Unspoken Pleasure by Erotica

What Are Friends For? EP6

She looked away, but not before I noticed she was blushing, which was definitely a first.

"Are you blushing?"

"No! I'm hot!" She removed her hat and wiped her forehead.

"Nah, just cute, remember?" I joked.

"Trust me, Justin, I know I'm not hot." She sounded irritable.

"Hey! I was kidding!"

"But Jen is, and for what it's worth? I never thought you'd be the kind of guy to go for just that."

"I like her for other reasons."

"Yeah, the two big ones hanging out of her shirt. You're different around her, Justin. When you're with me and Jim and the rest of our friends, you're you, and when you're with her, you're... a conceited jerk." "I am not!"

"Whatever." Sam stood up. "The point I was getting at was even though you're good-looking and popular, you're a sweet guy, and that's pretty rare at our age. That's the best part about you, and that's why you deserve better. Jen is just a shallow bitch."

"You're more than that and deserve more. Now, I've told you how I feel and you don't really care, but at least I said it. Hope you have fun tomorrow." She grabbed the bag and turned away from me, ending the conversation.

I thought about defending myself, but why bother? Once Sam dug in, nothing changed her mind. She'd made a good point about how I really cared about Jen, but I wasn't about to cancel tomorrow. By her own admission Sam hadn't been gung-ho over the guys she had been with. She was fine with it. Why shouldn't I be?

For the next half hour, we moved about the bushes and trees in silence except for the sounds of bottles and cans clinking together. I felt like an ass. Sam was helping me out and I had treated her like crap. Granted, she had been badgering me, but what else was new?

In my mind, I heard my mother's voice and one of her famous overused lines, 'If it bothers you, it's because the truth hurts.' Mentally telling my mother to shut up, I glanced up from the bushes, relieved to see we had almost reached the end of the small stand of trees that bordered one side of the playground.

"Hey," Sam called out, "looks like I earned that movie after all."

I told her, glad she had spoken and still wanting to keep up our movie

I'd win the gross-out

up a stick and poke at

it, something

not only pretty

something landed at my feet. I looked down to see

ironic? Because I'll need

because it's just

Sam." I forced myself to not raise my voice. "Why do you keep

obvious, Justin, and I can see what's right in front of

"Too bad you

*****

off while the Sox were getting their asses handed to them by the Blue Jays. It was only eight thirty, but after spending hours in the sun cleaning the parks, I

I was off to. Knowing I was going to hear about it, I told her Jen had asked me to clean up the other playground. Sam gave me a 'what a sap' look, but to my surprise offered to help. The park was pretty small. Because it was in the middle of a neighborhood, it wasn't the drinking, partying hangout Carson's was and only took us an hour. After that, I treated Sam to a sundae at Dairy Queen and then dropped her

older sister Brenda was there, and

and was happy to see how excited she was to be going away. She asked for the hundredth time if I was comfortable with her being with Bill and I told her I was

that time was for my sake. Bill was a good guy who seemed to go out of his way to do all the little things for Mom that Dad never did. For the most part he was the opposite of my prick father, which made him okay

she suspected I was glad she was going away for reasons other than her

you, Justin. You're only eighteen but more of a man than your father ever was. He was already a dog in heat by your age. I don't know what I was thinking when I married him. But you're not like him, and I'm sure Jen sees that and knows how special

me to do to get them out of the way, showered, and threw on a pair of shorts

a better mood. Because of my father's bullshit, I had promised Mom that I would be better and hold to values

wouldn't have had Jen over tomorrow anyway, but Mom giving me her blessing removed any feelings that I wasn't

all my friends had already been getting laid and having fun. Even Sam, the indifferent tomboy who didn't give a rat's ass what she looked like or what people thought

how good a friend Sam was. I'd never once thought I was better than her or anyone else, but that was what it felt like. It

had made that remark today, that I

coffee table in front of me. Grabbing it, I saw it

what's up?" I answered. "You got nothing better to do on a Saturday