Building Friction (Part 31)

The faces were all staring at me intently, their eyes unshifting. Lilly had posed the question of why I was so quiet with a perma-grin on my face. Steph's eyes had widened. Malory had almost burned herself while lighting her cigarette. Sean, not surprisingly, looked unimpressed.

"Come on, Chloe!" Kelly had stopped playing guitar long enough to join in on the ganging up. "You know I miss everything. If I'm here, I wanna get filled in, dammit!"

"Fine," I sighed. "Someone give me a smoke?" Three hands shot forward, offering me a stick. Steph lit it for me. "We fucked."

"YAY!!!" The collective cheer rose. Steph was the first to add additional commentary. "About fucking time!" she whooped.

Everyone started laughing and I felt a strong blush come to my face. "Alright, damn. I'm not a circus attraction."

"After this long, you kinda were," Malory joked. "But Chloe... don't just leave it at that. How about some details?"

"What details do you want? Is there really anything that you guys haven't heard of before?" I sighed again and reclined in my chair.

"No, was it any good?" Malory shot back.

"Did he go pearl diving?" Lilly added.

"Fuck that nonsense," Kelly quipped. "What's the status of his junk?"

The peals of laughter erupted once more. "His 'junk' is just fine, thanks," I said. "It's more than decent. And yes, he found the pearl, and yes it was better than good."

"How much better?" Steph asked.

"It was pretty fucking incredible, is that what you want to hear? I came so many times I thought that he was going to have to peal me off his ceiling with a spatula. What more is there to say?" I snubbed out my cigarette and started to stand.

"Why do you look so uncomfortable about it?" Steph continued. "Is there something you're not telling us?"

"No. No, Steph, there isn't. There isn't ANYTHING that I don't tell you guys. Maybe that's part of the problem." I closed my eyes and bit on my bottom lip. When I reopened them, the group was staring at me blankly. "Look, I'm sorry, but I guess I just wasn't in the mood to play 20 questions tonight, alright?" Their gazes all remained locked on me. "I'm getting a drink, anyone want anything?"

The drink requests were murmured in. Sean joined me as I headed into the house to fill them.

"That was a smart idea," he commented.

"What was?" I began to pull beers and various drinks out of the fridge.

"Giving them a little space to talk shit behind your back," Sean took the beers from my hands and pushed me out of the way. "Let me get this."

"Oh, I knew they were going to find out. And I knew that they would have something to say. I guess I just really didn't want to talk about it so soon. I just wanted..." I trailed off, trying to figure out what the fuck it was that I really wanted.

"You wanted to have a private moment for yourself just once," Sean filled in. "But you ask for it. When you're always so open, people start to feel like they own a part of your private life. You could stand to learn how to keep a few secrets."

"Oh, I know. And believe me, I've tried." I decided to drink a beer for once, popped one open and chugged half of it down, then burped loudly.

"Oh, how nice," Sean replied sarcastically. "Honestly Chloe, you could learn to try a little harder. Start doing stuff without us for a change."

"You've got a lot of room to talk! You never do anything without anyone here!" I gulped down the remainder of the beer.

"True, but I'm also not standing in my friend's kitchen, bitching about how everyone is in my business. For example, how much do you really know about me?" He popped open his own beer and leaned on the counter.

"What do you mean?" I'd known Sean for about a year. I knew who his friends and family members were, where'd he'd grown up, some of his personal aspirations.

"What was the name of my last girlfriend?" he asked.

"Oh. Um. That one blonde. You went to see your family and she broke up with you without telling you about it, yeah... I remember her." I fumbled with the memories.

"Yeah, whatever. What was her name?" Sean tilted his chin up at me, daring me to answer.

"Fine, you've got me. I don't remember her name." I stood on my tip toes and fished down a plastic cup, then began to pour Skyy in it.

"Exactly. I dated her for 9 months and damned if any of you could remember her name. Why? Because I keep my personal life just that. Personal." He swigged at his beer. "It's not like you all didn't meet her. But she didn't come around like you bring Matt. She had her own life and she respected that I had mine."

"Yeah, and she also didn't bother to explain why she was breaking up with you. Doesn't that say anything?"

"Only that she wasn't worth my time in the long run. How people break up isn't as important as how they carry on. You're not carrying on very discretely. Hell, we all know every last detail about you, that Geoff guy and the boyfriend. And it's all because you've let us know."

