The Traffic Light Game That Changed Our Night

My name is Daniel, and I’m married for the second time to Carolina, who also came to me after a divorce when we met. By the time we walked down the aisle again, neither of us was exactly inexperienced: between her separation and mine, we’d each had our stories, our nights, and our lessons. I’m thirty-nine; she’s thirty-five. We had never done a real swap, although the idea had been circling us for a long time. What I never imagined was that the first time would come like this, out of nowhere, on any old Saturday night.

We love the movies. Once or twice a month we sneak off to the multiplex downtown, watch a film, and then grab dinner nearby. It’s our little ritual, the way we break the routine without making things too complicated.

That Saturday we came out of the theater hungry and got in line at a steakhouse that’s always packed. There were about eight people ahead of us, so we assumed we’d be seated in no time. And sure enough, soon we were next. But the host, instead of giving us a table, offered it to a group farther back.

—Why them before us? —I asked, more surprised than annoyed.

—It’s just that you’re only two —he apologized—. I have very few small tables, and I have to wait until one opens up. I give the large ones to groups of four or more.

The man waiting behind us leaned forward.

—If you don’t mind, we can ask for a table for four and all get in sooner —he suggested with an open smile—. Everyone pays for their own, of course.

I told him it was fine with us. We passed the message along to the host and, within minutes, the four of us were seated around a round table, each opposite our partner. We introduced ourselves. They were Andrés and Bárbara, a couple a little older than us, maybe by five years, ordinary-looking, just like us. But both she and Carolina had that kind of presence that makes anyone at a nearby table look twice.

Dinner livened up right away. Andrés told anecdotes with charm, Bárbara laughed heartily, and by the time dessert arrived we already felt like four lifelong friends. I suggested we round off the night with a drink.

—I’m in —Andrés said—. Though the places around here on Saturdays are a nightmare, packed to the rafters.

We found out he was right. We went to a couple of bars and all of them were overflowing. That was when Bárbara, with a shrug, blurted out the idea that changed everything.

—Why don’t you come over to our place for that drink? We live just around the corner, we can walk, and it’ll be a lot calmer.

***

The problem was the car, which we had left in the movie theater parking lot and didn’t want to abandon there. Andrés solved that: the four of us went in our car to their place, less than fifteen minutes away. It was a roomy, cozy apartment, with a living room dominated by a big sofa and a cabinet full of books and boxes.

Carolina, Bárbara, and I sat down while Andrés prepared the drinks in the kitchen. We talked about our lives, how each couple had met, about trips. At one point, Bárbara stood up.

—What if we play something? We’ve got loads of board games, we can have a laugh.

We said yes. She opened a cabinet door and started pulling out boxes: cards, Ludo, strategy games. I spotted a question-and-answer box and pointed to it.

—Better that one. Strategy games go on forever and we’ll be here till dawn.

Bárbara smiled in a way I couldn’t quite read.

—That one’s a little… modified. We call it “the traffic light game.”

Andrés, coming back with the drinks, finished the explanation when he saw our blank faces. They had turned the question game into something with a sexual component. It started on green, with very mild challenges; if things heated up, you moved to amber, a bit spicier; and only if the four of us agreed did we get to red, where the dares were the real thing.

—Feeling brave? —Bárbara asked, her chin resting on her hand.

Carolina and I exchanged a quick look. We can always stop whenever we want, I thought.

—Why not —I said—. But only on the condition that we can stop at any moment.

—Of course —she replied—. Nobody forces anybody to do anything here.

We sat down at the dining table. The mechanics were simple: each person rolled two dice, and whoever scored the lowest had to draw a question card. If they answered correctly, nothing happened. If they got it wrong, they took a card of the color that came up and completed the challenge.

***

Green was, as promised, harmless. A kiss on the cheek to the other person’s partner, a three-step sexy dance, things like that. After two rounds those cards were gone, and they asked if we wanted to keep going. We said yes, more out of politeness than anything else.

