Forty minutes later, Mark and Sarah were at Sarah's loft apartment. Sarah had asked Mark to come up quickly to give her an opinion about what she was wearing on her date with Melissa. Mark attempted to refuse, stating that he had no idea about woman's fashion, but Sarah insisted. It became clear to Mark that arguing with Sarah was only going to make him later. He never could win an argument with Sarah nor Jennifer. It was one of the many things that made them so alike.
Upon entering Sarah's loft, he noticed that she had rearranged all the furniture in the wide open space since the last time he had been there. She had also removed the wall that separated the kitchen from the rest of the loft, and her bed was in the opposite corner. Sarah wasn't what Mark would consider a slob, but she was messy. There was no garbage or leftover food lying around, but it did look like her clothes had a party while she was at work.
"What do you think? I rearranged everything last week." Sarah asked as she unbuttoned her dress, and it fell to the floor.
Before he realized it, Mark got an eyeful. True, it was from behind, but he now knew Sarah had not worn a bra that day. He also got a nice view of her bright pink, lacy panties as she walked away, and that was not an image he would soon forget.
"s**t Sarah, warn a guy!" Mark exclaimed as he covered his eyes and quickly turned around.
"You've seen it before." Sarah continued toward her bedroom, not caring that anyone with a telescope could see her through the multitude of windows.
"You don't even own curtains, do you?" Mark asked as he stared at the front door trying to think of anything but the half-naked woman behind him.
"Nope, if someone wants a peep show, why do I care?" Sarah asked rhetorically. "Not like it hurts me any. I'm quite happy with the way I look."
Mark silently agreed. There was absolutely no reason for Sarah to be embarrassed by the way she looked, clothed or otherwise.
"And that was one time! I thought it was just Jen in the hot tub. How did I know you had come over for some girl talk?" Mark's face turned red with embarrassment as he recounted the event.
He remembered walking naked into the hot tub room only to find that his wife and his best friend were just getting out. It was one of the most embarrassing moments he could think of. He was at full salute, expecting to surprise his wife before their daughter got home. As bad as it was, the most embarrassing part about it was what Sarah had said, something he would never forget.
'My, aren't we a big boy? I would have never guessed it from looking at you.'
Then Sarah smacked him on the ass before grabbing her towel and giggling with Jennifer on their way out. For a minute or two, Mark just sat there not really sure if it had actually happened, then when he had gotten dressed and found Sarah and Jen giggling over a glass of wine, he could barely look them in the face. It took him a solid week before he could look at Sarah while he spoke to her, but eventually, the embarrassment wore off, and things returned to normal. He would never forget seeing her naked. She was right to be happy with how she looked, her body was perfect, at least in Mark's opinion.
"I can practically hear your face turning red!" Sarah exclaimed then quietly giggled afterward.
"I can't help it." Mark smiled and looked at his feet.
"Mark, you have nothing to be embarrassed about you know? I mean I've had some guys, well a lot of guys, and not many of them can stand up to you. If you know what I mean." Sarah enjoyed teasing Mark, though she would never take it too far. As much fun as it was to tease Mark, she would stop if he made it clear that it was getting too real.
"Yes, I know what you mean. Can we please change the subject?" Mark really didn't want to talk about it.
In many ways, Mark thought that Sarah was better looking than Jennifer, but every time he looked at Jennifer, he knew exactly why he was with her. It had nothing to do with looks, it had to do with her. She made him feel something that he could never express.
"Ok, you can turn around, I'm dressed," Sarah said as she straightened out her white silk shirt which she wore with blue jeans and no shoes.
"Nice. Where you ladies heading to tonight?" Mark asked.
"Actually, she's coming over here, and I'm cooking," Sarah said with a grin.
"Riiiggghhtt," Mark said unconvinced.
"I can cook-a little," Sarah pouted.
"There's a reason you come over to our house for dinners when you want to impress your new lovers." Mark smirked and raised one eyebrow.
"Fine, we're going to cook together. I'm really hoping she's a much better cook than me or our date may end with a stomach pump," Sarah relented.
"And I'll be getting a call to come pick you up," Mark said dejectedly.
"You know it, cutie," Sarah responded.
"Ok, you have fun, I'm off to meet Jen and look at this new house," Mark said as he turned back to the door.
"Give Katie a kiss for me," Sarah said as she turned toward the bedroom and lifted her shirt over her head. "Maybe a darker color. Don't wanna ruin this one," Sarah mumbled to herself.
"I will," Mark replied. He had learned to ignore Sarah's mumbling. She did it often, and it rarely involved anyone but herself. So Mark headed out the door and down to his car, then set out to meet Jennifer.