M+J in "Rogue Sum"

A niche for stories; fiction or non.
FreshStart

M+J in "Rogue Sum"

Unread post by FreshStart » Wed Jun 07, 2017 12:39 pm

This came about when a break occurred in FWFFG after chapter 42 and a number of people were discussing the lack of...cojones(?) in one of the main characters. I started this in that thread and now move it to its own thread with a total of 4 chapters.

With my amazing writing talents, this will sound just like the original... with the sex not nearly as hot, the characters not as interesting, the dialogue not as good or the reading not as compelling. But otherwise exactly like the original. :-)

For those not familiar, Mike and Jen are married. Mike has pushed Jen into the hotwife lifestyle and encouraged her to have a full time boyfriend (at this junction). He has also gone through a period of humiliation in a cock cage. Sapphire is an intelligent trading program that he has been building at work in order to make money off the markets (like the stock market). Jen and her boyfriend, Scott, work together.

Oh. There is no sex this part.

"Rogue Sum"
by
Anais NinFreshStart
(Part 1)

As Mike left the door to old man Jacob's office he noticed the new man for the first time. He was slightly taller than average and maybe slightly better looking than average. But in a company with few enclosed offices and none that had the door closed much, the man had opened the door, stepped out, then closed and locked the door. Mike was puzzled.

Well, the meeting with Jacobs could have gone better.

"I'm worried about you Mike," the old man had said. "You seem distracted and I was hoping we'd be further with Sapphire by now." Mike was about to protest but he was cut off. "You're a smart man and I like you. If we get that system in we'll be the toast of "the street"... not to mention, rich. I told the other partners we'd have it running before fiscal year end (October 31). That would be quite the Christmas bonus for you. Now I want you to think about this. I'm bringing someone in to help you."

Mike spluttered, "But we already have a great team..." He was cut off again.

"I'm well aware of that. I said they're coming in to help you. Maybe they can do the data base thing (said with air quotes) or whatever. Think of something that could help. Now run along."

Mike felt better slipping into the apartment after work. It was Monday and he'd have Jen to himself. Not that things were great there. He really wanted to again discuss the bonus and buying a loft with it and... starting a family.

Jen was already there. Mike smiled. So was Scott. Mike frowned.

Jen called to him, "Hey Baby, how was your day? I'm just going to shower and change. Sorry for the last minute notice but Scott and I have to go out and entertain a client. There's something in the microwave for you." She saw Mike's face and stopped. "What?"

"Jen, he's had you on the weekend. I wanted to talk... and..." He hated how whiny he sounded.

"Mike, this is business, it's my job. It's nothing to do with Scott having more of my time. You want to talk, so talk. We have a bit of time."

Mike's eyes shifted in Scott's direction. "But..." he began.

Jen smiled. "Okay silly. Come with me." She led Mike by the hand into their (and often Scott's) bedroom and closed the door. "Now talk."

"I wanted to talk about the bonus and apartment, and, you know​... I'll​ be getting it closer to Christmas, so I want to talk about ending...you know​."

Jen had visibly tensed hearing "bonus" then relaxed hearing "Christmas". But with palpable exasperation she said, "Mike, we've been through this before. When things naturally end with Scott, we can move on. But I can't plan something like that."

"You really don't want it to end, do you?"

She moved to the door to dismiss the conversation with, "I'm not in the mood for this again." She stopped. "Well if you want some long range planning, I have to tell you I got a call from Scott's Mom." Mike held his breath. WTF! Exchanging direct phone calls? "I didn't tell you yet, because I wasn't​ sure myself. She was making sure that Scott invited me to their house for Thanksgiving...and that I'd accept."

Mike's anger flared and he was about to object when she continued, "Scotty​ plans to go up Wednesday. We'll be back Sunday to have dinner with you. I have a real treat in mind."

"What! He gets you Thanksgiving and I still have to share our dinner?"

Jen relaxed. "Please don't say it like that Baby. I have two men to think about and I'm trying my best."

With that, she was gone. Mike hovered in the kitchen until they left. Then he opened a cupboard, pulled out a large glass and filled it with Scotch.

He was late the next day and felt like wearing sunglasses inside. But he persevered. He did notice the man walking up to the office with the closed door, unlocking it, walking in and closing the door.

Mike kept to himself and when a meeting invite popped up from someone he didn't know, he ignored it. That became a pattern for a while: ignoring the invites, trying to persevere and trying to find his place between Jen and Scott.

Then, one Monday, after another disappointing Sunday, he got called again into Jacob's office.

"Mike," the old partner started, "Remember I told you that I was bringing you in some help..."

"Yes Sir. But I really don't think bringing in just a body to help with the odd bit of lifting will help. Since I haven't been involved in the hiring I can just imagine what unqualified person might be brought in."

There was a pause.

"Mike, let me introduce you to Melissa."

Mike wanted to dig a hole and hide but managed to turn around and face the person standing up behind him. The person he hadn't noticed when he walked in.

"Well," she said, "I have an extra resume here for you to look at Mr. Andrews..."

"Mike, please," he interrupted.

"... Mike...to see if I might be suitable."

Mike looked at her. Of course, he had to compare her to Jen. And they couldn't be much different. Melissa was almost as tall as Mike. Her hair was shoulder length and brunette. She was curved, but no where close to "unfashionably" overweight. When they shook hands, he noticed her hand was almost as big as his. And she was hiding behind thick-framed glasses.

And she was smart. Covering for time, he read the resume. Master's in software engineering. Professional engineer. Project Management Professional. She had a patent to her credit. And she was only two years older than Jen.

Jacobs, clearly enjoying the moment said, "Mike, I insist you give her an hour to show you what she's done. I gave her a cubicle right outside my office."

When they got to her cube, Mike said, "Look, Melissa..."

"Mel."

"Look, Mel, I'm a mathematician. I'm not into process or software fads. I..."

"Mike, I asked Mr. Jacobs to connect us. If you don't like what I've done, since he brought me in on a recommendation, he'll probably find something else for me to do."

"Sure, shoot."

"Well, as far as the data base thing," she said, doing air quotes. Mike smiled, already liking her. "Talking with your stakeholders, here is my proposed logical model." She typed and brought up the schema. "It's pretty simple. There are compliance requirements, marketing requirements, sales," her voice dropped and she did air quotes again, "Security and some ideas from Mr. Jacobs." She typed and brought up another schema. "We don't really need it, but it's chichi to make the physical model a star schema, so that's what it would look like."

Mike smiled and said, "And in your spare time?"

Mel looked at him over her shoulder. "I'm just getting started."

Each cubicle had a small white board. Her's was covered. She looked carefully around and lifted the cover. It was filled with circles, connected with lines.

"This is my current stakeholder identification."

Mike couldn't help but snort.

"Mike, what's the definition of a successful project?"

He inwardly smiled, "On time and on budget?"

"If your stakeholders want that, yes. But if it is on time and on budget but they think it's a flaming bag of canine excrement on their doorstep, no. A successful project is measured by happy stakeholders."

Mike looked at the diagram. In the middle was a circle labeled 'me'. Right next was a large blue star labeled, "MIKE!"

Mike asked, "Is this what they teach Project Managers?"

"Only if they learn from Michaelis Thanis. He teaches you how to pass the PM exam AND how to manage a project." Mike thought the name was vaguely familiar.

"You're going to get a visit from him." She pointed to a red circle in the bottom right corner labeled, "Alan." Mike shrugged.

"He was brought in some time before me by another partner. He's 'locked-room man'?" Mike immediately made the connection. "He's not pleased by you making changes whenever you want with your 'super user' ID and is going to force a showdown. He has been adding some good process, but he's a real empire builder." She brought up his LinkedIn profile. Mike looked it over. Even with the inflated language of LinkedIn, he was just slightly above average.

"Last job was at a Russian bank," he observed.

"Could explain the paranoia," Mel replied. "To cut down on your updates, may I suggest the following." She typed and brought up a grid.

"Talking with your team and your other stakeholders, I pulled together this requirements matrix. Between you and the rest of the team, we need to centralize the full list. I figure if we do monthly releases, Alan will be happy. These days a sprint is typically two weeks, but the team isn't ready for that. Do you know your budget?"

"We never get handed a budget," he replied.

"Yeah.... well, even if you don't know it, there is one and your stakeholders are going to measure what they get against​ what it cost them. I asked Jacobs and he said he could fund you, me, the rest of the team and about 300 grand in hardware until the end of October."

"Fiscal year end," said Mike.

"Ok. I figure we have five months to be up and running--so five sprints--with an MVP, or Minimum Viable Product that might be from this prioritized list of requirements." Typing. "That allows some breathing room and any pivot, or change in direction, your stakeholders might make. I have gone over this individually with your team, but to get buy in we have to work out the details with them. We need daily meetings to understand where we are and who is doing what."

"Ok."

"Now. You guys need some structure to this thing you're building."

"Sapphire."

"Whatever." She began to sketch. "What you already have is a good start, but we can restructure it to make changes go faster. You'll build the rules engine. The brains of the system. I'll do the data base thing (air quotes). Cosmin (one team lead) knows messaging, so he'll do the message layer to move around the incoming market data and the out going orders from your engine. Nithi (another member) had a course in GUI design, so she should do the presentation layer where people will see the screens and type the input. Melani..." Mike leaned back in his chair and just let her go. Sapphire suddenly seemed easier to do.

"Andrews!"

They both looked up and saw "locked room man."

"I need to talk to you."

"Sure, Mel will join us."

"Whatever."

In the end they had to drag two partners in. Alan accepted Mel's release plan. But Mike's existing "super user" privileges were a sticking point. Mel suggested Mike keep them for an interim time...provided a Senior Partner sign off. Jacobs, with a twinkle, signed.

"Fine," fumed Alan. "As long as we know who might be a breach in security and the Business accepts the potential liability."

As they left together, Mel whispered to Mike, "From now on, you'd better watch your back."

Back at Mel's cube, Mike had a thought. "Do you mind moving cubicles?"

"Makes no difference to me," she replied.

"I have a cube right beside me that they always keep empty. Is that ok?"

