The trunks made their way back to the Deckers in Susan’s hands, and she tried to give them to Trina discreetly…just as Janet and Roger arrived. They are followed closely by Moreno (from the Exchange) and Melinda, who Bruce is surprised (but seemingly pleased) to see. As it turns out, Moreno was invited by cokehead neighbor Gayle (remember her? I didn’t think so.) so she could get her freak and her coke on, no doubt. We learn pretty quickly that Bruce didn’t actually sleep with Melinda last week, but he’s certainly being very flirty. And, since Gayle desperately wants her “date”, she provides the device to get Melinda and Bruce paired up in the game. Trina makes sure Roger is wth Susan and that Tom babysits Janet. Those two are comedy gold, by the way. I really don’t need them to have any sexual tension (even though they do) they’re just a great pairing. (Janet: “Here I thought all your parties were drunken orgies.” Tom: “Well, they can’t all be perfect.”)
Tom really saves the day when he spots Bruce and Melinda making out while looking for a puzzle clue at the local newsstand. He literally turns Janet away and steers her to another location entirely so his bro doesn’t get caught “dipping his pen in the company ink”. Later, he warns Bruce not to go there for just that reason. Bruce shuts Melinda down for now, but something tells me she’s not going away for good.
Susan didn’t notice any of this, as she was busy both flirting with Roger–who says that next time they play hooky, they’ll have to get their stories straight–and meeting Lori”s former teacher outside the market, where the two were collecting signatures for Jimmy Carter. Guess which one of them is flustered in that scenario? Well, it’s not Lori! After Lori asks where her father is, Susan seems to kind of wake up to the fact that she’s mooning over her best friend’s husband. When they get back to the Cougar Den, she calls Trina on putting them together to stir the pot. Trina says that all she saw was “a great team that could win it all if they wanted to”. I don’t think she’s talking about the stained glass question mark, do you?
Everyone’s content to have the game end in a tie–except Janet. She gets a clue that leads her to the Deckers’ bedroom closet, where, along with a kimono, a box of pictures, particularly one with Roger in a swimsuit, tumble out. Janet is at first furious at Trina, who she thinks has the hots for Roger, but he steps up to say what really happened, which doesn’t exactly make it all better. Janet’s crushed that he confided in Susan and not her, Susan feels guilty and Roger is frustrated about not being perfect. He tells her she’s not so easy to talk to, to which she responds “What are you talking about?”, putting them back at square one.
Susan and Bruce, shaken up by how the party ended, decide there will be “no more secrets” between them. Too bad they are both keeping one.
As for Trina, she just feels bad about hurting Janet, something she was trying desperately to avoid.
Oh wait–I almost forgot about Lori and Doug. They went back to his apartment and totally did it. Tune in next time for the statutory rape trial! BJ and Sam were there too, but let’s face it, we really don’t care. Rick’s still locked in the basement or something. Not even Janet seems to notice.
