Between Friends

by Amanda Cowen

  Chapter 10

  Ben and I stay submerged in the water, kissing, touching, and dirty talking. The mixture of wet and dark makes every rub between us electric. Ben eyes flicker with intensity when he braces me against the concrete wall of the pool and commands “Open your legs.”

  I inch them apart, but he can’t wait. He grabs the inside of my thighs and thrusts them open then whispers in my ear, “I want you so bad.” The immediate sensation from feeling him touch me with such force makes me moan out his name without even knowing it.

  “I love it when you say my name like that.” Ben growls in my ear. His breath makes me dissolve into his arms before he tugs the back of my hair and exposes my neck. He trails kisses along my collarbone, and I seriously can’t take it anymore. I want Ben more than ever. I quietly beg him to enter me as his lips hover over mine, but he pulls away and places his thick index finger over my mouth.

  “Did you hear that?” Ben whispers and darts his eyes around the pool.

  “Hear what?” I ask.

  Ben’s ears perk up and his big brown eyes widen, “Shit Megan. I heard something!”

  Flashlights blaze in our direction and muffled Spanish voices echo in the distance. I catch a glimpse of a tall dark figure dressed in what looks like resort staff attire walking briskly in our direction.

  “I told you we’d get caught!” I scold him.

  Without a moment to lose, Ben and I scamper out of the pool sopping wet and half naked. We grab our clothes and run completely exposed across the resort, laughing hysterically as we escape down to the beach.

  “Holy shit,” Ben says between air choking laughs, “I can’t believe I’m covering my junk with your dress right now.”

  I snort back a laugh and say, “That was humiliating! Do you think anyone saw us?”

  Ben shrugs, and his laughter settles. He closes the space between us and runs his finger slowly along my jaw line. I weaken at his gentle touch and he doesn’t say another word. He wraps my tiny fingers in his and pulls us into a secluded area on the beach sheltered by green foliage. He tosses my dress to the sand and pulls me into his chest, “Come here. I’m not done with you.”

  Ben’s mouth lowers to mine and his lips send me into a tremble. He cradles my head and places me on the ground gently letting his hands wander all over my body under the moonlit sky. He runs his fingers through my hair, and softly kisses my forehead. His package presses me right there, before he slides inside and moans with pleasure. He moves slowly at first, easing himself in and out of me. I wrap by legs around his back, letting the cool night air prick at my skin, and for the first time in my life, I am actually having sex on a beach.

  Afterwards, we lie together and listen to the waves crashing on the sand. Our breathing begins to slow and he strokes my hair. I tickle down his back, making goose bumps rise all over his skin.

  “What are you thinking?” I say when curiosity gets the better of me. Ben never stays quiet for too long and his silence is starting to worry me.

  “I guess I’m thinking about how much you mean to me.” Ben sighs, looks down at his fingers and draws random objects in the sand. He turns his head to the side and gazes into my blue eyes “I’m also thinking how stupid I am for falling for my best friend.”

  I blink, thankful I am lying down. If I were standing right now, I would probably give way at the knees. Did he really just say that? Ben clears his throat, and lets out a nervous laugh. I wish I could say something, but I am stunned silent.

  “Lie with me?” Ben says and waves me over to curl against his bicep. I roll into his bare chest and gaze up into the stars before we drift off to sleep.

  ****

  I wake up to a thin line of the golden sun hindering on the horizon. I shake Ben from his slumber and straighten out my dress before we trudge our way back on the resort grounds.

  “Do you think they were looking for us?” Ben asks running his fingers through his hair.

  “Probably” I say, feeling my stomach churn.

  Ben yanks his phone out of his pocket, glances at it and exasperates a few swear words. He flashes me fifty missed calls from both Eric and Matthew, “Should I call them back?”

  “They’re probably sleeping. It’s quarter to six in the morning.” I say and let out a yawn.

  “Maybe I should text them,” he says biting his lower lip.

  “Maybe,” I shrug, and watch him send them a text.