Then they brought out the amber deck, quite a bit thicker. The first to lose was Bárbara, who missed the question and, without a shred of embarrassment, read her challenge and pulled off her sweater laughing. She was left in a bra, one with sheer cups that hid nothing. The room temperature shot up at once.

Then I lost, but I answered the question correctly and got away with it. On the next round Carolina lost and, when she missed, she got rid of her bra without taking off her T-shirt, a tightrope act that drew a burst of laughter from everyone. She lost again on the next turn and opted to slip off her pants; she was left in a thong and a T-shirt.

—Wow —Andrés murmured, and I couldn’t blame him.

When the amber deck ran out, the scene was as follows: Andrés and I shirtless, Bárbara with her breasts exposed, and Carolina in a thong, no bra but still wearing her T-shirt. The alcohol, the conversation, and the game itself had the four of us fired up.

—Brave enough for red? —Bárbara asked while Andrés topped up the drinks.

This time it was Carolina who answered first.

—Yes. But we’re still keeping the rule that anyone can stop at any time.

***

They put the amber deck away and out came the red cards. The first one to fall was Carolina again. Her challenge: blindfolded, guess which of the three had kissed her with tongue. We drew lots with the dice and it was Bárbara. Carolina got it wrong —she said it had been me— and had to take off her T-shirt. Her breasts were exposed.

—Good God, Carolina —Andrés blurted—. Who wouldn’t want those.

We all laughed. Next up was me. I flat-out refused the identical challenge, because I didn’t feel like being kissed by Andrés, and they teased me for being a coward. They gave in: they blindfolded me and Bárbara kissed me. I knew it instantly, the way she kissed was nothing like my wife’s, but I deliberately said it had been Carolina. Result: pants off, I was left in my boxer shorts.

Bárbara lost next, and this was where things really took off. Her card said she had to guess, blindfolded, whose sex she was going to have in her mouth for thirty seconds: Andrés’s or mine. I wanted it to be me, and Andrés, leaning toward my ear, granted me “the honor.”

Bárbara got to work. It was a long, delicious thirty seconds, with her tongue moving slowly. At the end she said it had been Andrés, so she got it wrong and took off her pants; she was left in a thong, gorgeous. Later I put the pieces together: she had deliberately answered wrong, because Andrés wasn’t circumcised and I was, so telling us apart was impossible.

We rolled again and Carolina lost once more. The red card sent her to the sofa, blindfolded, to guess which of the three would lick her clit for half a minute. There she hesitated.

—Daniel —she said to me, looking for my eyes—, don’t you think this is getting out of hand?

I leaned in and spoke quietly to her. I reminded her that we had started the game together, that in the swingers clubs —where we went without ever taking the step— she liked the contact with other women, and that she could enjoy it just as much whether the one chosen was Bárbara or me. And if chance pointed to Andrés, that too. She nodded slowly, stood up, and sat on the sofa. We put the blindfold on her.

Since Andrés had granted me the honor with Bárbara, I returned the gesture: I whispered that now it was his turn. We set the timer to zero. Andrés knelt down, moved aside the thong strap, and began.

—Ahhh… keep going, keep going, don’t stop —Carolina panted—. Don’t stop… stop!

—So which is it? —Bárbara laughed—. Stop or don’t stop?

—Not stop the one who’s eating me out… but stop the clock! —she answered, and we burst out laughing.

***

After that there were no more cards. Bárbara sat beside me on the sofa, took off her thong, spread her legs, and looked at me with a boldness that left no room for doubt.

—And what are you waiting for?

I knelt on the floor and buried my face between her thighs. She was completely shaved, soft, and responded to every movement of my tongue with a shiver. I held her by the hips with one hand while exploring her slowly with the other. She hooked her legs around my neck so I couldn’t get away.

Out of the corner of my eye I searched for Carolina. She had ripped off the blindfold and, on discovering that it was Andrés devouring her, she gave herself over completely.

