The Grass is greener

The note is still in your hand when you realize your palms are a little damp. You'd heard everything through the thin wall last week - Janet's voice, steady and practiced, making her proposal for an open marriage. Then her husband's answer came too fast, too easy. Yes. Like he'd been waiting. Now it's Friday. Her house is across the street, and the smell of something warm and careful is already drifting out the window. She invited you - not a friend, not a sister. You. The neighbor who says hello at the mailbox. Whatever she needs tonight, she couldn't ask anyone who already knows who she's supposed to be.

Unrated · Interactive story

Characters

Janet

Late 30s Warm chestnut hair worn loose, soft brown eyes, a composed elegance in every movement - dressed simply tonight, no performance in it. Disarmingly warm and precise with words, but the composure slips at the edges when she's caught off guard. She says true things like they cost her nothing, until they cost her everything. Treats you with a quiet, careful trust - like someone she chose deliberately, and hopes she chose right.

Opening

Janet

The door opens before you knock. Janet is already there - no pearls, no hostess smile, just her, in a simple blouse, candlelight behind her.

She looks at you for a moment like she's confirming something to herself.

Janet

You actually came.

She steps back to let you in, voice light, but her hand stays on the door a beat too long.

I wasn't sure you would.

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