The Bet - Chapter 42 (Friday – week 6 Part 6 of 8)

The Bet
by Karen Singer

Chapter 42 (Friday – week 6 Part 6 of 8)

Chad would have skipped getting a cup of coffee, but he just wanted something to drink too badly. Besides, it might look odd if he suddenly didn’t take one like he usually did. But he was finally doing better at holding back now, so he allowed himself the small – luxury? He hated to think of it like that, as a luxury, because every bit of liquid he put into his system still had to come out the other end.
He was sitting at the table sipping at his coffee, listening with one ear as the women talked about problems with their kids, when another woman came hurrying into the room and right up to the table. “Girls, girls!” she called excitedly as she approached the table. “I just got the news!”
“What news?” several of them asked.
“Remember what we were discussing about Sissy and Derek earlier?” she asked as she looked straight at Sissy. “Well, it turns out that we were right! Derek admitted it to Ray just a little while ago and I heard it straight from him!”
The level of excitement at the table tripled at least. Chad just felt stunned and sick! “No! It’s not true!” he yelled. But nobody was listening to him. Every one of them totally ignored his pleas of denial.
“Sissy!” Robin yelled excitedly over the din of everybody else’s excitement. “You should have just told me! Derek confirmed it, so you can stop denying it now.” Then she thought of something else. “Girls! Girls!” she yelled excitedly to get everybody’s attention. “Sissy is taking some time off later this month. I’ll bet he’s going to get his sex change then!”
Chad was even more shocked. “I’m not getting a sex change!” he yelled over the incredible excitement all around him. But nobody was listening again. None of them would believe him. “I’m not getting a sex change!” he yelled once again in frustration. “And Derek and I aren’t getting together. There’s nothing between us!” But nobody would believe him. They were all too excited about everything.
“Sissy!” Robin yelled excitedly to him at one point. “We have to look at wedding dresses!”
Oh God!

“You’re sure you want to do this, Mel?” Sandy asked into her phone.
“Absolutely!” Mel replied.
“It just seems a bit… extreme to me.”
“It’s only about half what I’d really like to do to her!”
“It’s not her I’m worried about,” Sandy replied. “But, if you’re sure…” She giggled at the thought of it. “I’ll certainly do my part.”
“Great! Thanks Sandy. I appreciate it.”
“Dinner again this Sunday?” Sandy asked.
“Oh… No,” Mel replied. “Sorry, Sandy, not this week. We’ve got that date on Sunday instead. We’ll do it the next week for sure though.”
“No problem, Mel. Cassie and I have just been enjoying our little get-togethers, that’s all. Not to mention his cooking.”
“Yeah, I’ve rather enjoyed it a bunch too,” Mel admitted.
“Okay,” Sandy replied. “We’ll be ready.”
“Thanks Sandy.” Mel hung up her phone. Everything was now in the works for Operation Robin. As she had told Sandy, it was only about half what she’d really like to do to Robin. Of course she would also like to get a court order to keep her well away from Sissy – forever! But she knew that no judge would ever issue such a thing. So this was the next best thing… and also the more satisfying option.
It was now time for the next part of Operation Robin – the setup! She picked up her cell phone and found Robin’s phone number. She punched a few buttons and waited.

Robin was looking through web sites of wedding dresses when her cell phone rang. She just couldn’t believe that Sissy hadn’t told her the truth about him and Derek from the beginning. She would have totally understood. She didn’t know why even now he was denying it so vehemently. Not that it mattered. Wedding dresses were fun to dream about anyway – even if she was already married.
She finally picked up her phone and noticed that the call was from Mel. Wow, what timing! “Hello?” she said excitedly.
“Hi Robin? This is Mel.”
“Hi Mel. Oh! I’m so excited! Sissy should have just told me! I would have totally understood! I’m already looking at wedding dresses!”
Mel was suddenly confused. Told her what? Understood what? And she was looking at wedding dresses? Mel suddenly had even worse thoughts about her. “Um… Told you what?” she asked.
“About Sissy! And why he’s doing what he is of course.”
Mel was shocked. “He told you?”
“Well, no. In fact, he still keeps denying it. But we got confirmation from Derek himself!”
Derek? What the heck was the stupid tramp talking about? She just couldn’t believe that Sissy had told someone else all about the bet – and especially about his baby side! And now Robin was looking at wedding dresses? She didn’t know what to say! “Um…” But Robin was too excited to be held back.
“Mel, tell me, is it true? The real reason Sissy is taking a vacation later this month is to get his sex change?”
Once again, Mel was taken for a major loop. What the hell was going on there? All her plans were suddenly out the window. She couldn’t think properly. “Uh… Robin. Let me get back to you okay? I have to go now.”
“Please get back to me soon, Mel. I have sooo many questions!”
“Yeah, I’m sure you do. So do I.” Mel hung up her phone. Her head was spinning. According to that tramp Robin, Sissy had actually spilled the beans on everything – the bet, his diapers, everything. She was really surprised because he had so carefully protected that secret in the past. And now Derek had confirmed it? What had Chad told Derek? Was Derek the first person he confided in? And what the heck was that about him getting a sex change during their days off later in the month? That was definitely weird! And now that stupid blonde tramp was looking at wedding dresses? She was going to marry him? Not on her stupid pee-brained life! Sissy belonged to her… not to that stupid trollop!
Her next client was going to have to wait a few minutes. She had to get to the bottom of things – and fast!