And that was the point where the universe changed.

Mel smiled. You may have seen a similar change when what you thought of someone was completely overturned when they broke into a smile the likes of which you could never anticipate. Mike hadn't seen Mel smile yet and it changed her whole face. He was captivated by it and in the following days he'd make sure that at least once a day he'd make Mel smile.
____________
"When you smilin', when you smilin
"The whole world smiles with you."
Last edited by FreshStart on Fri Jun 09, 2017 4:00 am, edited 1 time in total.

ambershere

Re: M+J in "Rogue Sum"

Unread post by ambershere » Wed Jun 07, 2017 4:14 pm

This was really well written and I enjoyed reading it

User avatar
CoupleRendevousMhalf
Virgin
Posts: 22
Joined: Sun May 14, 2017 4:49 pm

Re: M+J in "Rogue Sum"

Unread post by CoupleRendevousMhalf » Wed Jun 07, 2017 4:52 pm

Looking forward to seeing how this all unfolds.
Being a cuckold is not my fantasy but as a cuckold I have fantasies.

User avatar
SamWarrens
2 Bit Whore
Posts: 1249
Joined: Sun Sep 11, 2016 3:07 pm
Location: Canada

Re: M+J in "Rogue Sum"

Unread post by SamWarrens » Wed Jun 07, 2017 7:53 pm

Don't you dare stop now!
Great minds may think alike, but fools seldom differ.

FreshStart

Re: M+J in "Rogue Sum"

Unread post by FreshStart » Thu Jun 08, 2017 3:04 pm

To emphasize more background, Mike is hoping that with his bonus from Sapphire, he can buy a new place and start a family with Jen. She has become less and less...enthusiastic(?) about this plan as she has become more and more involved with Scott. A three month 'fling' now has no defined end date.

"Rogue Sum"
by
Anais NinFreshStart
(Part 2)

The following Monday, Mike was more-or-less on time. He and Mel had moved all her stuff themselves the previous Wednesday, ignoring company policy to order movers, piling her desktop PC on her chair and rolling it over. She connected everything up herself.

Mike dropped into his chair and swiveled his legs under the desk... only to smash up against something hard.

"Ouch! What the Fudge is this!"

Mel didn't​ even look up from her screen. "It's a shredder," she said. "It's for stuff like this." Without looking, she reached over to Mike's desk and picked up some papers. "If Alan sees this at night, he'll have you reprimanded." It was Mel's resume. "And if he sees stuff like this," again she continued to look at her screen as she handed him another page. "He'll try to get you fired." It was Mel's sketch of Sapphire's architecture.

Mike pushed both pages into the top of the machine and watched it turn them into tiny diamonds.

Then he sent an email.

From: Mike
To: Melissa
Subject: Project Management
Text: Project Management is God's gift to control freaks.

"Very funny," said Mel, not turning around.

Mike's habits changed. He had to make the 8:30 team meetings, always held in the windowed "fish bowl" conference room. Mel always had everyone standing (to keep the meeting short and focused), ensured everyone knew exactly what was up and what they were doing, had minutes emailed as the meeting finished, and made everyone think it was all Mike's doing. Often the two wouldn't leave until after 10 at night.

On one occasion, Mike had been looking forward to one of 'his' nights with Jen. But when he opened the door, the apartment was empty. Another time when he had been working late, he found her already in bed. In pajamas he'd never seen. Spooning Scott. Both fast asleep. He wondered bitterly, who was the married couple?

One Friday afternoon, Mel turned to Mike, "What are you doing tomorrow?" She stopped and hid her face in her hands. "No. Stop. Reset." Her hands dropped. "I help my brother by taking his two kids out sometimes. Tomorrow we're going to the Children's Museum. Would you like to join us? They're cute kids, well behaved and I think you'll enjoy it. Afterwards I'll make you dinner. The kids won't be there."

Knowing what Jen would be up to, Mike didn't hesitate. "Sure!"

Mel sent an email.

From: Melissa
To: Mike
Subject: Car
Text: An engineering project manager and a mathematician were riding in a car. Suddenly as they were going down hill, the breaks failed. In a panic, they brought the car to a halt on the shoulder. The PM said, "We need to treat this like a project since it's temporary and has a result. We need to initiate the project, so since we don't have the tools to fix it, we'll have it towed to a garage. For planning, we need to plan which garage and how to decide which towing company and get estimates. For execution, we phone the towing company, have the car towed and ask the garage to fix it. For monitoring and controlling we make sure the car goes to the correct garage and we aren't overcharged for the tow. For closing, we pay for the tow." The mathematician replied, "Oh forget that! Let's just push the car back up the hill and see if it happens again!"

Mike had a great time on Saturday with the kids. A boy of 10 and girl of 8 they were just as Mel described, and more. Inquisitive, playful, well adjusted. Mel was clearly in charge...if you looked closely. The kids were never talked down to, had freedom to explore, felt safe and were allowed to think they had a good measure of control. But. They were always under control and supervision. Mike had a blast with them. Acting like some magician unveiling new surprises for them. In particular, he helped the boy, Cole, through one of the museum's math puzzles. "That's cool Mr. Andrews!" "Please, Mike."

But it was Mel, who was the real revelation. In a long form-hugging summer dress that went to the ground, Mike was stunned. She had flat shoes and her hip movement was amazing. As was territory further south. The dress accentuated her movements. And then, from the front were her breasts. Mike always thought Jen's were perfect. Maybe they were. But in that dress, Mel's certainly got Mike's attention.

But really, Mel being Mel was the biggest attraction. Twice, while he just watched her as she leaned in and interacted with niece or nephew, she caught him watching and looked back. "What?" She seemed to ask. Embarrassed he'd just shake his head answering silently, "Nothing."

They dropped the kids and the borrowed van off at her brother's, then went back to Mel's. As she began puttering in the kitchen she said, "I could do with a glass of wine. Would you do the honors? In the fridge."

Mike opened the door and found two thick bottles with large corks and asked, "Champagne?"

"Sort of."

"What are you celebrating?"

She laughed, he enjoyed the sound. "Nothing. Sparkling wine goes with everything! I never have to worry about pairing wine to food."

Mike had a great time and only thought about Jen once--wondering how she would manage children.

One morning, Mike rolled into​ work to find a huge ladybug on Mel's desk. He lifted the red-with-black-spots decorated helmet for a closer examination.

"It won't fit you," said Mel, suddenly appearing, holding her morning tea.

Mike asked her, "You ride a motorcycle?"

"Sort of. Michaelis calls it, among other things, my 'big-ass scooter'. It's automatic so I don't have to constantly shift in stupid big-city stop-and-go traffic, but it's big enough to do anything I want."

"How fast will it go?"

"Just say the word and I'll have you on the back at 70 miles an hour."

"Umm..." started Mike.

Mel thought for a second. "Would you like to ride out to a flea market with me on Saturday?"

Mike didn't hesitate, "Sure! Do I need tats and a leather jacket?"

She laughed and said, "The tats are up to you but jeans and a denim jacket, or something like it, would be perfect."

That's when Alan silently appeared.

"Melissa."

"Alan."

"Mike."

"Alan."

"Melissa, some time ago I asked for more storage space. It has become an issue. I need space."

Mel took her time answering. "Alan, I believe I told you before that Sapphire production was a priority and took a lot of storage. We're also doing a lot of testing right now too, which has priority on space. Once Sapphire goes into production, I can review space allocation and see if we can give you more. Otherwise, it might help if you tell me the machine that needs it and what it's for."

There was an equally long pause. "Fine." Alan left.

Mike leaned into the space between the cubicles and watched Alan go to his office, unlock the door and close it behind him.

Mike then said to Mel, "Is that true?"

She, as usual, was furiously typing and replied without looking at Mike or interrupting her typing, "Nope. Well, maybe half of it. It's the only way I can dick with him."

Mike smiled and shook his head.

On Saturday, Mike was in jeans and the heaviest jacket he owned, waiting for Mel when Jen walked in. With Scott.

"Oh, hi Baby," she said. "We're going a hotel pool with Allie so I'm grabbing a suit. Guess what? RH is going to be there! I predict interesting times!" Then looking Mike up and down, "My, my, what are you up to?"

Mike stammered, "A new team member has a motorcycle. We're going for a ride."

Scott heard. "Hey, buddy. Going on a Harley? That's cool!"

Mike met Mel at the curb. Expecting a Vespa, he was quite surprised by a machine that, to his untrained eye, looked like a motorcycle. "Do you have room for this?" He had a small sack.

"No probs," she replied and popped open a cavernous space under the two-person seat. She handed him a plain white helmet. "Michaelis also calls it my '300 cc pull-out couch'."

As he slid behind Mel on the big-ass scooter, Mike looked up to the apartment. Jen was watching. As the machine smoothly pulled away from the curb, he waved. Jen waved back.

Mike had a blast with the wind in his face. The flea market was a place to get lost in looking at old and not-so-old trinkets and treasures. For some reason he became fascinated with old land-line phones. "They're classic design," he said to Mel. "And in a power failure, they always work."

On the road, Mike for the first time noticed the many motorcycles. He also noticed that almost all were driven by men, few by women. Some had the occasional male passenger but the vast majority of passengers were female. And every other male passenger he saw was behind a male driver. He started to feel self-conscious, until the scooter stopped at one light. Hearing a noise, he looked to his left. Two young guys in a pickup were laughing and pointing. He felt humiliated​...until he saw them holding fists in front, then pulling back. Looking down he realized. Mel's ass was between his legs. He looked over to the truck and pantomimed rubbing Mel's hips and rocking his pelvis forward. The guys erupted with laughter and cheers, giving him 'thumbs up'. Until the ladybug swiveled toward the noise. Suddenly they were quiet, but grinning and waving. Mike felt good.

Back at Mel's, he pulled a bottle out of the sack. "Cava!" squealed Mel, obviously pleased. It was the Spanish equivalent of Champagne. "Someone's been busy on Google. Stick it in the freezer and open the one in the fridge."