"That's because friends are supposed to help you when you have issues!" I protested.

"You might not have 'issues' if you learned to make a few decisions on your own without involving every damn person that you've ever know!" Sean finished off his beer and grabbed for another. "Speaking of which, they're probably wondering where their drinks are."

We gathered up the various bottles and cups and made our way back outside. The girls stopped twittering when they saw us approach. Sean helped me to dole out drinks and I made note that no one would meet my eye.

"Alright, spill it. What kinds of shit were you talking about me?" I sank back down into my chair, snatched up Malory's pack of cigarettes and liberated one for myself.

Kelly was the first to speak up. "Just placing bets on how long it will last." She started strumming the guitar again.

Steph coughed noisily. "Hun, you know we love you, but the fucking leads to the downfall. So we were just having a little fun, planning out how it will come to an end."

"I think you could pull it off!" Lilly chirped. The rest of the group eyeballed her. "Well, I do!"

"It's just that, well..." Malory started slowly. She was usually the one with the better knack of putting things delicately. "Your last couple of boyfriends you didn't stick with for very long."

"Well, that might have been because they were psychos! Fuck! You couldn't possibly be thinking about comparing Matt to Chris!" My most recent ex, almost a year gone now, was an insecure, emotionally needy loser with a tendency to either scream at me or smother me with oddly placed affection. "And as everyone should recall, Steph set me up with him!"

Steph glanced away. The other girls nodded.

"That's what I was trying to say," Lilly jumped in. "You found Matt on your own. It's not like he knew any of us prior. So you've got a much better chance with him."

"Ever the optimist, aren'tcha Lil?" Kelly joked. Lilly wrinkled her nose. "I'm not making fun. I think at least one of us should serve as the positive one around here. We're all getting to be a bunch of bitter, cynical bitches."

"I'm not!" Malory protested. "I think you could do it, Chloe. I think that if there is anyone who might work out with you, it would be Matt. But also don't know if this is something that you want. You're so good on your own. You're one of the most self-sufficient people I know. I always looked up to how you always seemed to not need a boyfriend. I mean, DICK, maybe, but not all the bullshit that comes with that."

I had to laugh. Malory had a great smile and a way of delivering lines that people might not want to hear with a a special flare that I had yet to find in another person. "Thanks, Mal," I said. "That means more to me than you might think."

"Why do any of us need to have boyfriends or girlfriends?" Sean suddenly interjected. "It's like saying that we're incapable of being a unique human being. That we don't know how to exist unless it's part of some package. Personally, I think it conveys a sense of weakness. I consider single people to be of a much stronger continence."

"Yeah, we're stronger. But you don't feel so strong when you go to bed alone at night." Kelly didn't even raise her head when she spoke, but continued to quietly play guitar. "So no one is the clear cut winner."

"We shouldn't even consider it a game. It's not like there's a way that a winner could EVER be defined." I sighed and threw my spent cigarette into the fire in front of us. "So in the mean time, I'll fuck Matt and you all can live vicariously."

The tension lifted, everyone laughed. The conversation slowly shifted to other topics, and for the time being, I was left in peace.

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Sunday morning I woke with a craving for meat. More specifically, I'd gotten a taste of Matt and needed more. I was still lying in bed when I picked up my cell and dialed his number.

"Why don't you come over before you need to go to work," I purred seductively into the phone.

He giggled nervously on the other end. "There's actually some things that I need to do. I've been putting off going to my mom's house to help plan for my step-dad's birthday party. Don't hate me..." he trailed off, sounding insecure.

"No, that's fine," I replied back in a normal tone, sitting up in bed. "Do what you need to. I was just lying here. Naked. You know. Trying to find a way to pass the time."

I heard Matt laugh again, his voice as strained as before. "You could always write," he offered.

"Yeah, that I could." I was suddenly feeling intensely pissed. "In fact, I think I'm going to get on that right now."

"I'll call you later, OK?" I grunted an acceptance to his last statement and then snapped shut my phone.

Great. Just great. He fucks me and now he bolts. Just beautiful.

I flipped my phone open with my thumb and hit the speed dial number for Steph. The sound of Sean's words from Saturday rang in my ears before I pressed the send button, and I second guessed calling her. He was right. I did need to keep some things private. Perhaps I would be better off figuring this out on my own.

