One of the Guys

*

“So,
how is it that you’re not married?”

           
Kate gritted her teeth, her hands
poised over her keyboard. If she had a dollar for every time a client asked
this question, she wouldn’t even have to work. She flexed her fingers,
continued typing in her notes, saved the file, printed two copies of the
document, and closed it. “I’m so busy here at work that I don’t get to date
much,” she said. “I guess you could say I’m married to my job.”
 
She pasted a smile on her face and leaned
over to grab the papers out of the printer. She slipped one into the client’s
folder and put it in her basket. She stapled the other copy and handed it to
the beaming bride, who now seemed at a loss for words.

           
“If you have any questions about your
proposal, just let me know,” she said. “When you decide which colors you’d like
to go with for your bridesmaids’ dresses, we’ll talk a little bit more about
things like your bridal party flowers and decorations for the ceremony and
reception. And remember, this is just an estimate.”
 
The bride nodded and Kate continued. “I’ll
get in touch with some caterers to arrange for some tastings. All you have to
do right now is just find those bridesmaids’ dresses!”

           
“Thank you, Miss Thompson!” the
bride said, getting to her feet and smoothing down her sundress. She reached
across the desk to shake Kate’s hand. Kate smiled at her, shook her hand
politely, and walked her out of her tiny office, into the small waiting room,
and to the door.

           
“Please. Call me Kate. I’ll be in
touch,” Kate said, opening the door. The young bride rushed out onto the
sidewalk, hugging her proposal to her chest. Kate couldn’t help but smile at
the sight of the young girl, so happy, so excited… so ready to spend her
parents’ money.

           
Kate locked the door, crossed the
waiting room, and stuck her head into her boss, Julia’s, slightly larger office.
“I got asked again.”

           
Julia was shutting down her computer
and shouldering her purse. “About why you’re not married?” she chuckled.

           
“It’s so annoying,” Kate complained.
“It’s not like I’m a crusty old lady.”

           
Julia grinned at her and started
rummaging around in her purse for her keys. “At least she didn’t offer to set
you up with anybody.”

           
Kate folded her arms across her
chest and leaned against the door frame. “That’s not such a bad idea…”

           
“Sorry,” Julia said, locating her
keys and swinging the ring around and around on her finger. “Like I’ve told you
before, I don’t know anybody. And all Alex knows are boring
teacher-types.”
 

           
Kate heaved an artificial sigh.

           
“Besides, don’t you go out with guys
all the time?
 
What about that one
photographer we always use?” Julia flicked her light off and slipped past Kate
into the waiting room.

           
“I don’t
go out
with any of them,” she said, screwing up her face. “We hang
out, I guess. We play poker on Saturday nights.”

           
“But aren’t you sort of… seeing one
of them?”

           
“Kind of, sort of,” Kate said,
waving off the idea. “But that was dumb.
Bad idea.
Nothing
will ever happen there. It’s not serious.”

           
“Someone will come along,” Julia
said. “When you least expect it.”

*

           
Kate got out of bed and grabbed the
satin bathrobe hanging on the closet door knob. She shimmied into it and tied
the belt quickly around her waist. “Lucy will probably be home soon,” she said,
glancing at the clock as she undid her ponytail and shook her hair out.

           
Still sprawled in the bed, tangled
in her sheets, Max smiled lazily up at her. “How come you never want to
cuddle?” he asked, sitting up and leaning on his elbows.

           
“If I wanted to cuddle, I’d get a
dog,” she replied.

           
“I thought we were supposed to be
friends with benefits,” Max said. “Come cuddle,” he lunged forward and grabbed
the hem of her bathrobe, pulling her back down onto the bed with him.

           
“We are,” she said, playfully slapping
at his pawing hands. “And the benefit is that we get to have sex with each
other, no strings attached.”

           
“So we can’t even snuggle?”

           
Kate shook her head and tried to
wriggle away, but Max held on tight. He managed to swing his leg over the top
of hers and pin her down. Kate, unable to resist, allowed him to kiss her.

           
“We can’t even snuggle a little?”

           
Groaning, Kate sat up and shoved
with all of her might. Max flopped back onto the bed, laughing. “What is it
with you?
 
The whole
point
of this was so that we could call each other up and have
sex whenever we
wanted, not get all kissy and cuddly.”
 
She tightened the knot on her bathrobe and raked her fingers through her
hair. “Why do you have to keep making it so complicated?”

           
“Why do you have to keep fighting
this?” Max asked.

           
“Fighting what?”

           
“This.
Us.
I
don’t know why you’re so against giving us a shot. A real shot,” he added,
before she could protest. “We get along great. We have lots of fun. The sex is
great. Why not just see what it’s like as a couple?”

           
“Because, Max. We were friends first.
And if the whole couple thing doesn’t work out, how do we go back to being
friends?”

