Alternately Clint

An Alternate-Reality Story Prompt

I thought I saw an ex of mine at work and popped into a group chat and asked them to save me. This spurred a conversation about alternate realities. Sam’s Spaghetti came up with the idea of the prompt. Here is the link to the prompt. Go sub Sam. She’s cool.

Wacky Wednesday - An Alternate Reality Story Prompt

Clint, not Max.

Fiona looked out over the Atlantic Ocean from her cliffside cabin on the Irish coast. She had been here all summer after putting in for early retirement with the hospital. She had told him she would love to see Kerry where her ancestors were from and watch for whales for a summer trip.

Clint had surprised her with a cabin that he rented out for her for the whole summer.

Will you be there?

Arlo, her son, had been given the choice to go with her or go to any summer camp in the world. He chose to go to a STEM camp in Japan where he could learn more about meteorology. There’s no way she would have been able to afford that kind of opportunity without the monthly allowance that Clint gave her. Arlo would be in Japan a few more weeks and then spend the last month of the Summer with his dad. If his dad didn’t relapse before the summer was out.

She really missed Arlo, but she didn’t miss having responsibility. She knew the school routine would be starting soon. She hoped the new private school he was attending would be a lot less stressful. It was supposed to be designed for kids who were on the spectrum and helped them specialize their educations based on their values and what they wanted to accomplish. He went from failing to passing after Clint gave her extra money for the best tutor in the state. His new grades helped Arlo be accepted into this new school and he would even be a candidate for taking college courses the next year depending on how he did this one. She still couldn’t believe it. She was so proud. And so happy she was able to provide that to him. His old school just did not care that he struggled. Now she could pay someone to care.

She had gotten quite used to sleeping in. She had never believed her internal clock would ever let her sleep past 5:45 am. Her writing had never been better. She had a never-ending supply of anecdotes about the quirky American fumbling her way around Ireland. She was now on the Substack Bestseller list.

The best part about it was, she had freedom to do what she wanted while he was away. She was having quite an adventure, frequenting local bars and events in town and meeting beautiful Irish locals.

It was 10 am and she was already drunk. Fiona had come to really love these Irish coffees over the last couple of months. She was watching the horizon at the moment for whales. She had already seen 10 this year.

Maeve, one of her Irish friends, was still asleep inside the cabin, naked. Fiona had woken her up this morning by feasting on her, and she was pretty sure Maeve was asleep as soon as she came. She was thinking that Maeve may have done more than just drink last night and she was probably going to require some time to sleep it off. Fiona didn’t mind. She had all the time in world. She sipped her spiked coffee again and pulled out a Camel from her pack and lit it. She missed the menthols awaiting her back in the US, but these would have to do. She leaned out over the edge and down to the waters crashing up against the cliffs.

She missed him. She thought about what he might be doing and who he might be doing it with. She did this often and she didn’t know why. She knew what she was getting into. She knew the arrangement. She had everything she ever wanted. Everything she had ever dreamed about. But she couldn’t stop thinking about him.

She thought about the way he made her laugh when he would say things she thought were inappropriate, not because of what he said but because of how his stupid face lit up like Santa Claus when he was amused at himself. It would make her so mad that she would laugh, tell him he shouldn’t say that and then he’d retort “You laughed!” She found herself smiling at this. And then forced herself to stop. Didn’t she hate that about him?

She looked for the whales a bit longer and stubbed out her cigarette. She heard his judgmental voice telling her she should quit. “I know” she said to him across the ocean. He didn’t hear her. Clint didn’t care that she smoked. And if he did, he never said anything. She walked inside and poured herself another cup of coffee and topped it off with the rest of the glass of whiskey. She checked her phone that she had left on the counter earlier. No messages. No notifications. She hadn’t heard from Clint in several days. If she was hoping for a relationship that provided validation, she wouldn’t find it here.

She had everything else. But once again, Fiona couldn’t rely on a man to make her happy. She had to figure this shit out for herself. She knew that going back to Max would be impossible. She had forever taken her son’s ability to have a solid and stable father figure in his life. Clint could never be that.

The reality was that Clint was fucked up in ways that she only had herself to blame for. She was the reason he couldn’t let himself get attached. She had broken his heart so many years ago. But in a way, he had become exactly who she needed. He kept her grounded in reality. Whenever she started talking about love, he reminded her that’s not what they were here for. She had first fallen for a sweet and loving boy many, many years ago. and now there wasn’t even a shadow of the boy that he once was.

She was only allowed to be here because she followed the rules. She was a prize to be won.

And she only allowed herself to be here, because she felt guilty and accredited for being the one who ruined him; the one who created him. The one who helped kill his dream of true love and the one who invisibly held his hand and led him to walk into that dungeon in Bangkok, Thailand where he met the woman who showed him a new way of life.

The truth is, neither of them knew why this worked. They were both completely different people than before, changed…defective…stronger.

The phone buzzed. It was Clint. He said he was thinking about her and he had a surprise.

Right then she heard a knock at the door. She pulled her cardigan over her tighter and walked towards the front of the home. She asked who it was through the door and a deep voice she didn’t recognize said “DHL”.

She opened the door a crack and looked out. There was Clint.

He smiled at her and then his expression changed to something more serious.

“Why do you still have that cardigan on?”

She backed, up flushed.

He followed her inside.

The cardigan was already on the floor before he closed the door.

He pulled her body into his already full erection.

She felt her sex flood with heat and she melted into his arms. He turned her around and put her arms up on the door of the cabin. He lifted her sundress to reveal her bare ass. He unzipped his pants and pulled his cock out, never even taking his pants off. He was inside of her in a matter of seconds; she was already wet. It was hard, and fast, sloppy and…incredible. Her brain reset. And when it was done, Clint looked like he was going to die. “Jet lag”, he said. I’m going to go take a shower and then take a nap. He walked away and announced behind him that she could join him if she wanted to freshen up too.

She decided to work on waking up Maeve.

She managed to get her dressed and with a cup of coffee in her hand at the bar before Clint finished his shower. When he stepped out of the bathroom and into hall, heading towards the bedroom, he stopped and gave them both a wry smile and headed into the kitchen.

“She doesn’t have to leave” Clint said and then introduced himself.

They chatted a few moments, but Fiona could tell Clint was barely holding it together. His eyes were bloodshot. She handed him a glass of ice water and sent him off to bed.

He turned before reaching the bedroom, “I’m gonna be asleep for the next 12 hours. You can stay for Fiona.”

Those words shot through Fiona’s heart, and she walked over to Clint and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

“Maeve only stays if she agrees to take a nap with us."

Maeve scooted up from the bar and put her coffee cup in the sink. “You don’t have to ask me twice.”

Fiona watched Maeve and Clint walk towards the back of the cabin.

She took another sip of her spiked coffee and followed after them.

She thought about Max again and felt a pang of guilt. She stopped in her tracks and looked back at her phone. She had thought about sending Max some money. She knew he was struggling since she moved out. But then Maeve turned around and her full lips turned up in a sexy, smirk.

Fiona smiled and pulled the sundress over her head as all three crawled up into the king size bed. Maeve was already naked too. Clint was asleep before he hit the pillow. Maeve and Fiona curled up onto either side of Clint’s strong body and smiled at each other. Fiona put out her hand out, gesturing for Maeve to do the same and they interlocked across Clint’s chest.

When Maeve fell asleep, Fiona slipped out from the bed quietly. She put on her robe and tip-toed to the porch again, but not before grabbing her laptop and a glass of water.

She opened the door right as a whale’s fin disappeared under the surface of the sea.

Fiona opened her laptop, pulled up a blank document, and began to write.

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