—Yes! You’re so good at that… I’m going to come —she moaned.

At one point she stretched out a hand until she found mine. She squeezed it just as a shudder ran through her entire body. She came with a force I had rarely seen in her. Andrés pulled away, went to the cabinet, took out a condom, put it on, and came back. Carolina looked at him, I smiled at her, and she closed her eyes. He turned her over, put her on her knees on the sofa facing the wall, and fucked her.

Bárbara, panting, pushed me away. She grabbed a condom, put it on me herself, sat me on the sofa, and climbed on top of me, taking me all the way in. It was the first time since we’d been married that we’d made it to a full swap. While I held her by the waist, I caressed breasts fuller than my wife’s, bit her nipples, kissed her. And I couldn’t stop looking at Carolina, who was blurting out whatever came into her head.

—Just like that! Don’t stop… don’t stop!

I leaned in, held the back of her neck, and kissed her deeply, never stopping my movement inside Bárbara.

—Do you like feeling someone who isn’t me, my love? —I whispered in her ear.

—Yes! It feels so good! I’m coming… I’m coming!

Another shiver shook her, and almost at the same time Andrés let out a rough groan announcing the same thing. Bárbara kept riding me for a few more seconds until we both finished almost at the same time, with spasms that left me breathless. She kissed me and settled beside me, both of us sweating. Andrés and I removed our condoms and went to the bathroom to clean up.

***

—How was Bárbara? —he asked me there, completely naturally—. I had a wonderful time with Carolina.

I was honest. I told him it had been our first real swap and that I had enjoyed it twice over: for myself, and for seeing my wife give herself to another man. He was surprised; he had seen us so loose that he assumed it was something we were used to.

We went back to the living room. Our partners were sitting there, legs crossed, chatting and laughing about what had just happened. Andrés topped up the drinks; I, dizzy from all the alcohol, asked only for a tonic. While he went to fetch it, Bárbara slid over until she was pressed against me.

—Come and taste what I’ve got here again —she murmured—. That way we’ll give that delicious little thing time to recover.

I looked down: I was soft, but something told me I wouldn’t stay that way for long. Without thinking, I dove between her legs. Carolina, watching us, began to touch herself. Andrés came back with the tonic.

—Well, damn. You were thirsty all right, you’re already drinking from the fountain —he joked.

He took Carolina, led her to the middle of the living room, lay down on the rug, and set her on top of him. He was hard again and pushed himself into her all the way, this time with nothing in between. She didn’t protest. Bárbara moved away from me.

—Now it’s my turn —she said, and knelt to give me a blowjob that had me on the edge almost immediately.

I had to pull back so I wouldn’t finish too soon. I wanted more. She laughed, got on all fours facing the wall.

—Go ahead. But now like them, with nothing, and I want to feel you inside me.

I started slowly, turning my head to watch Carolina riding Andrés, totally uninhibited. The filthy thrill of that image, the crossed moans of the four of us, made everything even more intense. I couldn’t hold out long: I came inside Bárbara and collapsed over her back. On the other side, Carolina collapsed against Andrés’s chest just as he, with a snort, finished too.

We began to fall silent. Bárbara held out her hand to my wife.

—Come on, let’s go wash up.

Andrés and I were left alone. He didn’t comment on what had happened; he only said we weren’t in any condition to drive and that, if we wanted, we could stay the night in the guest room. I checked with Carolina and she was fine with it. We went to bed each with our own partner. She fell asleep at once. It took me longer: my head was spinning from the alcohol and from everything we had done, until exhaustion finally beat me.

When I woke up, after ten o’clock, they already had breakfast ready. We went over the night between laughs and coffee. We built a friendship with Andrés and Bárbara that lasts to this day, and on other occasions we repeated that game, and a few more besides. What started as a simple change of table in a restaurant queue ended up opening a door we never wanted to close again.