  “What are we going to tell them when they ask what happened?” I say as he shoves his phone back in his pocket.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll think of something.”

  It only takes a few more minutes of strolling down the cobblestone road for Ben to make up another fabricated story that goes something like this:

  When we went back to the restaurant to get the purse, the servers were still cleaning up. But as we were thanking them for keeping the purse safe, they offered us another drink. We couldn’t say no, because they had been kind enough to offer us one. So we sat with them and chatted for the next hour or so. We even helped them tidy up (which was my input to the story). Then once we said our goodbyes and started heading back, we thought we’d go and sit by the pool for a bit (which we did) and picked one of those huts with a bed to lounge on. Then, without even knowing it, we fell asleep.

  “Will I see you later?” Ben says before we separate to our respective villas. I nod and start to walk away, but he grabs onto my arm, “Hold on a minute.”

  “What?” I say frozen in place.

  He pulls me into his chest and kisses the top of my head, “That’s no way to say good-bye.” He looks down at me through his long brown lashes, plants a soft kiss on my lips and cups my butt, “There. That’s better.” He releases me from his grasp and a tiny smirk forms on his lips, “Bye Megan.”

  ****

  I wake up a few hours later to a light rapping on the door and Jessica’s voice, “Open up. It’s me.”

  I slowly climb out of bed, and scoot past Stephanie and Michelle snoring under the covers. I nervously chew at my lip, petrified of facing my friends over my mysterious disappearance with Ben. I try to remember every detail of the little white lie we created, but I am terrified of putting it to use. How am I ever going to face them? I let out a sigh and yank-open the door to see Jessica. She has on a floppy white sunhat letting her blonde curls flow beautifully past her shoulders. She is wearing a hot pink tunic cover up with a beautiful ornate cherry blossom print and a white string bikini that peeps through the sheer fabric. She looks sun kissed and well rested. Both things I wish I was right now.

  “Good morning” Jessica’s chipper voice says as she pushes past me into our villa. She makes a face of disgust when she sees empty beer cans scattered all over the floor. Clothes are tossed in heaps on the furniture, open boxes of left over room service with half-eaten food are sprawled over the table, and make-up cases are open and out in a blatant disarray. A bunch of shoes trip her as she makes it past the desk.

  “Megan, this room is disgusting.” she gasps and looks at me in disbelief, “You are such a neat freak. How did this happen?”

  I tilt my head over to the Sweet Valley High Twins passed out beside each other on the bed. Jessica nods and whispers, “It must feel like university all over again.”

  I laugh, remembering how many times I snapped on both Stephanie and Michelle for their constant mess all over our apartment. Once I even tossed a bunch of their hair product into the hallway of our building. I had finally lost it when I couldn’t wash my hands because our sink was full of their mounds of bottles, sprays, and hair dyes. When they came home that night and saw it outside our doorway they went ballistic. But right now, when Jessica kicks a pair of white wedged heels out of her way, it’s quite tempting to pull a little stunt like that again.

  Jessica walks over to the sofa, and plops herself down. She looks expectantly at me and gives me an innocent grin. I push my hands to my hips and ask, “Alright, what do you want?”

  “It’s ni
ne in the morning. I want you to get dressed and come with me to the pool. Michael and the guys are hanging out today and I need my girls.” Jessica whines, smacking around a big wad of gum in her mouth.

  For some reason I agree to join her, dig through my luggage and pull out the first bikini I can find. It is a royal blue halter style top, with push-up padding for my small breasts and matching low-rise bottoms to enhance my less than curvaceous hips. I bought it from Victoria’s Secret, especially for this trip and have yet to wear it, so it seems fitting to show it off today by the pool. I quickly get changed, and grab my sunglasses from my purse and slide on my flip-flops. Jessica claps and rushes to the door when she sees I’m ready. But somehow, despite all the noise, Stephanie and Michelle remain completely dead to the world.

  We make a stop at the breakfast buffet and each scarf down a bagel with cream cheese and a plate of fruit. We chug a coffee, chat about a lot of nothing, and make our way to the pool. We find a quiet spot with four chairs already huddled together to save for Michelle and Stephanie.

