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."

told her, glad she had spoken and still

matter, I'd win

I watched her pick up a stick

it,

pretty gross, but very fitting.

flicked the stick towards me and something landed at my feet. I looked down to

Why is it ironic?

it's just

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 can't

*****

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

where 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

invited me in, but I told her I needed to go home and shower. Fact was, in addition to being hot and tired, Sam's older sister Brenda was there,

She asked for the hundredth time if I was comfortable with her being with Bill and I told her I was

too many years with, and I was sure a lot of that time was for my sake. Bill was a good guy who seemed to go out of his way

together, Mom asked several times if I was seeing Jen. I was pretty sure she suspected

when I married him. But you're not like him, and I'm sure Jen sees that and knows how special you are." She paused and with a sly smile added, "I think you've proved yourself a good man. Maybe it's time

house she'd asked me to do to get them out of the way, showered, and threw on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt. I figured I would

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

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

home whacking off while 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

was. I'd never once thought I was better than her or anyone else, but that was what it felt like. It also sounded like something Jen would say when making

remark today,

rang from the coffee table in front of me. Grabbing it, I saw it was Jim, who after Sam was pretty much my closest

what's up?" I answered. "You got nothing better to