Chad had actually been making progress on the paper Mel had assigned him to write when he heard Robin talking on the phone over the wall between them. His hearing particularly heard her say Mel, which grabbed his full attention. It had been a fairly quick conversation, but what he heard sounded like more of the gibberish all the women were bantering about the company now – unfortunately.
He was about to get up to go ask her about it when he noticed an email come in from his boss, Tom Robinson. He quickly opened the email and saw that the request he had submitted earlier to take off the end of them month had been approved. What surprised him was the fact that his request had been approved so fast – usually it took a few days. This one had gone through in just a few hours. At the end of the email, Tom mentioned that he should pick up his paperwork in the Human Resources office. With the speed that they had processed his request, Chad figured that picking up the approved paperwork sooner rather than later was probably a good idea – especially since Tom had gone to the trouble of mentioning it.
Talking to Robin was going to have to wait a few minutes. She wasn’t going anywhere anyway. He closed the email and hurried out to pick up the paperwork.

Robin was still looking at wedding dresses when she heard Sissy’s cell phone ringing on the other side of the wall between their cubicles. After the third ring, she wondered why he wasn’t picking it up. After the fourth ring she got up from her seat to see why he wasn’t answering it. She reached his cubicle on the fifth ring and was surprised to see that he wasn’t there. She saw his cell phone on the desk and went over to see if she could tell who was calling him, but the moment she got near his phone the caller gave up and the display on his phone went blank. Oh well. She’d just tell him about it when he got back.

Mel wanted to throw her cell phone across the room. Why wasn’t he answering? Was he too busy with Robin again? She’d strangle her if he was! Both of them! And now that the word was out, Robin was looking at wedding dresses? Why the hell didn’t he answer his phone? She needed answers! Who could she call? Ray’s name immediately came to mind, but something about that didn’t feel right. She wasn’t exactly up for Ray trying to talk her into going out with just him alone. Derek’s name was a fast second. She found his phone number and called.
Derek was driving through the city when his cell phone rang. He hated answering the phone while he was driving, but since it was usually the office calling about business, he had little choice. “Hello?” he said, wondering what kind of problem someone had called in with now.
“Derek? This is Mel.”
If traffic hadn’t been so light, Derek might have had an accident. Mel was the last person he expected to hear from. “Mel! I’m glad you called. It’s a little late for lunch, but if you’re interested in dinner…”
“No, Derek. That’s not what I’m calling about.” Mel sighed and forced herself to calm down and think logically, if not exactly straight. “Derek, what I’m calling for is… What the hell is going on at that company of yours?”
“Huh? What are you talking about?”
“I just talked with Robin and she told me some of the craziest things. What did Sissy tell you today?”
“Sissy? I haven’t talked to him.”
“Her.”
Derek shook his head and rolled his eyes. “Whatever! I still haven’t talked to ‘her’ since yesterday. Why?”
But Mel was now trying to make sense of things. “So you haven’t talked to Sissy at all? No emails? Nothing?”
Derek was confused. “Like I said, not since yesterday. Why? What’s going on? I’ve been out on a service call for the last hour or so.”
But Mel quickly realized that Derek was a dead end. He didn’t know anything – which meant that things were adding up even less. “Never mind,” Mel replied. “I need to find someone who actually knows.”
“About what?”
“That’s just it, I’m not sure myself.”
“Well, we could still discuss it over dinner.”
Some little piece in the back of Mel’s mind was tempted, but she couldn’t deal with that just then. Besides, she had other plans for later. “Sorry. I’ve got other things I have to do tonight. I’ll have to see you on Sunday. I’m looking forward to that.”
Sunday was the last thing Derek wanted to be reminded of. “Unfortunately, I’m not looking forward to it. Dating “Sissy” is not my idea of fun!”
Mel sighed. Actually, she still would rather be going with Derek than Ray, but… “I know Derek, but well… a bet is a bet. And I appreciate you doing it.”
“So go to dinner with me and prove it!”
Mel sighed. “Some other time Derek. Some other time.” She hung up the phone and immediately dialed Sissy again – and again got no answer. Where was he? Fretting about what was going on, she finally admitted temporary defeat and went out to meet with her next client. But she was determined to make the meeting as short as possible!