  “Where do you think Michael and I should take our honeymoon?” Jessica asks as she places her towel over her lounger.

  “What about Thailand? It would be really adventurous and different from the usual European experience.” I say feeling like the world’s best travel advisor.

  Jessica cringes and says, “I don’t know, that’s more of a five-year anniversary destination.”

  I roll my eyes, “How was I supposed to know that?”

  “These are just things people know Megan.” She says and dismissively waves her hand in the air.

  “Okay, how about somewhere more mainstream, like Paris?”

  Jessica laughs, “Predictable.”

  Maybe it is, but who would ever turn down Paris? Even I would love to go there. I imagine myself eating little croissants and cute pastries strolling past the Eiffel Tower. But Jessica’s high-pitched voice snaps me out of my daydream, “Not good enough, think of something else.”

  “I know! How about Disneyland?” I joke.

  She pulls her glasses down to her nose and glares at me, “Ha. Ha. Very funny. Next.”

  “You could always go to Canada.”

  Jessica contemplates my suggestion by ticking her finger on her nose, “Megan, why would I want to be cold on my honeymoon. Those people live in igloos.”

  I roll my eyes at her. She is so oblivious. My mother’s brother lives in Canada, and growing up we visited him a few times. Contrary to what some Americans believe, Canadians do not live in igloos.

  “Well I haven’t heard you come up with a better suggestion.” I say and rub more tanning oil on my skin.

  Jessica grunts, “How about Switzerland Megan? Why couldn’t you suggest that?”

  “Well then how about Switzerland?” I throw back at her, and Jessica says no, it reminds her of tacky Ikea.

  “You’re impossible, you know that?” I shout. I am no longer offering her any more suggestions. Jessica grunts and we leave it at that.

  She pouts and slouches down in her lounger to bask in the sun. A few moments pass before she blurts out, “I need to get something off my chest. I had a sex dream last night about Graham.”

  I roll my eyes and remember she told me all about this Graham character before. He used to work with her when she was actually a gainfully employed member of society. According to Jessica he was the office stud.

  “Well what happened?” I ask curious about what my little tart of a friend has milling around in her brain at night. Jessica lets out a sigh and begins to tell me all the nitty-gritty and quite graphic details. I am both surprised and shocked at how fluid she is in remembering every single dirty little thing.

  “Should I tell Michael? Ohmigod, Megan, I feel so guilty. I liked it. Like really liked it.” Jessica says.

  “Are you kidding?” I laugh, “Why would you say anything? Nothing good would come of it. Besides, it was just a dream.” Although I do not condone lying to your partner, I do believe there are just some things better left unsaid.

  “Good point.” Jessica sighs with a bit of nervous laughter. She thanks me and stretches back to relax. The tension drains from her face, and it looks like she has lifted the weight of the world off her shoulders. I suddenly envy the release of her big burdening secret. I wish I could blurt out my secret about Ben and get it off my chest. But of course I withhold under better judgment.

  “Where the hell were you last night?” Stephanie points at me with her hot pink press on nails as her and Michelle trot over to us.

  Oh great.

  Jessica shoots me a cold hard stare and shouts, “Excuse me? What aren’t you telling me?”

  “Nothing” I shout and watch them all wait for me to elaborate.

  I start to fumble a bit, but pull myself together then gain composure. I tell them about how Ben and I drank with the staff and helped them tidy up, then how we went to the pool and fell asleep in a hut. All three of them look at me with a hint of uncertainty in their eyes, but Jessica breaks the awkward tension and says, “You and Ben are so weird together.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” I ask.

  “You know exactly what I mean.” Jessica says tossing her long blonde curls behind her shoulder.

  Michelle and Stephanie both nod in agreement, and I feel my blood begin to boil. Not one of them has ever said anything to me before about how they think my friendship with Ben is weird.

  “No I don’t.” I say with purpose.

