Building Friction (Part 32)

As the movie played, we both sat straight in our seats and watched the action. It was a mystery thriller, or at least it was supposed to be, and some of the scenes were positively ludicrous. I had to force myself to keep from laughing at some of the implausibility. Geoff filled in the blanks with bitingly sarcastic remarks.

By the third time that we were shushed for causing too much noise, Geoff was leaned very close to the side of my head, and his commentary was being whispered into my ear. I felt his breath, hot against my face. When his lips came close enough to lightly brush my ear, I felt an electric shock travel down my side.

I sat back up straight, then un-crossed and re-crossed my legs. I felt Geoff's fingers on my wrist. Looking over, I caught the "What's up?" head gesture and following confused expression from him. I shook my head softly, then turned back toward the screen. It was a few minutes before I realized that his fingers had never left my wrist.

When the movie was over, we exited the theater in silence. I instantly pulled out my pack of cigarettes the very second we were out the front door and lit up a smoke. Geoff pulled his pack out much slower and lit himself a smoke of his own.

"What was that all about back there?" he asked.

I thought about faking it. Making something up. Trying to be clever. But there was something about when I was with Geoff that made me abandon all of the tactics that I would have used with someone else.

"You were whispering in my ear, and when your lips brushed my skin, well... it gave me a shock," I said.

"So?" Geoff questioned, daring me to answer.

"It made me uncomfortable," I replied.

"Why?" he persisted.

"Fuck! It just did!" I started to pace nervously.

"Don't bullshit me, Chloe. You've been pretty good about dropping that, so don't start picking it back up now." He took a hard drag on his cigarette and narrowed his eyes in on me.

"I was uncomfortable because I liked it. And I shouldn't like it. I don't even know if I should be here with you today." I rubbed my forehead and looked at the ground.

"Why? Because of Pet Store Boy? Because you're afraid that he wouldn't understand why you were here with me? Of course he's not going to understand. That's because he thinks you two are exclusive. But you don't, do you? Or at least, you're not very committed to the idea." Score Geoff. I was amazed at how he could always drive the simplest points home.

"Fine. Is that what you want to hear me say? That I'm with a guy that I'm not sure that I want to be with, so I make dates with a guy that I'm pretty certain I shouldn't be with? Well, there. I said it." I threw my cigarette to the ground and snuffed it out with the toe of my shoe.

"How are you so certain that you shouldn't be with me? You've done everything opposite of proving that you realize that. You help me out with a bad date after I've been an asshole to you at the beach, you agree to go to the Blues Brothers with me, you invite me to come here today." He paused. There was a small twitch in his eye. When he spoke again, his voice was lowered. "And the Mandalay Bay thing."

I shuddered. Yeah, the Mandalay Bay thing. He had tact bringing up our bathroom encounter. It still didn't lessen the flood of memories that jammed their way to the front of my brain. I squeezed my eyes shut.

"You aren't so certain that you don't want to be with me because you know that there's something here. At this point, you're with a guy who's safe but only because it hasn't dawned on you that this isn't about picking the nice guy versus the prick. If it were really that simple, Nora Ephron movies would be a whole hell of a lot less asinine." He attempted a smile. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught it. I had to fight from joining him.

"Why are you really here with me today, Chloe?" His tone was softer and genuine.

I sighed. "Matt..." I stopped myself. It dawned on me that this was the very kind of information that I shouldn't be telling Geoff, of all people.

"Matt what?" Geoff pressed.

"I really can't keep anything to myself," I muttered.

"What are you babbling on about?"

"Sean told me that my main problem is that I can't keep shit to myself, so I allow everyone in on my issues and then things get weird. He said I needed to keep more shit to myself." I flopped my arms at my sides.

"Who? The fucking guitar player who sings weird shit?" Geoff's face was puzzled.

"Yeah, Sean." I answered.

"Why the fuck do you care what that guy says?"

"Because he's my friend."

"Well, he's telling you that you shouldn't always talk to your friends. Am I getting this correct?" Geoff narrowed his eyes.

"Yeah."

"Do you not see the irony in that? Fuck." Geoff started to laugh. "If you don't want to tell me, don't tell me. But you look like you need to get something off your chest."