After a good meal and into the second bottle, the conversation mellowed. With the alcohol coursing through him and perhaps feeling too comfortable, Mike had a need to share...he had to get his thoughts out to someone. So as carefully as he could he shared some of the details of his marriage...as if it was a friend he was talking about.

"So, you probably think he's a perv," he said.

Mel, silent so far, frowned. "That's not for me to say. Oddly enough, Michaelis and I had this weird conversation--I won't forget it. Project managers have to learn some psychological theories and in particular, ones about human motivation. He had been trying to fit sex into something called 'Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs'. It's a theory that says you can't concentrate on 'higher' things if lower ones aren't fulfilled. If you're hungry, you won't concentrate on work. If you're not hungry, but you don't feel safe, you still won't concentrate on work. The top levels are essentially self-fulfillment. You do great work, because it defines you. You do it for yourself. But lower other things like hunger, thirst, safety, a sense of belonging, all have to be satisfied first."

"Now," she continued, "Classic Maslow doesn't mention sex. Michaelis researched what other experts have said and found no clear agreement on where, or even if, sex belongs in the hierarchy. But Michaelis, for some reason was convinced it was a basic need. We had been at a wine bar for a while, and out of the blue, he started talking about cuckold fiction. He theorized that 'cuckold angst' is the needs for both sex and belonging coming forward. Just like fear comes forward as part of the entertainment of horror. You may not be a perv, but more of a certain kind of 'thrill seeker' to pursue or enjoy such angst." She paused. "Just don't ask me to understand promiscuity. It's like fast food and I'm a 'full-meal-deal' kinda gal. I want to fully enjoy and not just take the edge off my hunger."

Then out of the blue she asked, "Is your friend happy?"

"I guess so." Shifting his weight he said dismissively, "What is happiness anyway?"

Mel took a sip of her glass and collected herself, "That's usually a big question isn't it? Well years ago I heard a definition from a millionaire that I thought was very good. And not so long ago a friend of mine had to go for therapy and said her psychiatrist said the same thing. Happiness is three things: something to do, someone to love, and something to forward to. We need to be busy. Of course, we all know we need love. And if every day is expected to be the same thing over-and-over, like the movie 'Ground Hod Day', it makes you wonder if it's worthwhile continuing. Bill Murray, in the movie, tries to kill himself, then he starts working on the three things for happiness. In my case, Sapphire is making me busy. I'm looking forward to putting it into production in the short term. And in the long term, well, I'm going to move to somewhere warm. Like California. Then I'm either going back to research or move on to teaching. It's the thing in the middle that's not there right now. But I know it will happen sometime."

Then she asked, "What about you?"

"Well," started Mike, "I guess we share Sapphire as something to do right now. I have my wife Jen. And I'm looking forward to my bonus." He grinned. "Then buying a place and starting a family."

Later, in the Uber on the way home, Mike would play over-and-over exactly how Mel asked the next question. What her expression was. If she really was looking right into him.

"Do you think your friend, the one whose wife has a boyfriend, would be able to have those same things to look forward to?"

Mike looked out the window of the car. Did he really have Jen? Did he really have something to look forward to? It was then that Mike admitted it to himself: he really wasn't happy.

On Sunday, Jen was home early. Alone.

"Hey Baby, I missed you," she said hugging Mike. They spent the morning doing chores. As they remade the bed together, Jen talked about the pool party.

"I saw Allie making out with RH," she said. Then giggled, "In fact, a LOT of people saw it. They were really sucking face!"

Reflexively Mike shot, "Who saw you and Scott?" And immediately regretted it.

"Let's go out for coffee," she suggested.

It was a noisy spot, difficult for conversation, so they spent a lot of time with their phones. Mike looked up Maslow, who was a real American psychologist and not some truckstop pyschobabble. He couldn't tell what Jen was doing on her phone.

Back at home, Jen made dinner, dancing about with music blaring. Mike wondered if it was to make conversation difficult--because it did. After dinner, Jen wanted to binge-watch some Netflix program, and the evening felt like it went on forever as she watched another, then another episode, until it was quite late.

"Bedtime, Baby," she finally announced, pulling Mike to the bedroom. He had to relieve himself and when he came back, Jen was already undressed and in bed. As she slid out from the covers and walked towards him, he admired the amazing creature he had married. She quickly stripped him, then she went down on him with an aggressive ferocity that surprised him. But it felt sooo goood. He came a short time later, and as soon as she cleaned him up, she was in the shower. Mike just stared at the ceiling. When she was done, Jen came out of the bathroom already dressed for bed and with a quick peck on the cheek it was lights out.

Mike lay there wondering what hit him.

Later the next week, Jacobs asked Mike and Mel into his office.

"You might not know this, but our trading volumes are down and we're tightening our belts," he said. "A number of partners are suggesting that we advance the Sapphire roll out to help generate revenue. How can we do that?"

Mike looked at Mel, who shook her head. "That's a business thing," she said. "You tell me what we can drop and I'll tell you the effect on the schedule."

Mike thought about it. "What if we delayed using the international markets...and delayed some internal metrics?"

Jacobs nodded.

Mel asked, "Are you sure you don't need the metrics? Are they used for reconciliation?"

"Not official reconciliation," Mike replied. "I like to use them to check internal workings. It's really an internal thermometer thing, so they can wait until later. Sapphire will still analyze the markets and make trades."

Mel looked at the schedule. "That will buy us a month." Jacobs agreed to the proposal.

Once at their cubes, Mel slid a page in front of Mike. "It's still a risk," she said. "We need formal business agreement. Get Jacobs to sign this before we tell the team tomorrow." Mike made it so.

It was Friday and Mike rolled into the morning team meeting a little late. There was a cake and non-alcoholic sparkling wine. He walked in to hear, "Happy birthday, Melissa!"

"Yay Melissa! Yay Sapphire!" Melani yelled, raising her plastic glass.

Mike truly hated it when his lack of concentration on "soft" matters was exposed.

Later in the morning he went over to Mel. She was ferociously typing and didn't know he was there. He was surprised how wonderful the view was over her shoulder. Down onto the flawless skin and curves of her ample cleavage. The valley between, cleaving the wondrous mounds was perfectly named.

He brought himself up short.

"Ah...Mel? I'd like to buy you lunch today, or if you don't have a better offer, how about dinner tomorrow for your birthday?"

She swiveled around to face him. "Aaw, that's sweet. Well. If you really want to help me celebrate my birthday, you can come to my place tomorrow so I can make dinner. I love to cook. It's one of the few times your mind shuts off to deal with something not work. Then you also get to eat it! And cooking​ for one is the pits. Plus I get to put leftovers in the freezer!"

On Saturday, Mike had left the bag on the kitchen table when he went for a shower. Clean and dressed he walked into the kitchen to find Jen examining the heavy, pewter-based bottle.

"Wow, what's this?" she asked.

"Being a good dinner guest," he replied.

Later, Mel squealed, "Segura Viudas Brut Reserva!" It was one of the best Spanish Cavas. "I love it! Put it in the fridge and we'll start with the other one."

Dinner and the company were great. They found a silly movie online and tried to one-up each other on the dialogue.

When the movie was finished but the second bottle wasn't quite, Mike was mellow and bold enough to ask something that had been with him since their last dinner, "So, how come you're cooking for one?"

Mel paused, and in the molasses-like time of those who are well into their alcohol, she answered. "I recently ended a long relationship. We met in our freshman year. Bill was the one. No doubt. Game over. God...so smart...capable...a real looker...But as the cliche goes, don't expect to change someone. And it ended up being rather costly for me, so I've got to put a 'war chest' together before I move on."

After a long pause, Mike asked, "If you don't mind me asking, what happened?"

She took a deep breath. "Bill didn't want kids. Very simple. But very important. We parted on friendly terms to pursue different lives. My Mom worked in early childhood education. She loved kids, and I guess she passed that on to me."

"Sure, but not everyone can have kids," Mike said.

"Then, I'll adopt. But Bill just wasn't that kind of person. A friend from Junior high had a sister who had a child completely on her own. She bought the sperm. Warned her employer--a Catholic School board of all things! Years after that, she married and her new husband adopted the child. It was a big deal when I was growing up. It was brave and I really admired her."

They were up against each other on the couch. Mike examined Mel's hair close up. It was like looking at the different swirls of rich brown color in a chestnut, or in some fine antique furniture. He was fascinated. Then his eyes moved to her lips. They were thick and inviting, and with no forethought, he tasted them. Jen hadn't kissed him like that in so long that he couldn't remember. It was soft...and wonderful. And went on for a while.

Until Mel pushed him back.

"Whoa sailor! I'm sorry, but I can't continue." She stood up. "Mike, you're married, I can't do this. Remember, I'm the full-meal-deal gal?"

Later, they said their goodbyes, with no apparent damage to the friendship.

The next day, Sunday, Jen arrived with a pile of groceries...and Scott. "Hey Baby, I thought we could all have a special dinner together."

While Jen was busy, Mike and Scott watched some games over beer. After dinner, all three watched something until Scott and Jen started making out. Jen stole quick glances over at Mike. Eventually, she put her mouth to Scott's ear whispering something Mike couldn't hear. She pulled back and looked at Scott's face. He nodded. Then Scott leaned into Jen and whispered something in her ear. He pulled back. Jen nodded.

She went over to Mike and pulled him up by the hand. "Let's go play, Baby. And you get to go first."

In the bedroom Jen took her time stripping Mike. Then she entertained him with a slow strip tease. Dropping to her knees, she took him in her mouth and got him hard. Got him close to the point of no return. Then she stopped and took a condom out of the night stand and put it on him.

"What's that for?" he asked. "I thought you were..."

"Relax, Baby. I've been very good with my pills. This is just that Scott doesn't like sloppy seconds."

She lay back on the bed and pulled Mike with her, guiding him into her. With Mike on top and his ear close, she whispered, "He thinks it makes him gay."

Mike felt good inside Jen. That amazing velvet. It felt like it had been a while and he knew he couldn't last long.

Then he felt Scott's weight on the bed and Mike started to go soft. He cursed himself. No! He had to come. He didn't want to be humiliated. Then Mel in her summer dress came uninvited into Mike's mind...and he got hard again. To increase his movement, Mike pushed himself up on his arms with his hands.

