Best Friends Forever

by Dawn Pendleton

  “You are truly evil,” I say.

  She beams at me. “Damn right.”

  “When should we distribute them?”

  “Tonight, I think. If we can convince Des to leave you alone for a second night in a row,” she says, clearly jealous.

  “Don’t get pissy, okay? I’ll probably have to be with her tonight. But I can sneak out late and meet you. Then we can distribute them. It’ll be late, though, probably after one. I need to make sure she’s sound asleep.”

  Hazel takes a deep breath. “Fine. Text me.” She’s obviously upset, but she doesn’t say anything negative; instead, she grabs the papers, gets up, and walks away.

  I sigh as I walk her sweet ass sway, like it’s meant to torment me. I need to figure out what the hell I’m going to do about Des, but I can’t let myself get too attached to Hazel.

  It’s too risky.

  Fourteen

  I’m not sure which is worse: Hazel’s disappointment at me not being able to choose or Destiny’s eagerness to please me.

  Des has turned into a nympho, wanting sex every day, and usually more than once a day. It’s exhausting pleasing two women, but I refuse to give one of them up. I’m afraid of what it would mean. And that means I have to get it up twice as often.

  Tomorrow, I plan to call a guy I met last year who sells drugs. I’ve never been one for any of the hard stuff, just a little pot now and then, but I have to see if he can get me some Viagra. It’s worth a try.

  I smile to myself, knowing that my pride might be the literal death of me. The idea of pleasing both women in my life, though? It’s worth it.

  The halls are empty when I escape my room, leaving Destiny alone in my bed. She murmurs something in her sleep as I disentangled myself from her arms, but I sooth her with a kiss, promising to be right back. A late-night trip to the bathroom is normal enough and if I’m gone too long, I’ll just say I really had to go. I know she’ll buy it.

  I dressed all in black, something Hazel recommended. And out in the middle of the night, I’m glad I listened to her. There are streetlights everywhere, which means we run a higher risk of being seen, so being in black is to our advantage. I jog to the spot Hazel said to meet her but don’t see anyone. She steps out of the shadows and I pull her against me.

  I kiss her thoroughly as I take in her appearance. She’s wearing a black hoodie and a pair of leggings that hug her long legs all the way to her ankles. Her look is complete with black sneakers and even a black baseball cap.

  “You went all out, huh?” I ask when I finally gather enough will to pull away from her. We’re both breathless already.

  “I’m not getting caught,” she declares. “I think it would be easier to put them on everyone’s cars.”

  “That could work, but what about kids that don’t have them?”

  “We’ll put stacks in the lounge and bathroom areas. We’ll be able to cover more ground that way, too,” she explains.

  Her plan is solid and I let her lead me to the nearest parking lot, where we put copies of the Miranda article underneath a windshield wiper of every car. We move to each lot with efficiency and hardly any words between us. We’re both comfortable in the silence, and I like the quiet. Des never stops talking, so I definitely like this side of Hazel. She balances out the things I dislike about Des so well.

  An hour later, I’m sweaty and out of breath, but we’re finally finished. We stop near our building to catch our breaths and Hazel collapses on the dewy grass, her giggle rising up like a mist.

  “She’s going to be ruined,” she whispers between bursts of laughter.

  “You’re really good at this,” I whisper as I sit in the grass next to her. I lean over her body and press a kiss at her lips, loving the way she moans into it as she gives in.

  I pull her hoodie up, just because I can’t help myself, but she quickly pushes me aside. “No way,” she says as she sits up. “You go back to bed with your girlfriend.”

  I sigh, not just because she’s right, but also because I want to have sex now and Des is probably fast asleep. Oh well, I think and then heft myself up to stand. I hold out my hand to Hazel. She takes it and I tug her into me.