Chad hadn’t been to any of the offices upstairs in quite a while so he was more aware than ever of everybody noticing him as he walked past the various areas. More than once, one of the women he now knew from the break room waved to him or said hi to him as he walked past. New friends? He supposed. But it was hard to tell since they teased him so much. He really couldn’t blame them.
He turned into the Human Relations office and the secretary there looked up at him with a big smile. She picked up a paper off of her desk and held it out for him to take. “Good luck,” she wished him as he took it. Chad thought it was a very strange thing for her to say – till he realized that she thought he was taking this vacation to actually get a sex change. How stupid! “I’m not going anywhere!” he told her. “And I’m not getting a sex change!”
“Of course not,” she said as if she really didn’t believe him.
Knowing that it would be useless to argue further, he turned and headed back downstairs. He finally turned down the hallway where his own cubical was located. As he got closer, he could see Robin’s cubicle just past his. He was going to head straight there to ask about Mel’s phone call, but just before he reached his own cubicle, the stupid suppository that Cassie had stuck up inside of him at lunchtime decided to do its thing. It was a little bit later than usual, but not by much. Hating the experience, he stopped dead in his tracks as the little bomb did its work. Knowing it would be impossible, he didn’t even try to hold back on it, he just wanted the ordeal over with as soon as possible. But today, it seemed to drag out longer than usual. Was that because he had eaten more for breakfast and lunch? And worse, it almost felt like what came out of him was a little bit more solid than it had been in a long time now. But it was really hard to tell.
Troubled by it, he turned directly into his own cubicle instead of going on to Robin’s and he carefully sat down. As he did so, he noticed that when he sat, it felt different, a bit more squishy than usual. Ugh! For a few moments it was a bit more uncomfortable too. For as much as he loved wetting his diapers, he hated messing in them just as much if not more. But what chance did he have when Mel made sure he got one of those stupid suppositories shoved way up inside of him – twice a day, every single day! There was just no winning!
And then it hit him. The paper he was writing for Mel only contained two – tenuous – reasons and that was it. The real reason he “deserved” to be totally incontinent hadn’t even dawned on him till then. He again opened the paper he was working on and went to the very end where he started a new paragraph. “Anyone who is dumb enough to really want to be incontinent, deserves to be incontinent, just so they can be stuck with the total helplessness of the situation. No way out. No going back. Stuck with the mess. Stuck with the humiliation. Stuck with the discomfort. Stuck with everything that goes with it. They deserve to be incontinent just because they wanted to try it!”
In the next cubicle over, Robin thought she heard something in Chad’s cubicle. “Sissy, are you back?” she called over the wall.”
“I’m here,” Chad replied.
“Girly voice!” Robin yelled back.
Ugh! “I’m back!” he yelled again – in his girly voice. But he thought he heard something else from Robin’s cubicle and suddenly realized she was on her way over. Quickly he reached for his mouse to close the paper he was working on for Mel, but unfortunately he had been typing and the program asked him if he wanted to save his work before closing it. He clicked “yes.” Robin walked into his cubicle a moment before the paper actually closed.
“Hey, you finally found something to write about?” she asked cheerily.
“Uh… Sort of.”
“Can I see?”
“Um… No, it’s something private.”
“Are you sure?”
Gee she could be nosy! “Of course I’m sure.”
“But maybe it’s something I could help with?”
Chad briefly wondered if she and Cindy at the gym were related. “No, it’s nothing like that. It’s just something… personal.”
Robin finally gave up. “Okay. I just wanted to tell you that your phone rang a few times while you were gone. Where did you go anyway?”
More questions! “Up to HR to get the approval for my days off.”
“You mean for your sex change trip?”
“I’m not getting a sex change! Gee!”
Robin laughed. “I know. But it’s fun to think about you getting married. That’s what I’ve been doing all afternoon, looking at wedding dresses for you.”
Chad stared at her, not believing what he had just heard. “You’re kidding! Wedding dresses? I’m not marrying Derek! I’m not even doing this just because I want to ‘get together’ with him!”
But Robin picked up on the wrong words. “So you’re admitting finally that you do want to ‘get together’ with him.”
“No! I just said I’m not!”
“No, you said you’re not doing it ‘just because’ you want to get together with him. So you do want to and there’s just another reason too.”
Chad’s head was spinning. Where did she come up with these things? “No! It’s not that at all. Derek and I aren’t trying to get together at all! Period!”
“But you do want to.”
“No I don’t!”
Robin just smiled wickedly as she turned around. “I don’t believe you.”
Chad was left to stare at the empty entrance to his cubicle. Women! Where do they come up with these things? He picked up his cell phone to see who had called and saw that he had missed two calls from Mel. She probably wanted to remind him about their nail appointments later. No problem. He punched in her number and waited for an answer, but nobody picked up on the other end. He called her office phone, but unfortunately he only got as far as Andrea. Mel was busy with clients and it looked like she was going to be a while. But Andrea promised she would tell Mel that he called. Chad went back to finishing up the paper he was working on so he could get it sent.