  All three of them roll their eyes completely in sync and Michelle and Stephanie flop down on the vacant loungers beside us. I find myself getting a tad bit worked up. Maybe it’s because of the rising guilt, or maybe it the simple desperation of wanting to push further on this topic when I say, “There is nothing weird going on between me and Ben.”

  “Nobody said there was.” Stephanie says with shock.

  “Yeah right” Michelle smirks.

  “Well there better not be.” Jessica shouts with disgust, “Not after I already introduced you to Steven.”

  And there it is, Jessica’s disproval. Jessica studies her perfectly manicured nails and peers up at me from her sun hat, “I can’t imagine you two together anyway. He’s such a man-whore and you’re such a goody two shoes. It would be like comparing apples to oranges”

  “In more ways than one.” Stephanie grumbles under her breath.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” I snap, daggering my eyes at her.

  “Come on Megan, its not that hard to see that you’re not his type. That’s why you two can be such weirdly good friends.” Stephanie laughs.

  When my stone-cold silence fills the air, no one says another word. Angry tears sting my eyes and I pull down my sunglasses. I lay back and take in the radiating heat from the early afternoon sun, wanting to block everything and everyone out.

  While I lie there, my mind races. I think about Stephanie’s hurtful words and it reminds me how out of Ben’s league I actually am. It pains me to no end, because she is right. Ben’s last fling was with a Brazilian model. She had the most perfect ass to tit ratio I had ever seen. Then the arm candy he had before her - was a gorgeous strawberry blonde with the cutest nose and most perfectly plump lips. Not to mention the girl before her was a dimpled starlet with a body you could bounce a quarter off of. I start to feel nauseated just thinking about all the beautiful women Ben has slept with. A wave of self-consciousness washes over me as I glance down at my flat chest and less than curvaceous body.

  Then to make matters worse, I think of an event that unfolded two months ago between Ben and our newest realtor to join the company, Peggy Wilson. On her first day, she clicked into the office with her pointy high heels and overly tight black pantsuit. She shook out her poker straight blonde hair right in front of me and Ben, as his drool pooled onto my desk. She turned around, introduced herself and stupidly asked if we were brother and sister. We both shared a laugh at her expense and said no we weren’t, we were just really good frie
nds. But that was all Peggy Wilson needed to know before she seduced him a few days later in the parking garage and had sex with him in back seat of her car. Uggh! My face is burning hot, and this time it isn’t from the sun. I can’t believe I am jealous. It is an emotion I would rather live without.

  I try to fall asleep so I can escape my thoughts, but it starts to feel next to impossible. I flip my head from side to side, turn from my back to my stomach, and then to my back again. The warmth from the sun is so soothing, I should have no problems slipping into a slumber, but my mind won’t stop racing. When I feel the sun disappear, I open my eyes to see Steven towering over me with his tall and lean muscular body, wearing a pair of stripped swim shorts that hang on his hips. I sit up, startled by his presence. He sits down at the edge of my lounger, and I pull my knees up to my chin.

  “How’s it going?” Steven asks.

  I feel so horrible staring into his big blue eyes. He has no idea what’s been going on with Ben. I hate how Steven is so handsome and nice. I really don’t deserve him. I don’t know what to say or do right now. Besides, it is not like I don’t want to be swept away into his arms of steel. It is just…well…Ben.

  “I’m good.” I say in my smallest voice.

  The girls sit up on either side of me to greet Steven. Jessica tells him he is so sweet by coming to find me. She even lies and says we were just talking about him. I give her a dirty look and clear my throat to let her know I am not impressed at all by her little interference.

  Steven blushes, “I came to see if you wanted to go jet skiing.”

  I politely smile, “Awe thanks Steven. That is so nice of you, but we are having a girl’s day- “

  “She would love to go with you.” Jessica interrupts, “Megan, don’t be silly. We will be fine without you for a couple hours. Just promise us you will bring her back in one piece.”

  I grit my teeth and force a smile at Jessica.

  “Well, only if Megan wants to.” Steven gracefully adds.