  “I get what you’re saying. But you can’t deny what’s between us,” I say as I run my finger across the bridge of her nose. I watch her shiver involuntarily and then I shuck my hand under her chin to get her to look at me. “It’s like fate.” Where did that come from? Talking about fate with a girl doesn’t exactly fit my bad boy profile, which worries me. If I let myself fall for her, I’m giving her the power. And I definitely don’t want that.

  I move away from her before I give in to my desire to kiss her. “You’ll come around,” I say, knowing how much it will irritate her. I walk away, back to the dorm.

  I hear her feet pounding the pavement and I turn just as she jumps into my arms, wrapping her incredible legs around my waist and forcing her mouth on mine. Her tongue takes possession and she’s a wild woman, letting me know with this kiss exactly how much she wants me.

  As much as I want to take her, we don’t have any place to go. Des is in my room and Cheyanne is in hers. This secret of ours is turning into a hassle.

  “Where should we go?” I ask, desperate to take her anywhere.

  “Over there,” she says, pointing to the side of the brick building where we reside.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Take me now,” she growls in my ear, pulling my hair.

  I walk her over to the wall and press her up against it. I devour her lips as I push her into the cool brick. She unlocks her legs and wiggles to get down, so I let her, thinking she wants to stop. When she pulls her leggings and panties off one leg, though, I know she’s just as anxious as I am.

  Fifteen

  The next morning, I tighten my arms around Des. I pull her closer to me and know she’ll feel my hard dick.

  “Someone’s excited this morning,” she mumbles with a laugh.

  “Mmm, he sure is. Let’s take care of that,” I whisper.

  Just as she rolls over, a flurry of students rush by my door and I can hear them all talking excitedly.

  “What’s that about?” she asks.

  “I have no idea. Should we find out?”

  We get out of my bed and once we’re both at least half dressed, I yank open my door and stop the nearest student.

  “What’s going on?” I ask him.

  “There was another leak about a student,” he exclaims. “See for yourself!” He shoves a piece of paper at me and I read it along with Des, feigning shock.

  It would seem our resident girl-next-door has a secret past. One she would kill to keep hidden. But this article reveals all about the shy blonde.

  “Miranda Keith, Senior at Kennedy High, was caught last night, under the influence of drugs and alcohol, giving herself to several Junior and Senior boys on school property. It seems the group met up at a party and then the boys followed Miranda’s instructions to take her onto ‘school property and f$%# me senseless.’ When asked to comment, Miranda had this to say: ‘I’ll sleep with whoever I want. I already slept with two teachers this year!’

  “Her lewd behavior is unbecoming of a Kennedy student and school officials have yet to make a decision about her upcoming graduation. But it looks as though her actions could possibly lead to suspension or even expulsion, which would ruin Miranda’s plans to attend college at Coastal Carolina next fall.”

  So I ask you all: do you want someone so slutty among you? Do us all a favor, Miranda, and just go back to your whorish ways. I’m sure many of the guys here at Coastal would appreciate it.

  “I can’t believe this!” Des exclaims. “Miranda seems so nice.”

  “Yeah, I never knew she was like that,” I tell her.

  Des looks at me. “Don’t get any ideas. You’re mine.” She pulls me in for a kiss, and I close my door.

  * * * * *

  An hour later, I’m showered, dressed, and fully sated. I make my way to
my only class of the day, dragging my football gear along in my duffel. We don’t have a game this weekend; instead, we’ve got a full weekend of practice. From three o’clock this afternoon until sunset on Sunday, I’ll be forced to stay with the football team.

  It doesn’t bother me too much, especially since the Miranda bomb was just dropped. Not being able to see the outside world means that I won’t have to deal with it, which is fine with me.

  I make my way to class and manage to get through it without any drama. Deciding to get an early start on practice, I turn toward the football field. Halfway across campus, though, I run into Cheyanne and Miranda.

  “Nolan, what should we do about this drama that’s being released?” Cheyanne asks as I walk by.

  I stop to answer. “I have no idea. Nothing like this has ever happened before, so this is new territory for everyone. If the rumors are true, it might be easier to just let them go and ignore the person set on ruining lives. Getting faculty involved might just anger whoever’s doing it.”