With space now open between Jen and Mike, Scott leaned in, putting his head between man and wife. Mike heard Jen appreciatively go, "Mmmmmm!" And there was the sound of loud kissing.

Mike started to go soft again. Shit! Then all of the sensations of kissing Mel the night before came to him. He got hard, even harder than before! Then he started to really move in and out and started changing his angle.

Scott pulled back from Jen slightly. His head touched Mike and Mike could smell Scott's shampoo. Then he heard Jen whisper something. Then giggle. Then Scott's head went down and Jen again murmured, "Mmmmm."

And Mike went soft. He panicked. He had to finish, but he was suddenly so soft that he felt himself bending inside Jen. So...he decided to fake it. It had to be soon, before Jen noticed anything. He went rigid. He softly groaned. He pushed himself as best he could inside Jen and held it. Neither Scott...or Jen...seemed to notice a thing. Then with him continuing to go soft, Mike started to pull out.

That's when Jen finally noticed, and her hand went around his base to ensure the condom stayed on. Mike quickly put his hand there to replace hers, to assure her that the condom stayed on...without her being able to feel that there was nothing in it. Jen's hand went to the back of Scott's head, and she went back to concentrating on Scott's mouth.

As soon as Mike dismounted, Scott seamlessly replaced​ him. Jen's hand again went between her legs, and Scott pushed in.

"Aaaah!" she loudly sighed. The kissing stopped momentarily and Mike heard Scott whisper, "Is that better?"

His wife's reply was a deep moan, "Oh...yeah...it's awesome..."

Mike, dead inside, padded to the kitchen. He sat down in a chair and noticed the empty rubber on the deflated cock between his legs. Angrily, he ripped the covering off himself, got a paper towel to wrap it, then buried it at the very bottom of the kitchen waste bin.

Then he got a large tumbler down and began filling it with Scotch. At the half way point he stopped. And thought about his responsibilities the next morning. He poured no more. Then he walked to his bedroom, watched and listened to the two lovers momentarily, then closed the door, went into the spare room, and closed that door too.
______________________
"Show me the meaning of being lonely
"Is this the feeling I need to walk with?
"Tell me why I can't be there where you are
"There's something missing in my heart"

[I make no apologies. I liked that album.]
Last edited by FreshStart on Fri Jun 09, 2017 4:44 am, edited 1 time in total.

ambershere

Re: M+J in "Rogue Sum"

Unread post by ambershere » Thu Jun 08, 2017 3:24 pm

Well done again/can it b this Mike might have his balls where they belong.. is there a chance. Jen may actually get jealous and possibly lose Mike to another woman. I like where this is going. Glad you got your own thread

RugbyRaizo1991
Player
Posts: 367
Joined: Sun Sep 04, 2016 11:49 am

Re: M+J in "Rogue Sum"

Unread post by RugbyRaizo1991 » Thu Jun 08, 2017 3:27 pm

Agreed Great Work Fresh and I like what Amber said above my post too, I like where this is going. We usually deal with the scenario of Mike likely losing Jen to another man, but Jen losing Mike to another woman possibly ?!!! hmmmmmm def caught my interest.

User avatar
SamWarrens
2 Bit Whore
Posts: 1249
Joined: Sun Sep 11, 2016 3:07 pm
Location: Canada

Re: M+J in "Rogue Sum"

Unread post by SamWarrens » Thu Jun 08, 2017 5:20 pm

Awesome thread and take on the M& J saga. Keep it up.
Great minds may think alike, but fools seldom differ.

OOAA

Re: M+J in "Rogue Sum"

Unread post by OOAA » Thu Jun 08, 2017 8:12 pm

FreshStart wrote:This came about when a break occurred in FWFFG after chapter 42 and a number of people were discussing the lack of...cajones(?) in one of the main characters. I started this in that thread and now move it to its own thread with a total of 4 chapters.
More than "cajones" (drawers) would be "cojones" (balls) ;)

FreshStart

Re: M+J in "Rogue Sum"

Unread post by FreshStart » Thu Jun 08, 2017 9:10 pm

"Sorry lady, I only know two languages--English and bad English."

[Edit: fixed. Thx. But, aren't the cojones in the cajones? Oh. Not THAT kind of drawers?]

FreshStart

Re: M+J in "Rogue Sum"

Unread post by FreshStart » Thu Jun 15, 2017 2:58 am

"Rogue Sum"
by
Anais NinFreshStart
(Part 3)

It was the week before Sapphire launched. There was a palpable tension to the office, but the Sapphire team really didn't have much to do...except to support Mel. Sapphire was cued up in the production environment and all that was left, was to turn on the market feeds Sunday night and let the program off its leash. Well, and do a bunch of paperwork Allan demanded to make sure his team knew it was ready, how to start it up and how to run it going forward.

Mike sent an email to Mel.

To: Melissa
From: Mike
Subject: Genie
Text: At lunch, a mathematician and a project manager were walking on the beach, taking a break from the project. They found an old lamp, rubbed it and a genie appeared! "You each get three wishes," said the genie. The mathematician said, "I want an unlimited bank account, a villa on Lake Geneva and want to be surrounded by beautiful women." Poof! The mathematician disappeared. "Your turn," the genie said to the project manager. She checked the time and said, "To stay on schedule, I want the mathematician back by 1 o'clock."

On Tuesday afternoon, Mike got a call from Jen. When he answered, the background din sounded like a bar and Jen was slightly slurring her words. He checked the time. It was only 1:15.

"Hey, Baby," she began. "Ssorry, but it looks like I won't make it home until very late." Mike could have sworn he heard Scott say, "Tell him it's work related."

Jen continued, "We have an important client in town and we're going to entertain them."

Mike felt a sudden fury building. "So you're telling me," he said surprisingly calmly, "That I don't get you again, on one of my designated nights. Do I get you on Saturday to compensate me?"

"No, Baby, I'm sooo sssorry," she replied. "Ssaturday has been set up for monthss. We're...Scott's holding a big party for one of his friends and he really needs my help. I'll sssoo make it up to you on Sunday."

"So, your husband doesn't get to see you on his night," he said, his voice was beginning to rise. "Then doesn't get to see you in compensation on Saturday night, because in both cases you're busy with your goddam boyfriend! But as compensation, he gets you Sunday, when you're supposed to be home anyway? All this leading up to the biggest week of my career?!" At that point, he was practically shouting and slammed down the phone.

Then he remembered where he was and looked over to see Mel's back turned to him while she was furiously typing. He got up and went out for a walk.

Later in the afternoon, Mel was padding back to her desk with her afternoon tea. When she got even with Mike she stopped.

"I was wondering," she said tentatively, "Could you help a girl make leftovers on Saturday night? We can't really celebrate, because we're not in production and I wouldn't want to jinx things. We'll probably be here late Friday night going through the implementation​ checklist."

Mike looked up with tired eyes. "Sure." He shrugged. His reward was a beaming smile.

"And I forgot to mention it sooner," she continued. "But there's an outdoor antique show on Sunday. If we get out early we could see it and you could still be back home by lunch."

Now Mike smiled. "I'd like that." Mel turned her back to him as she sat down. "And Mel?" She turned to him. "Thanks."

Mel wrote an email.

To: Mike
From: Melissa
Subject: Fire!
Text: An engineer​ and a mathematician were staying overnight at a hotel. That night, a fire broke out in the hotel. When the fire reached the engineer's room she felt the heat of the fire. Did some calculations. Went into the bathroom and felt the water. Did some calculations. Felt what came out of the fire extinguisher. Did some calculations. Then she blasted the base of the fire with the extinguisher, putting the fire out. Then, she soaked the walls, the ceiling and the bed with the extinguisher and climbed into the soggy bed to get what sleep she could. Later, the fire reached the mathematician's room. He felt the heat of the fire. Did some calculations. Went into the bathroom and felt the water. Did some calculations. Felt what came out of the fire extinguisher. Did some calculations. Triumphantly, he said, "Ah! There's an answer!" And he went back to bed.

On Saturday, Mike arrived and handed Mel a bag. "A 'growers' Champagne!" she crowed. "And one I haven't had before. Boy, I can't wait to see you actually celebrate if this isn't celebrating! This will be the second bottle."

Mike opened the fridge and pulled out one of the two pewter-bottomed bottles he found and opened it. "With this already in the fridge, I can't wait until you celebrate too," he thought.

It was a low key, evening with Mel directing and Mike helping as best he could, bumping into her from time-to-time in the tiny kitchen. The meal was simple, but delicious. They cleared up together then sat around alternatively picking music choices. As they started the third bottle of sparkling wine, Mel out of nowhere asked, "What do you think about my glasses?"

Sensing a "do-these-jeans-make-me-look-fat" moment he passed. "I've never really noticed your glasses."

"C'mon," she insisted, "That's a cowardly thing to say. What do you think of them?"

"You want the truth?" It was dangerous water, but Mike never understood those moments, even when completely sober.

"Yes," Mel said emphatically. "What do you think about my glasses? I need a change. I'm not happy with them."

"OK, I think they are thick and heavy and you're hiding," he replied.

"Really? I once tried contacts for a half-day but they were sooo uncomfortable. The optometrist tried to tell me that it was because they were put in my eyes inside-out by mistake. Bill used to say that suffering in contacts was only for the vain. Do you think I'd look okay without glasses?"

She took them off.

"Why would you look any different?"

"Oh, come on," she replied and she put her face close to Mike. "You can tell me."

Mike was caught up in a frozen moment of time. She was beautiful. Of course, hers wasn't a painted-up, we-all-know-we're-supposed-to-be-in-awe, model kind of beauty. It was more subtle to discern. It was cleaner. It was more honest. Mike could smell her. Mike kissed her. That soft mouth enveloped his consciousness, took over his universe.

Then he was slipping his hand in. Curving it around the warm, smooth satin that covered her breast. Then his had slipped further in onto perfect, soft skin. Then his fingers found a hard nipple. Then his lips found it and kissed it. Then his tongue swirled around it.

