Friends With Partial Benefits (22 page)

Rob looked at him like he really wanted to believe him. "Really?"

Brian nodded, and although he did think that Laura was only trying to sleep with him to spite Rob or to make him jealous, he felt the little detail about her trying to give him a blowjob and the rather big detail about her offering him other things were better left unsaid.

Rob gave him a slight smile, and they stood together in silent reflection until Brian realized there was an unresolved issue they had yet to discuss. He narrowed his eyes, turned, and paced around the room. "Um, if we’re done with the whole Laura thing, can we talk about the little matter of you fucking Natalie behind my back for who-knows-how-long while you knew I was crazy about her?"

Rob’s jaw dropped as he looked at Brian. "I thought we worked all that out last night."

"Worked it out how?"

"When you punched me."

"What the fuck are you talking about? It’s not worked out. When did it start? Who came on to whom first? Does she touch your dick? I know she has a thing about that..." Brian rambled all these questions quickly as he walked to the window and looked out.

Rob began, "I’m not sure how it happened. As I said, she came over to the suite, looking for you, and you weren’t there and—"

Spotting Natalie sleeping on a lounge chair in the backyard, Brian waved Rob over. "There she is."

"Who?"

"Natalie."

Rob joined him at the window. "The details aren’t important. Look, I ended things with her last night, and I really think she wants to get back together with you. She wouldn’t shut up about the way you hit me and how you seemed so—"

"We were never together!" Brian shot back.

"Whatever, she wants a fresh start with you."

"Why? Because you dumped her?"

"No! Maybe. I don’t know. Does it really matter, anyway?"

"She likes to mess with guys. She gets all in your head, and I think she’s really crazy." Slumping against the wall, Brian stared at the floor.

"Natalie and I had a long talk, and I think she really has changed. We ended things kinda mutually, and she told me she really likes you and is sorry about everything. She was just scared, and you reminded her of this guy from her past, but she says she’s all over that now."

Unconvinced, Brian looked at Rob and then glanced back out the window at Natalie. He thought she did look kind of good down there, even through she was a complete mess.

"She said she was going to try to find you last night. She wanted to talk to you."

Brian smiled, warming to the idea. "She is pretty hot."

"She is, and I really think deep down inside, she’s not a complete psycho."

Brian nodded casually. "It would be weird dating her when I know you’ve had sex with her. What exactly did you guys—"

"Do you really want details?" Rob asked. Brian shook his head no, and then Rob added, "Look, I promise you, we never went all the way. In the most technical terms, I swear on my mother’s life, I did not put my penis inside her vagina. Not once. That, I promise you."

"Okay, I believe you." At first Brian was relieved, but then he looked at Rob, confused. After pondering it a moment, he shook off trying to make sense of what his friend had just told him, but then his eyes widened. "Your mother’s not here is she? She isn’t listening to all this shit?"

"No, she went out." Rob glanced down to Natalie. "Now go down there and figure this out with her. I’ve got to go fix things with Laura."

Brian was frowning a little as he stood next to the sleeping Natalie. After studying her closely for a moment, he gently woke her up. When Natalie saw him, she stood, jumped into his arms, and wouldn’t let go. His anger melted into a smile. She told him she was so sorry, that she was an idiot, that she would never ever hurt him or cheat on him again, and she begged him to drive back to Atlanta with her right then. She said she would answer every question he had and be completely honest about all of it.

He agreed, and she hugged him again. As he held her, he looked over her shoulder at the tennis court, wondering if he was making a big mistake.

After collecting his things, Brian left Rob and Jillian a short note about how he was leaving and how much he appreciated their letting him stay in the house. He also thanked Jillian for the great tennis matches.

Just as Natalie and Brian were about to drive off, Jillian pulled into the driveway and parked. Brian watched as she got out of the car. She didn’t see him as she entered the house.

Once inside, she grabbed the note, read the first sentence, and continued to read as she walked out to the backyard.

Brian went to the front door and found it locked. He used the key he'd forgotten to return and went inside. Walking into the kitchen, he spotted Jillian through the window, heading to the tennis court. Outside, he found her sitting on the tennis court bench.

When she saw him, she smiled. "I got your note. Thought you had already gone."

"I almost was... then I saw you drive up."

He sat down next to her. "I’m driving back to school with Natalie."

She sighed, struggling to find the words. "I… I just wanted to make sure you didn’t have the wrong impression of me. Out of the few days I’ve known you, I was loopy on Ambien and wine, drunk, and then high. If I have two glasses of wine in a week, that’s a lot for me."

He gazed dreamily at her like she couldn't be more wrong. "No, I didn’t think anything... It looked like you were having a rough week, and this whole thing that happened—or almost happened—between us probably didn’t help."

A little embarrassed, she felt the need to explain even more. "I usually don’t go running around outside naked and spying on young men while they sleep and shower."

"Don’t worry about it, it’s not a—" His eyes shot wide open. "What... shower?"

"What?" she asked casually, trying to cover her tracks when she realized that she might not have told him about the shower.

"You said you spied on me when I showered. When was, uh—"

"Didn’t we already talk about that?"

"No, I’m pretty sure I would have remembered. When, exactly, was this?"

She closed her eyes, busted. "After the second time we played tennis."

Pausing, he remembered the shower in question and asked hesitantly, "Did you, um, catch the beginning... or the end of that shower?"

"How would I know? Uh—"

"Was I focused on one particular... area?"