  “That’s actually really smart,” Miranda says with crocodile tears in her eyes. “Do you really think it will blow over?”

  “Absolutely. And I could never believe any of that stuff about you, Miranda. You’re so sweet,” I say with a smile.

  “Thanks, Nolan. I appreciate that.”

  “I have to get to the field. I’ll catch up with you girls later,” I say and then continue on my way before they can convince me to stay.

  Seeing Miranda and Cheyanne teamed up like that, I wonder if maybe we should have released something juicy about someone else. They will probably think they are being targeted, since they are pretty much best friends. An idea forms in my head and I pull out my phone to text Hazel.

  We need to release something about ourselves this weekend so that we don’t look guilty.

  Just as I walk into the locker room, I get a reply from Hazel.

  Sounds good. I’ll drop something about me tonight and something about you tomorrow night.

  I smile, wondering what she’ll reveal about us. I know she won’t say anything about our affair, but the idea of it sends a thrill through me. I might not want to have people know the truth about us, but it’s a big secret, one that could ruin either of us. But I also know we’re in control of the situation, so I shouldn’t be worried. I delete all our current messages to hide the evidence.

  After hours of practice and being beaten almost into the ground, I walk, ever so slowly, across campus to my room. To my surprise, Des is waiting for me.

  “I’m exhausted, Des. I just need sleep. And it’s going to be like this all weekend. Can we hang out on Monday?” I know it’s harsh, but I can’t even think straight, let alone try to function sexually.

  Her smile fades. “I guess so. I’ll talk to you later,” she says, her voice more than disappointed.

  I sigh but don’t stop her. I need to get some sleep. I open up my door, strip down to just my boxers, and collapse on my bed. I swipe my phone out of my shorts and flip it open, dreading the massive amounts of texts.

  I find several from Des, two from Hazel, and just one from our fake cell phone. I open that one first.

  As far as whores go, it would seem not just Cheyanne and Miranda have something to hide. Less than an hour after her breakup from star quarterback Roman Callahan, Hazel Dominic was seen on the beach, getting awfully cozy with Andre Fynn. Guess all the ‘good girls’ get around…

  I laugh as I read it. She’s decided to go with a truthful story, one that will make her look bad. I open up the texts from Destiny next, and one more comes in when I open the conversation.

  Hope you had a great day.

  I can’t wait to see you tonight.

  I’ll meet you outside your room.

  Are you upset with me?

  I’m sorry I was outside your room. I guess you don’t want to be with me…

  Oh, this is ridiculous. I type out a reply that basically says I’m exhausted and just need sleep. She needs to stop the drama, though. I like other people’s drama, not my own. It may not be worthwhile for me to keep things up with Destiny. She’s a drama queen.

  With that thought, I open up Hazel’s messages.

  Hey, I thought you might need a little pick-me-up after such a long practice.

  Attached is a photo of Hazel. She’s completely naked and gorgeous. I stare at the pic for a full minute before I write back.

  God, you’re sexy. I wanna suck on those pretty pink nipples.

  I smile at her reply, knowing she’s going to keep me up for a while.

  Sixteen

  I have to drag my ass to practice the next morning. Hazel kept me up half the night, sexting me with naughty pics of herself. I beat off to the very elaborate photos and sent her pictures of myself, too. It was dirty, but I loved every second of it.

  I’m glad she didn’t come to my room, though. I haven’t had a chance to talk to my guy about the little blue pill and until I do, I’ve got to take my time between my girls. This weekend, I’m lucky. I’ll be on the field all day today and most of the day tomorrow. We have a game next weekend and I want to impress the beautiful blonde and sexually crazy brunette in my life.

  “Let’s start the morning off with a five-mile run!” The coach is just way too excited about running.

  It’s chilly this morning, though, which makes it so much easier to run. At football camp earlier this month, the weather was ridiculously hot, making all forms of workout intense and deathly. We had two guys pass out in the heat because Coach worked us so hard.