Somehow, they made it to the bed where Mike was slow and very careful. In the back of his mind he wanted to savor this...and make sure he didn't blow it...and give her everything that he could possibly give to her. His mouth softly kissed her other lips then the nub in between. He slowly slid his tongue up and down her moist slit and sank slightly into the slippery interior. Gently working with his mouth outside, he slipped his middle, then ring fingers inside and curled them up against her upper wall. When she came she clamped her thighs, grunted and went rigid for what seemed minutes. He thought she was going to break his hand. But it was well worth it.

When she had returned to earth, he slid up her body and continued to savor her mouth while a finger glided up and down her slit. It wasn't long before she came again.

"Please," she whispered. "I want you inside."

He gently moved onto her and she reached down to position him. It took them a bit of fumbling, but when he was in...

He couldn't, wouldn't compare the feel with anything before. It wasn't because it wasn't good. Far from it. No, he really couldn't compare to anything before, because, when he looked down, he saw Mel. That a magic nymph, the likes of which he never imagined could exist. He was surprised how long he lasted, but it was because he was savoring the moment. There was nothing about quickly scratching an itch. Nothing about fast food. When he was getting close, he said. "Sorry, didn't even think about a condom. I'll pull out."

"No. Don't. I want to feel you." He immediately came with a rush he hadn't felt...for a long time.

A little later, they awoke and gently repeated things. Mike couldn't believe he was the same man with Mel as he was with...

Mike woke again some time later. He stared at the dark ceiling wondering who he was. Didn't he always feel guilty about even looking at women other than Jen? How could he have possibly come to this point? When he was with Bitsy, it wasn't like this. He hadn't felt like this. This was something he'd long ago felt with... He turned and admired the silhouette of curves that was the woman on her side. Her back was to him and he gently spooned against her and put his arm around her. His hand, not by intent, touched her breast. He felt a hand grip his and move it to her stomach.

He didn't know what to make of that and said, "Are you awake?'

"No."

With some anxiety he asked, "Should I go?"

There was a pause. It stretched and he began to expect rejection. Then it stretched further and he thought she'd fallen asleep.

Eventually she said, "...no..."

Mike slid down slightly in the bed to be able to put his cheek against her back. He put every square inch of his skin that he could against hers. Then gently pulled her into him. He tried to drink in Mel with every pore of his body.

When Mike woke up, he was alone in bed in the brightly lit room as Mel walked in fully dressed, drying her hair.

"Sorry, Mike," she said. "Something came up and I can't make it this morning." She dropped his clothes on the bed. "Um...would you mind?" She left and closed the door.

When Mike walked out of the bedroom, fully clothed, Mel was at the kitchen table with a tea. Clearly, she was weighing what she was about to say.

"Look, Mike. I won't say I'm sorry last night happened. It was wonderful. But really, it should not have happened." Her face clouded. "I just won't be the rag you masturbate into..."

The words stung and confused him. "Look, Mel, please. It's not like that. I..."

She cut him off with, "And I won't be a reason for a failed marriage."

"No, it's not like that at all. I really do..."

"Please, Mike. I have to think...See you tomorrow." Her voice softened. "OK?"
---

Mike was laying face up on the couch at home with eyes wide open when Jen arrived. With a pile of groceries. And Scott.

"Hey, Baby," she said. "I'm so sorry for this week. I've got a special night all planned out for you."

And she did. But she didn't understand how things had changed. Jen made Mike one of his favorite meals and paid him rapt attention all through dinner. Scott didn't seem to mind.

Then after dinner, all three were on the couch, with Jen in the middle. They watched a ballgame of Mike's choice and sat, behaving, as if Mike was some former-era chaperone. Then, when the game was over, Jen stood up and held Mike's gaze as she straddled Scott, facing him. She didn't brake the gaze with Mike as she slowly leaned in and started open-mouth kissing Scott. While that continued, she gestured for Mike to come closer, and when he did, she started rubbing up and down on the front of his pants.

When she was satisfied that Mike was hard, Jen got off Scott and stood right in front of Mike. Reaching under her short dress with both hands, she shimmied her hips and her hands slowly emerged with red panties. She stepped out of them and gently, sensuously, rubbed the soft fabric against Mike's cheek. First on one side. Then slowly along his face and under his nose, pausing as if she wanted him to savour the scent. Then she slide it up to the other cheek and caressed him again.

Deliberately dropping the panties onto Mike's lap, Jen stepped over until she was between Scott's knees. Again, looking directly into Mike's eyes she slowly and deliberately unbuckled Scott, opened his pants, reached in and pulled out his long cock. Continuing to hold Mike's gaze she knelt and started to lick, then swirl her tongue around the growing organ. Then, still looking into Mike's eyes, she took Scott completely into her mouth. Mike fought with himself and lost as he started to rub himself through his pants.

That was a signal to Jen.

She stood up and straddled Scott again. Breaking the gaze with Mike, she looked at Scott. Her expression softened, she put a hand on each side of Scott's face and looked him in the eyes. Her thumbs traced Scott's mouth, then her lips joined with his. They were deep, long kisses and the way Jen held Scott's head made it look to Mike that she was taking some long, quenching drink from a precious goblet.

Then, while looking right into Scott's eyes, Jen lifted herself slightly, put a hand under her dress and, even though Mike couldn't see it, he knew, Jen slowly impaled herself on Scott's large cock. She started a slow, rhythmic bounce. It was well regulated. She'd be slow for a while, then she'd speed up, perhaps to get one of them more excited, then she'd slow down again, perhaps to savour together. Eventually she sped up and didn't stop, bouncing and bouncing...until she moaned into Scott's mouth. While she rode out her climax, Scott grabbed her hips, pulled her down burying himself deeper and groaned into Jen's mouth.

They had cum together. His wife. And Scott. Right in front of him. His wife had taken her boyfriend's seed and climaxed.

While they had been at it, part of Mike couldn't help it as he had subconsciously pushed his pants to his ankles, pulled out his cock, wrapped it with the red panties and stroked. But now he was frozen. Jen, recovered, looked at Mike and smiled. She pulled back to look Scott in the face. And smiled wider. Then she gave him another long smoldering kiss and whispered in his ear.

She got off Scott and while she lovingly cleaned him off with her mouth, she pushed the dress between her legs to sop up the mess there. She finished with a wipe from the hem of the dress on Scott's cock. Rising, she stepped to Mike holding out her hand, the dark stain on the front of the dress looking like a pubic triangle. "Time to give you some attention, Baby," she said, pulling him to his feet. Then whispered in his ear, "What if he just got me pregnant?" Mike pulled back as if slapped. Why did that sound so different this time? Jen didn't notice and pulled him toward the bedroom, but his feet were still caught in his pants and he almost fell. Laughing, she stepped on the pants as he extricated first one foot, then the other. Once in the bedroom, she undid his top buttons and pulled his shirt over his head like a T-shirt. Then she stripped and pulled him to the bed so they were facing each other, her on her right side, Mike on his left.

She moved to Mike and licked the fingers of her left hand and the palm of her right. Then, she took one of his nipples in her mouth, started strumming the other nipple with the wet fingers of her left hand, and wrapped her right hand around his shaft. She started slowly stroking. The sensations surprised him and his excitement quickly built.

She pulled off his nipple and whispered to him, "Isn't that nice? Scotty really likes it."

Mike's excitement faltered. Then faltered further as Scott, now naked too, lay down behind Jen on the bed. To try and get more stimulation, Mike's hand moved down Jen's flat stomach toward her pussy. She again pulled off his nipple to say, "No, Baby. Do you really want to feel Scott in me?" He didn't care. He wanted to feel his wife's sex.

That's when Scott lifted Jen's leg and slid his long member, once again, into her inviting wet folds. Feeling Scott's cock, Mike snatched his hand back as if burned. Scott kissed Jen's shoulder, she turned her head to him and they started deep, slow kissing again. Distracted, Jen stopped pumping Mike and stopped playing with his other nipple.

Scott stopped kissing Jen long enough to say to Mike, "Isn't this wild? The boyfriend is fucking the wife again while all she's giving her husband is a hand job!"

"Be nice," Jen admonished.

"But, that's what he likes to hear," came the reply. Then they started kissing again.

Mike's cock started to soften. Jen turned to him, "Sorry, this is taking too long, Baby. My hand's starting to get sore. You take over." And she dropped Mike's cock. He slid his thumb and two fingers over the end of his short shaft and slid them using the precum Jen had generated. But he wasn't responding. Then, he thought of the night before. With Mel. And all those sensuous sensations. His shaft responded and he got close to coming.

Then Scott stopped again and said, "Wow! Now she's fucking the boyfriend and the husband has to jack himself off. That's pretty intense, right?"

When Jen and Scott started kissing again, Mike knew he wasn't going to cum. Without the other two even noticing, he got off the bed and watched for a while. But as a Mike in an alternate universe already knew, there is a big difference between watching your woman having sex with someone, and watching two people fucking. He picked up his shirt and went into the living room.

Without any idea of what else to do, he pulled on the shorts, pants and shoes from the floor and went into work. He told himself, it was because he had to check again before Sapphire went live in the morning. Once there, he stepped out of the elevator and saw Alan stepping into another elevator going down.

When he got to his cube, Mike could see clear evidence that Mel had already been there too. If possible, the desk looked even cleaner than normal. He picked through useless emails and once again looked over everything that was set to launch in the morning. Sapphire was dressed in her Sunday best and was ready to show off to the world.

He decided there was nothing else he could do there, so he went home.

Just as he walked into the apartment, Jen was silhouetted in the bedroom door holding two large glasses, presumably of water. She kicked the door shut behind her with her heel. Mike looked at the closed door. Then he went into the kitchen, pulled down a large tumbler and started filling it with Scotch. When it was half full he stopped. He looked at the glass. Then he looked at the bottle. Then he said, "Fuck it..." And filled the glass to the top.
-----

Mike came to in a bright room that made his head hurt. It was the spare room. He looked down, he was still wearing the clothes from the night before. A further look around revealed his glass nearby, empty and on its side. He took small comfort in that, thinking that it at least suggested that Scott and Jen hadn't put him to bed. Looking around further he spotted his phone and picked it up.