"Matt and I... Friday...we had dinner..." I stopped and started, convinced I was going to implode on the spot.

"Yes. I know this. I wanted to go see..... Oh!" Geoff tilted his head and pursed his lips. "You two finally did the bumping of the uglies!" He seemed oddly proud of having deduced the answer.

"Yes. But this morning, I called him. You know. Because I wanted to..."

"You think that you might be able to form an complete sentence any time soon? This stilted shit is getting annoying." He crossed his arms across his chest and glared at me.

"Jesus! I called him to invite him over to fuck me again! I wanted another go around and he made some lame excuse about how he needed to go help his mother with his step-dad's birthday party. I was offering him pussy and he turned it down! What kind of guy does that??" I had raised my voice and was getting attention from some of the people around us who were heading into the theater.

"One who doesn't deserve to own a dick," Geoff replied. "But I could have told you it would be like this."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" I pulled out another cigarette. Geoff leaned in and lit it for me.

"That first night when he wouldn't kiss you. Alex and I were walking up to the car and I could see you. I could tell that you wanted him to kiss you. And he passed. I don't believe in any of that gallant bullshit. It's a training process that has bred the masculinity out of our gender, and it's fucking stupid. If there's a girl in front of you who wants to kiss you, and you're not repulsed by her, then you fucking KISS HER!" Geoff was now raising his voice.

"What does this have to do with him not fucking me today?"

"Let me guess. He was 'hurt' in the past. Some girl was big and bad and walked all over his delicate feelings. Probably cheated on him with someone who was a little more willing to cut to the chase. So now he's 'taking things slow' which is just his way of being able to dominate a situation and avoid having to grow up and get the fuck over the fact that sometimes people suck and there's nothing that you can do about it but move on."

Geoff stopped ranting long enough to pull out a cigarette and light it. "Just please don't tell me that you are actually falling for this shit because I thought you were a hell of a lot smarter than that."

"I guess I am. I waited his until he was ready. And now..." I inhaled deeply and then exhaled slowly, watching the white smoke stream out of my lips. "Well, now I think he regrets it. And he doesn't want me anymore because I'm a reminder of him breaking his policies or something."

"Why are you even thinking of it at all? Sure, there could be a perfectly normal explanation. He could have really had to do a lot of shit with his mom. Me personally, I would have managed to fit in a solid 15 minutes to rock your world, but I'm a special breed of man." Geoff flashed his famous smirk at me. I shook my head in mock frustration.

"Why do you always give me so much shit?" I posed tentatively, not sure if I wanted the honest answer.

He took a long drag on his smoke, looking thoughtful. "Frankly?"

"Yeah. Nothing else."

"Because you deserve it."

"I deserve having you give me shit?"

"You deserve the effort."

"Oh." My heart tightened. Somehow everything seemed much clearer.

"You're the first chick that I've met who's been worth my constant harsh criticism. Hell, I would have said 'Fuck it,' a long time ago with anyone else and just written them off. But I didn't. I thought about it, sure. Especially after what you said when... well, the way you reacted after." He actually looked uncomfortable talking about it. I could tell that thinking about it cut him deeply.

"Yeah. I don't..."

He cut me off. "It doesn't matter now. The point is, I could have bailed and I would have bailed on every other girl who could've been throw into the situation. But I didn't because for whatever reason, I know you're worth the effort. None of what I've done or said has been a loss. And you know something else?"

I let out a pained sigh. "What's that?"

"The reason why you haven't kicked my smug ass to the curb is that finally in your life, you recognize that you're worth it too." He walked closer to me. His clear green eyes stared down intently at me. "You're worth more than bullshit excuses and lame diffusions. You're worth having someone never let up on you because they won't let you off with being any less than 100 percent yourself. You are finally realizing just how worthy you are of being given 'a hard time' as you put it."

I stood speechless. My mouth wasn't moving, not even in some half-assed attempt to argue. I simply stared up at him.

When he lowered his head to kiss me, I didn't pull away. When his lips pressed hard against mine, I felt myself return in like. When his arms drew around my waist, my own moved up to encircle his neck. My feet tingled. My heart raced. My breath felt like it had been kicked out of me. I felt completely unsettled. If asked at that moment, I wouldn't have been able to identify up from down.

It was the most at peace that I'd ever felt.