  I fall into a job with Roman at my side.

  “What’s up with these rumors, man? I’m starting to get paranoid,” he admits to me as we run.

  “I don’t know, but I wish someone would silence whoever it is. I don’t want my business running rampant,” I agree.

  “Yeah, but they’re all just rumors. They aren’t true,” he explains.

  “Oh, they aren’t? The one about you and Chey was true,” I remind him.

  He looks thoughtful for a moment. “Yeah, but Chey told me that several people already knew about Deacon. She also told me that the word about Miranda was a lie, too.”

  “Dude, really? There was an article from her high school newspaper attached to her gossip. Seems pretty legit to me. And Hazel… I don’t know her that well, but it seems to me she would do something like that. She was pissed at you,” I say.

  “I’ll have to ask her tonight. She slept in my room after practice last night,” he winks.

  It takes all my energy not to stop right there and beat him to a pulp. “So you guys are back together?”

  “Kind of. She said she wants to keep things casual, which means just sex. So I’m game for that. I didn’t want to jump into a relationship the first week of school, anyway. So if she’s just in it for the pleasure, I can make her scream every night,” he boasts.

  I know for a fact he can’t please her the way I do, but I keep my thoughts to myself. Instead, I change the subject. “So who do you think this rumor person will target next?”

  “I’m not sure, but since I’ve had my name mentioned twice already, it better not be something about me. Not that I have much gossip anyway,” he explains.

  I hold my laughter in, knowing, as I do, just how many rumors could be started about him. He has quite a laundry list of things that could beheld against him. I don’t say anything, though.

  “Race you to the two-mile marker,” I challenge him instead.

  He nods and we begin our race, passing our teammates along the way, and even getting ahead of Coach, who loudly applauds our ambition. We don’t stop at two miles, either. We keep going until we hit five miles and then both of us drop to the grass, breathing heavy and gasping for air.

  I learned a long time ago that I could run long distances without any trouble. My problem always started once I stopped running and began to rest. So now, I’m heaving, sucking in deep breaths like I can’t breathe. When I feel my stomach lurch, I roll
over and get up on my hands and knees.

  I didn’t eat this morning, so I only cough up bile, but the feeling isn’t pleasant. I gag and heave for several minutes. By the time I finally feel just a little better, Coach and the rest of the team are approaching.

  “Rome! Nolan! If you two want to show off, you can run it again!” Coach yells.

  I groan, but know that arguing would be futile. I get up slowly and prepare to start the run again.

  “Fuck that,” Roman mutters, just loud enough for Coach to hear.

  “Excuse me, Callahan? Want to make it ten more miles?”

  “No, sir,” he whispers.

  We start slow, building up to a steady pace.

  “I beat you, by the way,” he tells me as we jog.

  “Bullshit. I won fair and square.”

  “Race again?” He challenges.

  Oh, fuck. “Let’s do it.”

  We set a neck-breaking speed and I can feel my legs turning to jelly, but I keep going, desperate to prove I’m a better man. When my head starts to get light, I close my eyes for just a second to balance myself.

  My eyes don’t open up again.

  Seventeen

  I’m surrounded by my friends. Destiny holds my hand tightly and I blink, the light hurting my eyes.

  “What happened?” I ask, my voice raspy.

  “You passed out on the field, dude,” Roman explains.

  “I remember racing, but that’s it,” I say.

  “Yeah, we were about halfway through our second five-mile run and you just dropped. I thought you were kidding at first, but when you didn’t get up and wouldn’t open your eyes, I called Coach over and you were taken to the hospital.”

  “You were dehydrated,” Des explains. “When was the last time you had anything to drink?”

  I think back to before practice. I hadn’t had any water in days, choosing to drink cola instead. “It’s been a while,” I admit.

  “Coach is pissed.” Roman glances out at the hallway, where a doctor and my coach are walking through the door.