Shit! Look at the time! He was incredibly late. Thumbing through he found 5 missed calls from Mel...and one from Jacobs! Mel had also sent a text, "Where R U??!!!"

He stumbled to his feet and decided he'd better make tracks to work just as he was. Climbing into the hailed taxi, he used the time to pull up work email. Thumbing through the email headers, he couldn't figure out what was going on. First thing in the morning, the sales guys were saying they couldn't face their clients, operations was saying everything was normal...ah, he finally found an email from Mel. The subject was, "Get in here right now! (eom)". There was no text in the body. He sat through the rest of the ride thinking of scenarios that fit the evidence. Not one came to mind.

Once at the office, he quickly strode toward his cube noting that it was quiet and the Sapphire team was absent. When he got to his desk, Mel wasn't at hers and there was an 8 1/2 by 11 envelope sitting on his chair. He opened it and began to read: "I have had a wonderful experience working at...As a result, it is a bittersweet occasion...I appreciate the value and the lessons learned...My last day will be..."

It was Mel's resignation. WTF!

He looked up from the paper and Mel was practically sprinting down the aisle towards him.

"Mel, what's this all about," he started, waving the paper.

"Not now! You picked a fine day to take the morning off!"

"No, Mel, I..."

"Everyone's in the boardroom you've got to get there. Now!" She turned and was retreating up the aisle.

"What about this?" He held up the resignation.

"That can wait! They're saying Sapphire doesn't work and is hemorrhaging money! There's going to be blood in the water! Move!!!"

__________________________
"Woke up and I heard someone holler down,
"You're broke 'cause you know that the dollar's down.
"The dog died and the cat's got a butcher knife.
"My girl is living with the preacher's wife.
"Whoa, and they just closed Camelot.
"And the list goes on and on and on.

"It's got to be Monday.
"Monday, Monday.
"No other day makes me feel this way."
Last edited by FreshStart on Fri Jun 16, 2017 6:52 am, edited 4 times in total.

The_Reader50
Prepubescent
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Oct 08, 2016 3:17 pm

Re: M+J in "Rogue Sum"

Unread post by The_Reader50 » Thu Jun 15, 2017 3:46 am

Please don't stop writing. It's a great story already can wait for more chapters. Thanks for the effort

User avatar
SamWarrens
2 Bit Whore
Posts: 1249
Joined: Sun Sep 11, 2016 3:07 pm
Location: Canada

Re: M+J in "Rogue Sum"

Unread post by SamWarrens » Thu Jun 15, 2017 10:16 am

FreshStart: You are certainly giving X a run for his money on this one! Awesome! keep it going!
Great minds may think alike, but fools seldom differ.

ambershere

Re: M+J in "Rogue Sum"

Unread post by ambershere » Thu Jun 15, 2017 10:52 am

this is sooooooooooooooooo awesome,well written, interesting, and for once Mike has balls kinda (hope they grow) i can truly say can't wait for the next chapter THANKS Freshstart this is fresh and new

RugbyRaizo1991
Player
Posts: 367
Joined: Sun Sep 04, 2016 11:49 am

Re: M+J in "Rogue Sum"

Unread post by RugbyRaizo1991 » Thu Jun 15, 2017 11:14 am

Awesome chapter, I like how Mike slammed the phone down there and said his piece.. didn't apologize either. #Bawseshit

Jimjam
Player
Posts: 262
Joined: Mon Jul 25, 2016 12:24 pm

Re: M+J in "Rogue Sum"

Unread post by Jimjam » Sat Jun 17, 2017 5:23 am

What a bitch! There's no communication between M+J, so she assumes he likes everything she's doing.

Do M&J ever get time alone?

Mike's going to have to make choices soon. I hope Scott gets crapped on....what an ass.

Great writing Freshstart.

lilford1965

Re: M+J in "Rogue Sum"

Unread post by lilford1965 » Sat Jun 17, 2017 10:27 pm

FRESHSTART , you've just proved what I already knew . You can write , and very well ! Very , very entertaining ! Well done ! Please keep it up !

User avatar
legenf359
Experienced
Posts: 151
Joined: Sat Mar 01, 2014 10:21 am
Location: City of Dreaming Spires

Re: M+J in "Rogue Sum"

Unread post by legenf359 » Sun Jun 18, 2017 2:57 am

Please carry on really enjoying it so far

slikpapa13
Player
Posts: 285
Joined: Fri Nov 14, 2014 3:53 am

Re: M+J in "Rogue Sum"

Unread post by slikpapa13 » Sun Jun 18, 2017 10:32 am

Freshstart, this is the best M&J story I've read in years. Now this is an alternate universe. X should take a lesson from you. Keep up the great work and thanks for writing this.

User avatar
SamWarrens
2 Bit Whore
Posts: 1249
Joined: Sun Sep 11, 2016 3:07 pm
Location: Canada

Re: M+J in "Rogue Sum"

Unread post by SamWarrens » Sun Jun 18, 2017 10:55 am

Ditto. Not to disrespect X, but this is a whole new direction that is vibrant.
Great minds may think alike, but fools seldom differ.

FreshStart

Re: M+J in "Rogue Sum"

Unread post by FreshStart » Sun Jun 18, 2017 5:07 pm

Thanks for all the amazing feedback! To be absolutely clear, I never had any intention to compete with or disrespect X. This is an "academic exercise" on my part to address parts of the current story I would "prefer to be different". And I sincerely trust that X understands that. I see myself as a rookie pinch-runner for the Charleston RiverDogs. While some folks are arguing about whether X is the entire roster of the 1906 Cubs, the 1939 Yankees or the 1927 Yankees. (Okay, maybe he wouldn't be amused by the Cubs reference.)

And I have no problem with that.

More "shortly".

[Later edit: "shortly" is now behind schedule. I am waiting until after X posts in the main thread and he is now later than I expected.

[Even later: in fact, he was on the site shortly after I made the last edit and posted... nothing. My resolve may waver...]
_________________
"Architects may come and
"Architects may go and
"Never change your point of view
"When I run dry
"I stop awhile and think of you"

User avatar
SamWarrens
2 Bit Whore
Posts: 1249
Joined: Sun Sep 11, 2016 3:07 pm
Location: Canada

Re: M+J in "Rogue Sum"

Unread post by SamWarrens » Wed Jun 21, 2017 7:41 pm

As far as I am aware, X writes several chapters ahead of the released chapters, so he may have very well already finished this series. So what is his point in releasing the last chapters so slowly?
Fresh; I can understand your reluctance to release as you are running a mirror adjunct to the main story and if X takes a hard right , you don't want to be caught out going left.
I just wish X would get on with it and tell the story!
Great minds may think alike, but fools seldom differ.

slikpapa13
Player
Posts: 285
Joined: Fri Nov 14, 2014 3:53 am

Re: M+J in "Rogue Sum"

Unread post by slikpapa13 » Thu Jun 22, 2017 11:54 am

Actually I think Freshstart should keep writing the story his way and not worry about what X writes. Fresh's story line is different and, IMHO, much more interesting and does not need to track X's storyline any further. Run with it Fresh, I'm enjoying your writing tremendously.

FreshStart

Re: M+J in "Rogue Sum"

Unread post by FreshStart » Thu Jun 22, 2017 12:35 pm

FreshStart sez, "Uncle." Can't wait for X anymore.

My reluctance was in regard to competition for eyes, not a zig vs zag. This story is from a frozen-moment-in-time that has since passed. X has already moved along. And as luck probably has it, he's going to release some blockbuster that will have everyone discussing only that, for weeks.

This story must come to a close. It was planned as a four-parter and to cover some specifics I'd prefer to happen in X's main thread. Instead of complaining or asking him to change his story, I did something about it myself.

Now I have a challenge. A nice one. This was more fun than I imagined. I got a reaction I didn't anticipate. This is not the end. But I have to fit some other ideas I sent to X a while ago (yeah, me too) into this new universe. Or take more time and build my own. I won't have much time. As X sez, real life intervenes. On top of that, the time I might have to write this, will have to be spent writing non-fiction that I promised a group where I am not anonymous. :D It just dawned on me...every single word of fiction I've ever written after high-school is on OHW.

On the plus side, when I released the early parts, I seeded them with some potential surprises. And the finale is altered to allow things...well...you can read it yourself, following this:
-------
There was a knock on the door and the man answered. A bubble-gum cracking young girl was holding a large envelope.

"You Mike Xavileglover?"

Yes, said the puzzled man.

"You've been served."

She put the envelope under the stunned man's arm and walked away. He closed the door, ripped open the envelope and mumbled out loud.

"Divorce papers...Fresh...X...Our hot wives?!"

A petite blond with great legs, poked her head out of another room.

"Who was at the door, Baby?" she asked. "What was that about 'our hot wives'?"

"Oh," he nervously tried to recover. "It was nothing...no...some police warning that the new kitchen knives we bought from that guy out of his trunk may be stolen. I think I said, 'Our hot knives'..."

He quietly put the envelope by his desk.
__________________
"Let me tell you a story
"About a woman and a man
"Maybe you will find familiar
"Maybe you won't understand

"The man's name I don't remember
"He was always Joe to me
"But I can't forget the woman
"She was always..."

FreshStart

Re: M+J in "Rogue Sum"

Unread post by FreshStart » Thu Jun 22, 2017 12:38 pm

"Rogue Sum"
by
Anais NinFreshStart
(Part 4--Finale)
[no sex]

To someone who didn't know Mike, they would have thought he was distracted and wasn't interested in the meeting as people in turns shouted, threatened and wailed. The office looked empty when Mike arrived because everyone was crowded into the standing-room-only boardroom. He wasn't listening because he was lost in his head, wandering down the many paths and rules of Sapphire to understand how something that couldn't happen...was happening.

"Amal fucking Clooney!" yelled an important-looking man. "I have Amal Clooney invested in Sapphire! Do you have any idea how she could make or break us with her friends? How the fuck am I going to be able to tell her, oh, I'm sorry, Ma'am, on day one, our marvelous investment program has lost half your fucking money??!!!"

