Building Friction (Part 28)

"You always manage to outshine my moments, don't you?"

Sean was angrily swigging away at this bottle of beer, barely looking at me. It was Wednesday night, and Malory and Claude had managed to get the word out about my phone call before I could. I had intended on meeting Sean for a drink to give him my congrats about his acting offer. The night had morphed from a quiet evening between the two of us into a loud party with everyone present.

"Sean, I didn't know that they were going to do all of this. I even told the girls to keep it quiet since it's not a done deal. I don't even know what that guy wants to talk to me about." I swirled the ice around in my glass, then stabbed at it with my straw.

Steph bounded up at that moment. "Blame it on me. When Malory called to tell me, I just got excited! And since I knew Chloe was going to be here with you..."

"You thought you'd intrude on our evening and turn it into a circus?" I finished sourly.

Steph's face squeezed into a look of disgust. "I hate it when you do that! Both of you!" She pivoted and turned to Sean. "Just enjoy what you have. What's in front of you. And stop being such assholes about it when people want to celebrate with you!"

"Fine," Sean reluctantly agreed.

"Fine," I echoed.

"OK now kids," Steph continued. "I want you to play nice with everyone else and at least LOOK like you're having fun."

Steph wandered off into the crowd after that, waving at a new person who was entering the bar. Billy O's was a small little dive that only locals tended to frequent. Tonight the bar was mostly crowded with people from our scene. Not everyone got along, so the patrons seemed to be segregated into two packs. Sean and I sat at the bar and looked over everyone.

"I swear this was supposed to be quiet," I apologized again.

Sean sighed. "It's alright. It's not like you can control everyone, even if you harbor the delusions that you can."

"Hey!" I jokingly protested.

I spied Matt walking through the crowd, big smile on his face. When he got to me, his hug lifted me off my bar stool. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him hard.

"Baby, that is so fucking great!" He said warmly. "I'm proud of you!"

He lowered me back down and then flagged down the bartender and placed his order. "So, in one more week you're going to find out just how much money they're willing to pay you."

I snorted. "I have no idea what they are going to tell me, or whether it has anything to do with money. I'm just going to have to wait and see. The women wasn't very clear as to the nature of the meeting."

"Still, it has to be good," Matt's beer arrived and he started to drink from it.

"No, it doesn't," Sean murmured under his breath. I shot him a wink. At least someone understood the flip side besides me.

"The woman mentioned the website. I can't imagine what a publishing company would want with someone who writes about blowjobs and whether or not sucking on uncut meat is best." I stabbed at the ice in my glass again.

Matt sputtered beer out in front of him. "Blowjobs?" he squawked.

Sean raised an eyebrow. "Dude, do you have any idea what she writes about?"

Matt lowered his bottle to the bar and wiped the back of his across his mouth. "She told me it was relationship stuff. I actually haven't read any of it."

This was a fact that I was aware of, and had no issue with. I knew that Matt was busy with work and had other obligations outside of it. When he mentioned to me in the beginning that he didn't usually read websites, I almost felt it was better that he didn't read my work, some of which could be potentially embarrassing.

Sean sat forward in his seat, giving me an odd look, yet addressing Matt. "So you haven't read anything of hers?"

"I know the website, but no. I haven't." Matt's gaze drifted down to me, looking for support. I smiled up at him, but knew what was coming next before it even happened.

"STEPH!!" Sean yelled over the music. "COME HERE!!"

As Steph made her way over, Matt raised his beer and began to chug it down. Poor guy. He was really going to be in for it tonight.

"What's up?" Steph asked, shooting Matt a welcoming smile.

"He's never read any of Chloe's stuff," Sean said. He sat back and waited for the torrent that he was aware that he would be unleashing.

"Shut the fuck up!" Steph poked Matt in the upper arm. "You better tell me that he's mistaken!"

Matt shook his head sheepishly. "He's right. I haven't."

Steph's mouth opened and closed silently. Her eyes went to search mine out. I caught her gaze and tried to wordlessly explain that it was OK with me. She didn't seem to be in a mood to read expressions.

"Well, that's just wrong. You come to support her, but you don't know what you're supporting? Hell, even Sean reads her shit and he always says that it's too long and boring to read."

Sean shrugged in apathetic agreement. Matt started to explain, but was cut off by the noise of another group of my friends approaching and giving me their best wishes. I received their hugs and looked at Matt out of the corner of my eye. He looked severely uncomfortable.

"Look, it's OK with me. He explained a while back that he didn't usually read stuff online. I'm fine with it. Please don't give him any shit." I reached behind and hugged Matt to me. "I'm sure if I actually do end up with something published on dead wood, he'll read it then."

"If he's even still around," Sean muttered under his breath again. I kicked him swiftly. "OW! Dammit, Chloe!"

Steph looked unconvinced but knew when to defer to my wishes. "Well, if you're OK with it then I guess it's alright. But I still say that you should read some of her stuff sometime."

"Looks like I'm going to have to do that," Matt conceded.

The rest of the evening wound down gradually. Being the middle of the week, most of our friends had work the next day and needed to get home to bed. I received the hugs and accolades from everyone on their respective ways out. As the number of patrons dwindled down to a manageable size for the small bar, I caught the eye of Geoff.

He was sitting in the corner at a table with Alex, part of the crowd that was segregated from the crowd that I had been sitting in. Steph had been making her way between the two all night, and was coming back to our side when she saw me staring at Geoff. Matt was playing darts in the corner with Ken and didn't notice that Geoff was in the bar. Steph looked between the two men.

"You might want to get going. Now that there's less people, Matt might see him now," she advised.

"Oh, and yet you're not worried about Geoff?" I laughed.