           
Max sat up and scooted to the edge
of the bed. He reached for her again, but this time he held his hand out
instead of grabbing at her. Kate placed her hand in his and allowed him to
gently tug her closer. “I think what you’re really afraid of is that it just
might work out, and we’ll be an awesome couple.”

           
Kate looked down at him and ran her
fingers through his thick, dark, choppy hair. She wished she believed that what
Max was saying was true… “I don’t know, Max…”

           
Max put his hands in the air. “I
don’t want to rush you, Kate. I just want you to think about it.”

           
Kate nodded and took a step back
from Max again so that he could get to his feet. It seemed like every other
time they got together like
this,
they ended up having
this same conversation. She watched as he went around the room, gathering
articles of clothing and pulling them on.

He
was adorable, he had a good job, and they really did get along well. But they
had been friends first, and that’s what scared Kate the most. She was worried
enough about the whole “friends with benefits” thing going awry; she didn’t
want to get wrapped up in a relationship with Max, only to have it flop and
destroy their friendship.

Because
that would ultimately destroy her friendships with Chris, Kevin, and Jackson as
well.
Well, maybe not Jackson; she’d known him for too
long. But if it came to taking sides after a bad breakup between mutual
friends, Chris and Kevin would most definitely side with Max. And she didn’t
want to lose them. Aside from Lucy and Jackson, the guys were her only friends.

*

Kate
stared down at the cards in her hand, hoping that she didn’t show any signs of
excitement at what she’d been dealt.
A pair of aces, a
diamond and a heart.
Max dealt the flop.
King of
hearts.
Two of hearts.
Three
of hearts.
She looked around the table. It was just her against Chris,
the last two players of the evening. Chris had managed to take out Jackson,
Kevin and Max, and now for the past hour, he had been doing battle with Kate,
who’d managed to whittle his pile of chips down so that they were pretty equal.
Max was dealing; Jackson and Kevin were both leaning forward, elbows on the
table, watching the game. Kate assumed they were somehow figuring out what cards
she and Chris had in their hands. She wished she was better at the game or that
she could pay better attention to what cards had been played, but somehow she
managed just fine. Chris checked.

She
checked. Max dealt the next card.
Nine of clubs.

She
studied the cards on the table. If Chris had kings, he could possibly have
three of a kind. Or maybe he was working on a straight with the two and three. And
the nine… Ugh. She never understood how the guys could figure out what their
opponent held in their hands. He checked, then looked at her and raised his
eyebrows, daring her to take her turn.

She
checked again. Max dealt the river.
Queen of hearts.
Another heart.
With her pocket cards, she had an ace high
flush. She looked at the cards on the table to make sure that she was really
counting five hearts.
 
I’ve got this!
Kate thought. Chris
studied his hand and then checked again.

Kate
paused and considered her stack of chips thoughtfully. “I’m all in,” she said,
taking a deep breath. Max let out a whistle and Kevin winked at her. Chris’s
head jerked up and he looked at her in surprise. His mouth twitched and Kate
prayed that he would think that she was bluffing. However, he took his time,
comparing his stack with Kate’s.

I’ve got more chips than him, so if
he calls, I’ll take him out and the game will be over!
 
Kate slid her stack of
chips into the middle of the table.

After
a few moments’ deliberation, Chris finally nodded, flipping his cards over. “I’ll
call,” he said.

Kate
leaned over the table and looked at the pair of kings that Chris had chucked
onto the felt. Combined with the king on the community cards
,
his hand was a three of a kind. Kate beamed.

“Flush,”
she grinned.
“Ace high.
Good night, boys!”

Chris
groaned.

Max
shook his head. “Dude!” he exclaimed.

“Loser
cleans up the chips,” she said, winking at Chris and draining her bottle of
beer. She stood and grabbed the five twenty-dollar bills from the middle of the
table. She made her way around the table and said goodbye to each of the boys:
she bent and kissed Jackson on the cheek, threw her arms around Kevin’s neck,
fist-bumped Max, and tousled Chris’s hair.
 
She gathered her purse, tucked her money into
her wallet, and grinned as all the guys gave Chris a good ribbing about losing
to a girl.

“Sure
you don’t want to head out with us?
 
We
might go to the Sand Bar. Or the Porthole,” Jackson said.

“I
think I’ll just head home,” she replied.

“I’ll
walk you out,” Kevin said.

She
said good night and slipped out with Kevin before the guys could press her to
join them out on the town. Usually after their Saturday night poker game, the
guys ended up at the Sand Bar or some similar dive bar, drinking their winnings
away. Kate, on the other hand, preferred just getting out of her dress, kicking
off her heels, and crawling into bed.

Saturdays
were long, busy days for Kate. As a wedding planner, she met with brides all
week long, and then months of planning culminated in often multiple wedding
celebrations on Saturday. Kate had just wrapped up the wedding of two high
school sweethearts, both recently graduated from college. The couple was so
young Kate swore the groom hadn’t even begun shaving yet. It was a beautiful
wedding, but of course, it always was, when Kate helped organize it.