"We don't have to report anything until after the markets close and we can still hold on and give out unit values at the end of the week, or even later," calmly said a younger dapper man.

"Great!" replied the first, "That's gives us more time to lose everything! Right now the goddam thing has lost more money than the markets!"

It was true. The market was down sharply and instead of cushioning the blow, never mind making money, Sapphire had lost even more. Far more.

Someone asked, "Why wasn't this caught in testing?"

That's when Mike pulled himself out of his stupor. "There has to be a difference between the production and testing environments. This can't happen. We tested everything..."

Alan jumped to his feet. "The only way that could have happened is by an unauthorized change. And that could only happen from one ID."

The shouting continued for a while until an older, quiet gentleman rose. The room hushed. "We need a plan of how we will fix this," he said. "We need it now. In the meantime, we have only a few clients invested and if need be, we can tell them we'll cover their losses as we are only in...I don't know...'beta' or something. And let's make sure no unauthorized changes can be made going forward." By the end of the meeting, it was agreed that Mike would lose his super-user ID.

Shortly afterwards, Mike and Mel were sitting in Jacob's office. "And now," he said, "Things are even more serious. Because of that fool's idea, the company itself is now on the line. And worse, we can have the Security Exchange Commission looking into how we were gambling with other people's money. Someone will go to jail because of this." He shrugged. "I won't waste my breath asking you two to work hard on this. I know I have the smartest and best people working on it. For everyone's sake, find the fault and fix it." He looked at Mel. "What's your plan?"

She glanced to Mike then replied, "We'll take over the 'fish bowl' meeting room as a 'war-room' and move the team there. We'll do a comparison between testing and production versions of Sapphire to make sure they're the same. Cosmin's message layer writes all the market data to the 'data base thing', so we can actually replay today's market crash to the test copy of Sapphire to see if the same problem happens. We'll do a root-cause analysis on the actual problems that are identified. The risk to us is that the production team won't make changes fast enough to prevent further problems. They've changed Mike's super-user password, but as long as he doesn't logoff, he's still got the privileges to make emergency changes--if we can't get anyone's attention fast enough."

"I like the plan," twinkled Jacobs. "And I didn't hear that last part."

As they were setting up the meeting room, Mike mused out loud to Mel, "You were right. If the internal metrics were in place, I'd be better able to figure out the problem. It was a perfect storm. We cut corners to get in faster, and now we can't fully diagnose the illness. It was a risk."

The rest of the day was agony for all. By mid-day the markets remained sharply lower. Sapphire still stubbornly refused to do better than the markets. Mike stared at his screen, chasing himself through corridors of numbers while Mel pounded her keyboard like she was hammering nails. The end of the trading day had a slight recovery for the markets, but Sapphire was still no better. The Sapphire team was still no closer to the reason for the disaster. No testing they had ever done on the program had a result like this. It was dark when Mike decided he needed some air, and got up to go for a walk. Mel jumped up and sat at his computer. "Just to make sure nobody logs you off," she said.

Mike had phoned Jen a number of times. He needed to hear her voice, but all through the day she never picked up and never returned a text. As he stepped out into the dark, his phone rang.

"Sorry, Baby," said Jen. "We've been up-to-here all day preparing a big presentation. How is your big day?"

Mike couldn't think of an answer. "Things aren't good," he finally said. "If I can't fix it, there won't be a bonus...and because I took a gamble, it's my fault..."

"Oh. That's okay. You'll have another opportunity..."

"I could even lose my job, Jen. Then we won't be able to..." His voice trailed off.

There was a pause on the other end. "It's okay, Baby. We'll be fine." Clearly she had pulled away from the phone to call out, "OK. I'll be right there." In a normal voice she said, "Baby, if worse comes to worse, we can always share space with Scotty. We'd all be roommates."

Mike felt hollow. He had already felt like he was relegated to being Jen's roommate.

When he got back to the office, Mike walked into the 'Fish Bowl', got the attention of the Sapphire team (except Mel, who was squinting at Mike's screen) and thanked them for their efforts. It was late, he told them, go home. If he needed anything, he'd call. Then he walked towards his computer still unsure of what to do, feeling alone, without support from anywhere. Mel had her back to him as she stared at the screen. He reached forward with his hands. The intention was to give her a little massage...but really it was going to do more for him. He wanted the connection, needed some contact. But before his hands came down on her shoulders, Mel tapped the screen in front of her and turned her head to Mike.

"That's it right there," she said, tapping. Mike squinted over her shoulder at the screen without understanding.

"What am I looking at? What is it?"

"That file, called 'sum'. It's not in our test environment for Sapphire, but it's there in production. I'll bet you that program, or whatever it is, is affecting Sapphire and making it perform badly somehow. We can't see it without your super-user privileges. Alan's been hiding it."

She stood and turned fully to Mike, "Here, you drive. Get that rogue program and put it onto my sandbox." A sandbox is a machine where code developers can play around without affecting testing or production. "It's set up like production. We've stored all the day's market trades and we can play them back to the sandbox, and to the test environment to see the differences. If my hunch is right, the sandbox will bomb like production while testing will be what we expected. Give me a bit and I'll re-run today as-is on the sandbox to make sure it gets the same results as the test environment. They'll start out identical."

Mike was clearly surprised. "Your sandbox is as big as the Sapphire production server?" That would be a very unusual expense!

Mel had her back to him and was furiously typing. "It's just missing a few cores because it doesn't have to do the work in real-time. But, yeah."

"How the hell did you manage that?" Mike was beyond surprise.

Mel waved at him dismissively with one hand. "Men don't know how to get anything from other men without bluff, bluster or brawl. That's why evolution invented women."

"And you've used up storage to store the market data?" Mike asked.

"Yes, we're keeping the last 5 days and we also keep the day with the biggest rise and the day with the biggest fall. Seven days in total."

"That's why Alan couldn't get storage?"

"No. It's because he's a dick."

Hours later they had a baseline to work from. For testing, Mike had created a simulator to measure how Sapphire would perform without the trades going out to the market. The test version of Sapphire, using Monday's market disaster, would have made a profit! The sandbox made the same profit! Mel had also tested the worst day they had ever seen. Sapphire again, had a marginal profit.

Mel looked at Mike. "You really are one smart cookie."

"Takes one to know one."

Mike applied the rogue program to the sandbox and they waited as Mel replayed Monday's markets to that version of Sapphire. The wait was agony. When the crunching finished, it was the same disaster that they'd seen in production!

Just then Alan appeared.

"Find anything?" His voice was flat and unemotional.

"Well..." stammered Mike.

"Not yet," interrupted Mel with a sweet smile at Alan. "But we're trying."

Alan frowned. "Well, good luck." He turned and left. Mike and Mel leaned into the aisle to watch him check the door on his office, then leave.

Mel turned back to her desk and mused, "But what's the rogue doing?"

Mike had been monitoring the run. "The error log's really full," he said. After typing, "Something's trying to send messages to another server--looks like it might be a message for every trade Sapphire's trying to do. Obviously, the sandbox isn't connected to anything so it can't find that other server." Every machine on every computer network, including all across the Internet, has an address, just like every building on a street. It's called an IP address. They both looked at the address in the errors.

"I've never even seen that subnetwork," said Mel. It was like she hadn't recognized the name of the street, never mind the actual house, or computer. They looked at each other.

"Follow me," said Mel and she jumped up and walked away. Mike, puzzled, followed her to the door of Jacob's office. She paused, looked around, no one else was in the office, and she opened the door. Mike watched as she crossed the room to a clothes tree in the corner and frisked a jacket hanging there. There was a jingling sound as she walked back and closed the door behind her. Mike looked at her, perplexed.

"You can observe a lot when you sit outside someone's office," she explained. Mike followed her to another office. Alan's office. She fumbled with a number of keys, then there was a click and she opened the door. Mike pushed past and started looking around the room. Then he bent down under the desk.

"There's a Windows server here," he said.

"Shh! Some one's coming," whispered Mel and she closed the door, leaving Mike alone in Alan's office. He paused, listening for a while. He heard a muffled conversation. Trying to be absolutely quiet, Mike sat at the desk. He found he could log onto the mystery server with his normal ID, but couldn't do much. He typed, "ipconfig" and with a slight grunt watched the information on the screen. Then, on impulse, he typed "ping google.com" and silently watched rows of numbers scroll by. After pausing to make sure things hadn't changed on the other side of the door, he did some searching on the computer. And found something.

He pushed back from the desk and contemplated exactly what it all meant. He was stunned.

A few minutes later, he was standing right behind the door when Mel opened it, almost hitting him in the face.

"Sorry," she whispered. "It was just the normal building security doing the rounds. Find anything?"

As they took the keys back to Jacob's office then returned to their desks, Mike filled her in. "That server is the one the rogue program is looking for. And guess what? It has access through the firewall!" The server in Alan's office could talk to the outside world. For security purposes, both incoming and outgoing, that kind of access is tightly restricted.

Mel, hadn't had time to think about it. "Why?"

"Someone is monitoring Sapphire's trades. Maybe they're testing it or maybe they want to make money too. But there's more. That server has an old test copy of Sapphire. It was a lot smaller then." He gripped Mel's shoulders and turned her to face him. "I think they're trying to steal Sapphire and when you limited Alan's access to storage, you stopped them!"

She stood blinking for a while. "I wonder if he's still on the payroll of that Russian bank? What about the bad performance of Sapphire? What caused it and why would anyone want bad trades? Sapphire lost money today, who needs help to do that!?"

"That I'm not certain about. Either the performance issue was an error, or they're sabotaging Sapphire for us, while stealing the trades it would normally make. Wait a sec." Mike sat at his computer and typed. "What's the timestamp on the rogue program on the sandbox?" They checked. "It's changed. Alan has put a new copy of the rogue onto the production server. Let's see if that's changed things."

Mike copied over the program again and they reran the market data on the sandbox. The new version of the rogue was still affecting Sapphire, but not nearly as much.

"He wants us to think we fixed it!" exclaimed Mel. "But it will still be a problem. And when they've got the correct copy they can outperform us!"