"Focused is a good way to put it. You were really focused." She winced at him as if she was feeling his pain.

"That would be the beginning then." He dropped his face into his hands, mortified.

"I was honestly going to join you. I was so worked up on the court, but then when I saw you doing...
that…
I had to watch." Looking away, she relived the memory with her lips parted. "You... are really good at doing that, you know. I was moved."

His face remained in his hands. Unable to look at her, he said in a tired, slow voice, "I’ve had a tremendous amount of practice."

She gave him a wide smile. "It really shows."

Straightening up, he looked her in the eye. "So you’re telling me if I wasn’t doing... that... we would have done it?"

"Oh, definitely," she replied casually.

"I’m never doing
that
again."

She widened her eyes. "But Rob would have also walked in on us. Remember, that’s when he came home."

"Right, right, right." He exhaled deeply as he shook his head. "So, I guess it was lucky that I was abusing myself like that."

"That’s one way to put it." She grinned. Glancing at each other, they shared a laugh until Jillian put on a serious expression. "So she drove all that way and just showed up here, looking for you? That’s kind of sweet, isn’t it?"

"Well…" He looked away for a moment, embarrassed by the truth. He thought about telling her the whole story, but maybe to protect Rob or maybe so she wouldn’t think he was such an idiot for following Natalie back to campus when she didn’t even come to Miami to look for him, he chose to spare her the details. "Yeah, she did. It was sweet." He put on a slight smile. "I still think she may be completely nuts. I’m going to take it slow, but I think I just need to see what happens."

After pausing to collect her thoughts, Jillian looked at him with complete sincerity. "Out of the thousands of women on that campus, there has to be a least one who would appreciate an intelligent, attractive, thoughtful young man who can cook and who doesn’t take advantage of women when they’re... you know. You are a real gentleman. And if you don’t meet someone while at school, there’s a whole other world out there when you graduate. Don’t let her break your heart. Make sure she’s really into you before you open yourself up again. Really
into
you. Don’t let her string you along."

He met her gaze. "And don’t you go settling for some jerk, even if he does wear Magnums."

They shared another smile. Reaching down, he picked up a tennis ball and smelled it. "Am I nuts for liking the smell of these?"

Taking the ball from his hand, she sniffed it, closed her eyes, and smiled. "Especially right out of a freshly-opened can." After they both laughed at the realization they shared this bizarre bond, she scoffed. "What’s wrong with us?"

"I don’t know, but I don’t think I’ll ever play again and not think of you." He breathed in deeply while fighting back his emotions.

"We’ll always have that tiebreak." A single tear fell from her eye. After wiping it away quickly, she put on a fake smile.

He looked at her, grinning. "I’m starting to think that last ball may have bounced twice. That would have completely changed the, uh... I would have won."

She narrowed her eyes. "Maybe, but I don’t think you could have played another point."

"I still had a lot more tennis in me," he said with his expression dripping with manufactured confidence.

Jillian laughed, and he shook his head as he glanced up at the sky. Returning his eyes to hers, Brian leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. She closed her eyes as his warm, moist lips touched her skin for the very first time. She desperately wanted to turn to him, to kiss him hard, but the moment disappeared.

Pulling back slowly from her, he stood. "Well, I guess I’d better be going."

She rose to her feet and struggled to maintain her composure. After he handed her the ball, they shared one last smile. Jillian watched as he walked toward the house, her emotions getting the best of her, hoping he wouldn’t look back. He didn’t.

On the drive back to Georgia, Brian decided not to ask Natalie any questions or allow her to give him any details. He thought that for them to have any chance, he would probably be better off not knowing. And since they hadn’t been dating exclusively, anyway, the worst that she did was lie to him, and even that was a stretch.

He told her he needed time to think about everything, but he spent almost the entire ride home thinking about Jillian and not about Natalie or Rob or the two of them together. He decided that he wouldn’t jump into anything with Natalie. As physically attracted as he was to her, he vowed not to have sex with her until he was sure that she was really interested in him, that she wasn’t just playing some game, and most importantly, that she wasn’t completely out of her fucking mind.

The more he thought about everything that had happened since he’d met Natalie, the more he was convinced that she was crazy or, at the very least, the kind of girl who enjoyed watching men suffer. He didn’t want to spend another minute wondering what she was doing, where she was, what she was thinking, and whether or not she was really attracted to him. Because maybe she only wanted to get him back on the hook just to have one more guy fawning over her.

When they arrived back on campus, she invited him to stay over, but he turned her down. That weekend, he did allow her to sleep in his room, where he was the one in control. When she attempted to unbutton his jeans, he stopped her, saying that he still needed time to get over all that had happened. He decided to give her a little of the same treatment that she had administered to him for so many weeks. When they went to sleep that night, Brian wore only boxer shorts while Natalie slept in a T-shirt and underwear. He pretended to fall asleep quickly and was amused to find that she pulled the same types of tricks that he and probably a lot of men pulled in bed when "sleeping over" meant literally
sleeping over
and not something a lot more active or fun.

Whenever she found his hand near her crotch, she would press against it, in the hope that his hand would somehow spring to life, realize the prize that awaited its touch, and go to work. Granted, it’s a little easier to jut your male parts out to a wayward hand then it is the female versions, but that didn’t stop her from trying at least three times that night. He held his ground all night, giving her whatever the female version of blue balls happened to be called.