over and brush my arm, or poke Cassidy’s leg since she was sitting with her feet hanging over the side of the chair, still positioned in my lap. She even patted my hand and squeezed my fingers lightly when she told Cassidy about me catching her, and doing the same thing with Leia barely an hour later.
Cassidy didn’t let on she knew about both instances, instead just turning and kissing me and telling me I’d always been a knight in shining armour to her.
And despite the touching, and the feeling of being desired by two gorgeous women, I felt my mood dropping. I felt it settle in the pit of my stomach and just sort of grow in weight.
Rather than let it seep into the conversation, I shifted and rubbed Cassidy on the back. “Sorry, ladies. But I really need to stand up and maybe stretch a little. Don’t mind me.”
Cassidy stood and let me up, and I quickly made my way back across to our boat and headed for the stairs. Both Terra and Cattie noticed me individually, and I could tell they could tell something was going on, but I didn’t stop and I headed down the stairs quickly and made it back into our bunkroom. I shut the door but didn’t even take the time to lock it, rushing into the bathroom and dropping to my knees and throwing up into the toilet.
And I cried again and threw up the first real food I’d eaten since the love of my life told me she’d cheated on me and lied to me for years. I tried to stay as quiet as I could, sobbing into my arm when I wasn’t dry heaving, my stomach already having released every bit of alcohol and food I’d put into it since that morning.
Cassidy had cheated on me. Over, and over, and over. She’d lied to me from almost the start.
I loved her. I loved everything about her except that. That part, that thing she’d revealed, was vile, and disgusting. And I hated her for being that. I hated her for telling me—things had been so good, living in my little Matrix world without knowing or even guessing that it had happened. I knew I needed to know, and that she needed me to know to help her own soul try and recover from the scars she’d put on it, but so much of me wished we could have just restarted this entire day and she just didn’t tell me so that I could never feel this gut-wrenching feeling.
I sobbed into my arm, curled up in the corner of the little en suite bathroom, wracked with pain and guilt and anger and despair.
The door to the room opened, and I instinctively tried to huddle deeper into the corner of the bathroom, to hide my shame and embarrassment from whoever it was. From everyone.
“Robbie? Oh my god, Robbie,” she said, coming into the bathroom and bursting my hope that I could just sit in here and die.
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