"That might not be the plan," Mike replied. "Stealing trades from Sapphire will only work until the next network change. They can't rely on stealing our trades going forward. They'll just steal Sapphire itself and leave the mess behind." He took a deep breath. "Now what do we do?"

"Call Jacobs."

Mike checked the time. 5am. "At this hour?"

"Fine, I'll do it." She reached for her phone. "We need someone with authority. He'll just be sitting in bed catching up with the overnight news at this hour, anyway."

"Sitting outside someones office..."

An hour later, Jacobs looked up from Mike's desk and asked, "You're absolutely certain of this?"

"Absolutely," said Mike. Jacobs turned and looked at Mel closely. After a pause, she nodded. He smiled looking at her and asked, "What's the plan?" She slide a paper in front of him.

"We need sign-off to rip out the rogue," she explained. "The production people will have to make sure it stays there unless they have it in writing from an authorized signer. We also need access to Alan's office to unplug the mystery server."

"And you need me to call building security to detain Alan when he gets here, then to call the police to collect him," said Jacobs. "This is now a criminal matter." After signing he pulled himself out of the chair. "But if you're not right, on Wednesday morning I'll be on the golf course and you two will be interviewing for jobs where they ask, 'Do you want fries with that?' And I absolutely hate golf." He started walking away. "Mike, kill the rogue. Mel, get my keys and I'll meet you at Alan's office to unplug that server. I'll stay there to make my phone calls in case Alan does some how slip in. And stop pretending to look surprised, Mel. You know where the keys are."

The plan went into effect. By market opening, the entire Sapphire team was back and everyone was nervously watching in the Fish Bowl when the markets opened Tuesday morning. Overnight futures had predicted another down start and the markets did indeed open lower. Sapphire immediately reacted, and started to make money! By mid-day the markets had started to recover and Sapphire, over the two days, was flat! In other words, with the markets down, Sapphire had made money--in fact, enough to cover the first day's loss! As the day moved toward close, Sapphire continued to hold! You could even smell the mood change in the office. But Mike still looked worried. Mel gave him a quizzical look.

"Sapphire is busy loading up," he said. "She thinks the market is over-sold and when everyone stampedes back, buying things, she'll already be holding onto important things they want to buy. You ever heard of supply and demand?"

Mel, nodded. "Prices go up or down depending on the amount available, the supply, and how much people want to buy, the demand. When there is a small supply and big demand, prices go up. The opposite with lots of supply and low demand."

"Close enough. Well, she's going to turn it on its head. Tomorrow, for some things, she's going to control the supply and demand the price. She's either going to make tomorrow hell for some people, or she's going down in flames."

There was quiet for a moment. "If you stay at my place, you won't have as long a commute the rest of the week, in case something happens."

Mike smiled. "That's a great idea!"

"Mike, I'm only offering a couch." She leaned toward him and sniffed. "And a shower." He was still in the same clothes from Sunday. "And leftovers. That's all. Understand?"

"Uh...of course. Sounds like a plan. Hey, I can't buy take-out?"

Mike still had to go home for some clothes. He walked into the apartment wearing the white helmet. On the way to the bedroom, he spotted Jen and Scott side-by-side on the couch. Scott's one hand was around a beer and the other arm was around Jen's shoulders, while Jen held that hand in both of hers. Jen's head tracked Mike's entrance, while Scott's view never left the big screen. As Mike started stuffing a bag in the bedroom, Jen appeared, hugging herself.

Quietly she asked, "What's up?"

"I'm going to stay with a team member for the rest of the week. I want to be closer to the office. Things have been a real mess."

He walked into the bathroom for things and when he returned, Jen was holding out a box of condoms. "Just in case," she said in a small voice.

Mike snapped, "No, Jen. Not everyone fucks every one of their goddam co-workers!" She pulled back as if slapped and he immediately felt bad. "I'm sorry. It's been a really, really stressful time. I'm dog tired, I've had no sleep and it's just been..." His voice trailed off. "Look. I'll phone you later, okay?" She nodded with her moist eyes down and a tremble in her lip. He held her arm and kissed her cheek.

As he slid behind Mel on the big-ass scooter, Mike looked up to the apartment. Jen was watching. As the machine smoothly pulled away from the curb, he waved. Jen turned back into the room...without a wave.
-----

By Friday, Sapphire had indeed burned a few traders and was now settling down into the pattern that Mike had originally envisioned--she was steadily making money. Mike and Mel were slightly later than normal getting into the office. They each found an envelope and a bottle gift-box on their desk. Mike tore the envelope open to find a check for 5 figures from the personal account of 'Austin T. Jacobs'. In the box was a bottle of Highland Park 18-year-old Scotch.

"Weee!" squealed Mel, "Ruinart Champagne!"

Jacobs appeared with eyes twinkling. "I just wanted to show my appreciation to the two of you for the efforts you've put in and the successes we've had. You'll get something a lot more substantial later in the year, but in the mean time you two get to split what I think Sapphire is going to make for me personally this month." He turned to go then stopped. "I remember a partner describing a time in his life like this. With a nice bonus on the horizon he quickly made a move to put 'ex' in front of a certain woman's title. After that," he smiled broadly and chuckled, "He learned about pre-nups." He turned once more to go, then stopped and looked at the two. "I'm thinking that we should open a new office in one of those warm places where rich old people go to die. They can make us, and their heirs, a lot of money. I'm open to suggestions for the location."

"Wait," said Mel and waved a paper at him. "We need sign-off for a party for the Sapphire team and for some gifts. It's in the budget, but I need the approval to spend."

"Already done. Oh. And I have a copy of something on my desk that I'll pretend doesn't exist until you two sort it out," he twinkled. With that he wandered away, whistling to himself.

Mike and Mel grinned at each other a moment, but Mike suddenly grew serious. He picked up a letter off his desk. "What about this?" he asked. It was Mel's resignation.

Mel shrugged and looked down. "Nothing's changed. I am who I am. Working relationships are hard at the best of times. If you can hold onto it for a bit, so I can get a bit more money together before I move, I'd really appreciate it. Or, maybe we can discuss severance before security hustles me out..."

"No, it doesn't have to be that way," said Mike.

"You're married, Mike. That hasn't changed. We work together. I'm not going to..."

"What if," he interrupted, "What if I suddenly recognized the state of my marriage? What if you just happened to come along right at that moment?" He held up the resignation. "Let's pretend this is my marriage..."

He reached under his desk and slid the paper into the top of the shredder. They both watched as the machine whirred and turned the letter into tiny diamonds.
________________
[Roll credits, music]

"We be burnin' not concernin' what nobody want to say
"We be earnin' dollars turning cause we mind de pon we pay
"More than gold and oil and diamonds - girls, we need them everyday"
________________
Fresh One Productions
with
TouchFresh Films

Present

A Steven SpielStart Production

In partnership with John C. Wavey

"Rogue Sum"

________________
[voice over by Mike]: A man walked into a pet store and was looking around. He spotted a monkey and checked the price. $25,000! He called the owner over and asked why it was so much. The owner answered, "Why, that's a mathematician monkey! It can do equations and figure things out for you. That's why it's worth so much." The man was satisfied with the answer and continued looking around. He spotted another monkey and looked at its price. $50,000! He called the owner over, quite perplexed by the number. "Oh," said the owner, "That's a Project Management monkey. No one knows what it does, and no one has ever seen it actually do anything, but we can charge that for it."
_________________

Cast

Mike.........................Matthew Gray Gobbler
Jen..........................Jennifer Lowrents
Mel...........................Olivia Tame
Scotty.......................Channing Tatsgalor
Austen T. Jacobs.....Maurice Joseph Micklewhite Jr.
Alan.........................."Big" Ebers
Melani.......................Herself
Allie...........................Kate Northriver
RH.............................Himself

Thanks for the encouragement to lilford1965, SamWarrens and RugbyRaizo1991 as well as the the fans of OHW making this a friendly environment (and also to anyone who recognizes themselves in the story or credits).

A special shoutout to my friends Jamie and Kelli-Ann.

BTW: Mel is a mash-up of two amazing women in my life...one named Melissa, imagine that!

I'd like to thank the Big Kahuna, Xleglover, for his wonderful fiction which inspired​ me, and for his encouraging attitude towards fan fiction.
__________________
[voice over by Mel]: An engineering project manager and a mathematician were recruited for a study. They were sitting in a room with a big yellow line painted across the floor. Suddenly, on the far side, the wall pulled back exposing a handsome, well-hung, naked man and a naked, petite, blond, small-breasted super model. A loud voice said, "Line up on the yellow line and after each minute, at the buzzer, you can cover half the remaining distance between yourself and a person on the other side." The engineer immediately ripped off her clothes and stood at the line. The mathematician didn't move and in a superior tone sniffed, "You're wasting your time. Covering half the distance each time means you'll never actually get to the other side. You keep covering half the distance for infinity." There was a buzzer and the engineer crossed half the room. She looked back, laughed and said, "How close to do think you have to be to get things done?" And after a pregnant pause, she then said, "Do you have an inferiority complex about your reach or something?"
_________________
[music]
"Baby it's the way you make me
"Kinda get me go crazy
"Never want to stop
"It's gotta be you (uh huh, uh huh)

"I can't control it anymore
"I've never felt like this before
"You really make me lose my head
"My hungry heart must be fed (uh huh, uh huh)
...
"I promise you I will be true, yeah
"It's only you"
_________________

Written and Directed by Cecil B. FreshStart

This story is dedicated to Sophie's Gorgeous Mom.

[hugs and kisses]

Like she's actually going to read this.

No Windows Server was harmed in the making of this story.
_________________
[scene: Mike sitting on a couch looking off camera, speaks]: So, that woman, the one who went out, had a baby from someone unknown, and THEN met and married a man who adopted the baby? Well...I was wondering...isn't it hot to think about those things happening in a different order...? You know, she marries someone, and THEN goes out...Wait...Mel...Mel?...no...please don't go....Mel? Mel!? It was a joke!! [sound of door slamming]
_________________
[Fin]
Last edited by FreshStart on Mon Jun 26, 2017 9:59 am, edited 3 times in total.

Post Reply