"Well, first of all, you two are getting along. Or something that resembles that. And secondly, I HAVE been asking him to leave all night. He said he was hoping to get a chance to talk to you and personally give his congratulations. Stubborn fucker." She looked back over her shoulder at him. "Remind you of anyone?" she asked and refocused her attention on me.

"Shut up," I chided. I looked over at Matt. He was still engrossed in his game. "Hey, you think you could keep him occupied while I go have a smoke?"

Steph cocked her head. "This is wrong, you know. If you two are going to act friendly, then you shouldn't be hiding it. It'll just come back to bite you in the ass."

"Fine, whatever. Just don't let Matt come outside so that I can deal with Geoff, OK?" I hopped off my stool and grabbed her hand, my eyes pleading with her.

"Fine," she said with a dramatic sigh.

I went up to Matt and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "How're you making out?"

"Not bad. I'd ahead right now," he smiled down at me and kissed me on the forehead.

"Well, you have fun, I'm going to go outside for a smoke. Kick ol' Kenny's ass for me," I said, then shot Ken a wink. He returned it with one of his own.

I caught Geoff's attention out of the corner of my eye as I walked out to the back door entrance where most of the patrons went for a smoke. I saw him get up and make his excuses to the people at his table. He trailed me by about 15 feet. No one seemed to give it much thought.

Outside the weather was warm and there were only two other people smoking. I leaned up against the brick wall, careful to not position myself directly under any of the lights that ran alongside the building. I pulled a smoke out of my pack and dug into my pocket for my lighter. Suddenly there was a bright flame from a Zippo in front of me.

"Thanks," I said, inhaling the smoke. Geoff cupped his hand around his own cigarette and lit it.

"He doesn't read your shit," he started, his voice calm but carrying an undertone of disbelief.

"No, he doesn't," I sighed and rolled my eyes.

"And you're OK with that?"

"Yep. It's everyone else that seems to have a problem with it." I kicked at the ground.

Geoff began to pace in front of me. "You're a writer..."

"Yeah...?" I wasn't sure where he was going with this, but I knew it had the potential to piss me off.

"And you're dating a guy who doesn't read...." he continued.

"It's not that he doesn't read, it's that he doesn't like to read shit online." I exhaled smoke hard.

"Bullshit. That's code for 'I don't like to read anything, I just don't want you to find out that I'm lazy.' Because he can just carry a book around under his arm and that's visual proof that he reads. Fucking lame." Geoff stopped pacing and faced me, looking prepared for me to attack him.

"Fine, whatever you say," I decided to throw him for a loop and not buy into his goading.

"A writer who dates a guy who doesn't read," Geoff repeated, his tone a hardened whisper. "He must really be fucking you well."

I nearly choked as I was inhaling. "What?? You think that the only way that I would date someone a little different than my norm is if he was fucking me well?"

"I do believe that's what I said, yes." Geoff's gaze dared me to rebut.

"Well, surprise surprise here. It's not about the sex, OK? It's about the fact that he's a decent person who treats me with respect and doesn't give me shit all the time just to keep me... what did you call it?" I was so frustrated, I couldn't think of the word he'd used when we were talking over dinner the prior weekend.

"Honest. I want you to stay honest to yourself." He filled in.

"Fine. Honest. I like being with Matt. He's nice, kind, considerate and a whole lot of other good things. It doesn't have to do with sex. Not everything does!" I finished the last drag and threw the cigarette into the alley.

"Wait..." Geoff's eyes lit up. He started to wave a finger in front of me. "Waaaaait. This doesn't have to do with...? NO. This couldn't possibly mean...." He couldn't finish a sentence.

"Just spit it out," I replied, now thoroughly annoyed.

"He hasn't fucked you yet, has he?" Geoff smirked at me, knowing that he wouldn't need to wait for my answer.

"Look," I started, raising my finger and pointing at him, trying to let him know he was about to cross into unwelcome territory.

"No, wait. Allow me to explain. I should have known that they guy who couldn't even bring himself to give you a good night kiss after your first date would be all namby-pamby about giving you a ride on his baloney pony." Geoff cackled in laughter. "Come on, Chloe! Are you really putting up with this?"

I stammered wildly, unable to make my lips grab hold of one solid word. The only thought going through my head was that Geoff was hitting too close to home and if he didn't stop, I was going to start hitting him.

"What do you two actually have in common? You both like those disgusting reptiles. You both play a lousy game of volley ball. What else is there? How can you sustain something with a person who doesn't want to fuck you?" Geoff's eyes were gleaming.

"Relationships are not all about sex. It's not like we haven't done anything. Besides, why am I even talking with you about this shit? We shouldn't even be talking in the first place! We hate each other!" I was breathing hard. My heart was hammering away. It was a distressing and yet exhilarating sensation.

"You were the one who started the hating thing, Chloe. Which was false. You don't hate me. You think you should hate me, but in actuality, you like me. You're intrigued by me. Just as I am by you." He stopped talking, then began to reach out with one hand. It drifted to long, beaded necklace around my neck and fingered it in mid-air. Just as suddenly as he'd picked it up between his fingers, he dropped it. "But you with a guy who hasn't even read your writing? That disappoints me more than anything else that's gone on between us."

My breathing was shallow. We stood in silence for a moment before I could bring myself to speak. "I think I need to go inside." I started for the door.

"Answer me one thing," Geoff said, and I stopped in my tracks, my back to him.

"What?" I closed my eyes and waited.

"What do you have to talk about? REALLY talk about? Is there really something there, or is it just filled with questions of when he's going to get around to fucking you and excuses of why he hasn't fucked you yet?" He let the question hang in the air, the implications of it riper than a hunk of rotten meat.

I sighed. "I'm going back inside, Geoff."

It was all I could bear to say.