I threw on a robe and padded out into my living room, flipped on the computer and went to grab myself some juice while it loaded up. I opened up Word and started typing, and was soon in a frenzy. My fingers flew over the keys, pecking out my irritation over men who thought that a relationship had to change after sex was involved. I mean, sure it had to change somehow, but it wasn't like it needed to be a drastic change every fucking time.

When I saw Geoff log on, I stopped writing and saved the document. I clicked open his chat window and before I could stop myself, was typing a message.

"You. Me. Movie. Somewhere. Anywhere. I don't care. I want to get out today."

There was a brief pause before I got a response. "What makes you think that I want to go anywhere with you after you turned me down for Badder Santa in exchange for dinner with the animal lover?"

"Because you do. Because it's Sunday and you're online and you have nothing better to do. Now pick something."

"There's that new Raimi flick that opened this weekend, right?"

"Yeah. Or the Araki. They've got that at the independent theater."

"Um, no. I think not, fangirl."

"Why am I a fan girl just because I like Araki?"

"Because you are? He does the same shit over and over again. It's boring, it's depressing, and if I've got to spend a Sunday afternoon with you, then I'd like to see something that's actually entertaining. Is that too much to ask?"

"Fine. Raimi it is. You want to meet there?"

"Nah, I can come pick you up. You're on my way to the theater anyhow. I'm assuming that we should hit the Century if we're going to see a blockbuster."

"Makes sense. Let me see when there's a showing." I opened up the listings and found the theater that we were planning on going to. "Looks like there's a 1:30 showing. That sound OK with you?"

"Sounds fine. And Chloe?"

"What's that?"

"Could you wear something a little nicer this time?"

"Fuck off. It's not like we're going to go to dinner this time."

"My point exactly. You owe me a nice outfit. So pick one out, slap on some make-up, I don't care if it's just lipgloss, and I'll be there around 12:30. Deal?"

I sighed. "Fine. Deal."


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I opted to wear a denim skirt, striped top with off the shoulder sleeves and my platform sandals. I applied a moderate amount of eyeliner and shadow, painted my lips with strawberry lip gloss and fussed for a decent amount of time with my hair. Geoff arrived almost exactly when he said he would.

"Now that looks far superior. That wasn't so hard, was it?" he smirked. I could sense him checking out my ass as I grabbed my purse and keys.

"Har Har. You ready to go, or should I fish out Zoe and speed along the process?" I cocked my head and raised my eyebrows at him.

"Fine, fine. Let's go," Geoff returned.

We drove to the theater, arguing the finer points of the Evil Dead series and got in line to buy our tickets. There was still a little over a half hour until our flick was supposed to start, so we walked aimlessly and smoked, continuing our discussion of Raimi's older films.

Somehow the conversation got turned to slogans and what companies use to draw customers in. The S Mart quote I thought would be funny repertoire turned into an debate over whether people will buy anything as long as the representative is cute and says something that rhymes.

"I like how we do this," Geoff suddenly interjected.

I stopped walking. "How we argue?"

"No. Well, sort of. How we manage to always have something to talk about. We don't even skip a beat. Off of one thing, onto the next. I like it." He fidgeted in what I perceived to be as nervously as was possible for Geoff.

"You keep mentioning that. Or something similar to it." I could feel the heat rise in my face.

"Well, is it a fucking crime? Jesus, Chloe. Sometimes, right when I think I'm beginning to like you, you've got to say something so stupidly obvious and so unnecessary to the conversation at hand. Of course I know I keep saying it. It's because it keeps becoming apparent to me, and I say it because I'm kind of surprised over the fact." Geoff was pacing in a small circle.

"Well, then isn't it stupid to keep saying something that you know you've already said? Doesn't that make you just as guilty as I am?" I crossed my arms defiantly.

Geoff's mouth opened then closed. "Fine. I won't point out how I like our conversations anymore if you don't constantly say stupid shit. Are we at an agreement?"

"For now, I guess," I said, then raised my hand to hide the smile that was creeping across my face.

"Fucking pain in the ass. The show's starting. Let's get inside." Geoff put the flat of his hand on the small of my back and guided my body to turn toward the theater doors. I allowed him to keep it there, even after our tickets were torn and we were told our screen number.

In the theater, when we were deciding where to sit, it was I who opted for the row with the love seats. I pulled down the arm rest between us, only to have Geoff pull it back up.

"Please. It's just a movie. And we're all friends here."

The theater dimmed and the previews began to roll. I fought the urge to cuddle against him. It was an extremely difficult struggle.