Just Friends (4 page)

Chase counted on his fingers.
“Six.”

“You think we can watch six?”

“Yeah, two tonight, then tomorrow,
and Sunday,” he said, pulling her over to the horror section.

“No hot dates planned with
unsuspecting females?”

“That hurts, Leah. You know the
weekend is
our
weekend, like the good
old days.”

When they were younger they’d
alternate weekends at each other’s houses until their folks decided they were
too old to be sleeping around at each other’s houses. In Leah’s mind it meant
she had breasts, the guys had penises, and they were not going to allow
anything to happen.

The movie nights were allowed ‘til
nine and then her father, or Mitch’s, or Chase’s, would take them home.

Lame, but the parents had their
rules. She imagined if she ever had a daughter, she’d be the same. She looked
through the horror section hating every one he picked up.

“If we’re watching six then we can
only have one horror, and we can only watch it tonight,” she said.

“You’re such a wimp.”

She shrugged her shoulders letting
him pick a haunted house story as she moved over to the chick flick section.
Leah glanced over the movies wondering which one to pick when a guy cleared his
throat. She glanced up seeing a guy looking at her. He had blond hair that
reminded her of Mitch’s, but this guy had the boy-next-door look about him.
Mitch always looked like he’d rolled out of bed messy. She thought it always
looked hot.

“Hey, what is a pretty girl like
you doing in a video shop?”

Fucking lame.

She rolled her eyes going back to
looking at a movie. “I think the answer to that is obvious, seeing as I’m in a
video store.” Leah ignored him, picking up a box and reading the back. She
scrunched up her face and put it back.

“You know what I meant. A hot girl
like you shouldn’t be watching videos.”

Putting a hand on her hip, she
glared at the man. From the way he was looking her up and down, she knew
exactly what he thought she should be doing.

“Excuse me,” she said, brushing
past him.

Glancing over at the horror section
she saw Chase was no longer there. She moved through several selections of
films, reading them and putting them back.

“How would you like to go out
sometime?” Her video stalker was back with the smooth words.

“I wouldn’t.”

She found two she couldn’t decide between.
The guy reached out toward her. She knew he was going to stroke her cheek in
some creepy kind of way. His touch never came. She felt Chase behind her. His
scent invaded her nostrils, and his presence couldn’t be mistaken for anyone
but Chase.

“She’s taken, mate. Back off.”
Chase wrapped his arm around her waist then looked over her shoulder. “What did
you pick, baby?”

Ignoring the man in front of her,
she showed him the two cases. “I don’t know which one to pick. Do you think
you’d be able to stomach two?”

“Sure, here is what I’ve got.”

“Sorry, man. I didn’t mean anything
by it.” The man held his hands up and disappeared toward another aisle.

“I leave you alone for two minutes,
and you’ve got men panting after you.”

“Not on purpose.” They made their
way over to the counter.

“Hi, Leah, how are you?” Willy, the
owner, asked.

“Great, Willy.
You?”

“Slow at the moment. I imagine it
will pick up later.”

She nodded, pulling out her card.
“This here is my friend Chase. Chase, this is Willy.”

The two men shook hands.

“I’m sorry about that guy hassling
you. I’d have said something, but I was busy up here,” Willy said.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ve got my
own little protection man right here.” She paid the bill, and they were outside
heading back to his car.

“He seems nice,” Chase said, getting
into the car.

“Yeah, he stopped carding me after
my sixth visit. I love going to this video shop. Most of the time there isn’t
anyone lurking in the aisle for a date.”

Chase pulled out of the parking lot,
and they made their way back to their apartment. The drive was a long one. The
city was busy on a Friday night. She didn’t want to live in the city for the
rest of her life. Leah liked the thought of being in the country and being able
to work from home. She knew her dreams were a long way off, but she’d never
give up hope.

Mitch’s car was already parked in
his space when they made it back. Out of all three of them, Leah was the only
one who hadn’t gotten her licence. She was not destined to be behind a machine.
Mitch or Chase picked her up to drive her to school or she rode her bike. Her
biggest failing was in driving a car. She wasn’t embarrassed by her failure.
The only time she’d been embarrassed was when Chase and Mitch had gotten cars
for their birthday when she unwrapped a bicycle. For a joke her parents had put
stabilisers on the back.

Fortunately, none of her life had
been hindered by her lack of a licence.

Chase parked the car, and they both
got out. They keyed in the code to their building and grabbed their mail from
the boxes before walking up the stairs to their apartment.

Mitch was on the phone as they
entered their apartment.

“We’ll make it down in a few weeks.
I know, Dad.” Mitch rolled his eyes pointing at the phone.

Leah smiled then moved toward the
kitchen. Chase put the movies down by the television and walked back to her to
help.

“What are we cooking this evening,
chef?” he asked.

“Wait until Mitch gets off the
phone.”

Chase nodded. She checked the
cupboards to see what Mitch had bought from the grocery shop. When she opened
the freezer and saw two tubs of chocolate ice cream she wanted to run and kiss
him.

The phone was put down as she
turned to face him.

“There is a big get-together in
three weeks. All of our parents will be there, and they want us to come as
well,” Mitch said.

“What kind of get together?” Leah
asked.

“A
barbeque.”

“Hell no.
I’m not eating your dad’s spare ribs again, Mitch. He makes them too damn hot,”
she said.

“My mom is doing the cooking, and
both of yours are helping as well,” Mitch said.

Leah sighed in relief.

“What are you two doing back at the
same time?”

“Chase collected me from work. He
was so sweet and charming. How did your dad sound?” she asked, diverting the
conversation back.

The kiss Chase had given her had
really meant something. Her lips still tingled from the way he’d claimed her.
She’d felt her whole body burning up from the kiss. Maybe she was going insane.

“Dad watched the news about the
burglaries, and he’s worried about us. I’ve told him not to be and that we’re
always watching out for each other. I’ve agreed we’d all be going to this get-together.
It could be fun.” Mitch did not sound optimistic.

“Fun?
I’ll be sleeping in my old bed,” she said.

“Not to mention our peers being
nosy about our lives,” Chase said.

She knew there was a bet going on
to see which one married first. Leah wondered if they knew about it.

“It will be good to get away from
here. A weekend without the city noise would be a treat to anyone.”

Leah had to agree. “Great, we’re
all looking forward to going back home. Now, what do you want to eat?”

They settled on fried chicken
seeing as Mitch had bought some from the grocery store. Leah marinated the
drumsticks then went and changed out of her work clothes. She put on a pair of
jogging pants and shirt.

Friday night was the night where
they sat on the sofa, watching movies, and eating really unhealthy food. She
decided on oven chips instead of fried chips. They only owned one fryer, and
she’d be frying the chicken, and the chips would get cold.

Chase made up his special cocktail
of drinks. Both men took it in turns helping her in the kitchen, and they got
changed out of their work clothes as well.

“I’ll do the laundry tomorrow
morning,” Leah said.

“I’ll come with you,” Chase and
Mitch said.

“You don’t have to stay with me.
You can go out shopping while I get our stuff cleaned.” She carefully placed
the chicken into the hot fat before stepping back. Leah bumped into a warm,
hard body. Glancing up she saw Mitch was behind her.

“They smell so good.”

“Give it twenty minutes, and it
will be even better.”

He placed his hand on her hips and
gave her a gentle squeeze. “I believe you, honey.”

A squeeze of the hips was setting
her on fire as well.

She tried to ignore both of the men
while she cooked. The last thing she needed was to hurt
herself
on some hot fat or something.

After twenty minutes, she piled the
fried chicken on a plate and the oven cooked chips into a bowl and then placed
them on the coffee table in front of the television. She moved back, grabbed sauces
for them to squeeze over their food, the plates, and climbed onto the sofa from
behind. Mitch took her left as Chase took her fight. Leah handed them a plate,
and all together they dove in.

With the plates loaded full with
fried chicken and fries, Chase fired up the television. Leah put her plate on
the table as she bent down and put the movie into the DVD player. When she
turned back to face her two friends they were giving her funny looks.

“What’s up?”

“Nothing,” they both said, looking
past her to the screen. She settled down between them with her food in her lap.
The movie fired up.

Leah hated horror movies. Out of
all the movies Chase and Mitch watched it was the horrors she couldn’t stand.
She didn’t understand why people enjoyed scaring themselves. By the end of the
movie she’d be sat in either of the blokes’ laps with her face hidden behind a
pillow.

After eating all of her fried
chicken and the fries, she put her plate down on the table, picking up her
cocktail.

The moment the movie began, she
started to hide behind the pillow. Mitch and Chase sat relaxed with one of
their arms along the back of her. She loved this part. Leah only wished the
comfort they offered was for more than an hour and a half’s movie.

****

Mitch hated horror movies. Watching
them repulsed him and scared the shit out of him. He preferred thrillers and
action movies. This crap was just plain scary. However, with scary movies came
Leah jumping into either his or Chase’s lap. Having Leah in his lap for a good
hour or so was worth being scared.

If she jumped his way, he’d be able
to distract himself with her lovely scent and feminine curves. He leaned back
and chuckled as she grabbed the nearest pillow. With her head locked behind the
pillow he turned to see Chase stroking her hair. The touch was small but
noticeable. Chase smiled at him, giving him a wink.

Movie night had been going on for
them as long as he could remember. They were his favourite time of the week.
Every Friday without fail, they’d be in front of the television with a marathon
of films.

The music went high on the film, and
Leah squeaked and ended up on his lap with her feet across Chase’s.

“Sorry,” she said. “I don’t know
how you two can stand this.”

The pillow under her eyes, she
continued to watch the film.

The baggy clothes she was wearing
did nothing to hide the figure underneath. He remembered the first time he’d
seen her in a full bathing costume. Leah had never worn a bikini, but the full
costume was enough. Chase’s parents owned a swimming pool, and most of their
summers were spent in that pool. When they’d turned sixteen, Leah had stripped
down to her full costume like she’d done millions of times before. Only this
time, Mitch remembered the instant hit to his groin. He’d dived into the water,
hoping the cold would stop his cock getting any bigger.

From that day forward, he’d been
nervous around Leah. She acted as if nothing was any different, but he’d felt
it.

The love inside him had started to
bloom from the moment they all hit puberty. The fight with Chase and then the
girlfriends along with Leah’s boyfriends stopped any chance of him trying for
her. He loved his two friends and would do anything for them.

He placed a hand across her lap
stroking the side of her thighs. Mitch leaned back watching the movie while
also trying not to picture Leah in a full swimming costume. She’d fill out one
of those costumes and look superb.

“Can we
pause
it? I need a refill,” Leah said.

Chase grabbed the remote,
pausing
the film. Leah grabbed the pitcher of cocktail mix
going toward the fridge. “Do you guys want a beer?” she asked.