Friends With Benefits

“So, he’s not breaking up with Natalie? He’s just going to pork Maddie on the side?” Fletch snorted. “What a gentleman.”

“He’s your friend, too,” I reminded Fletch. “And I thought you were supposed to be all ‘way to score, man’ since you’re a dude.”

“More like ‘way to get herpes, man.’ Seriously,” Fletch rolled his eyes. “Do you have any idea how infested those girls must be? Are you sure you want to hump him after he’s being rubbing up on Maddie ‘Syphilis’ Schemer and Natalie?”

“That was only a rumor that Maddie had syphilis,” I replied.

I had tried to explain the situation to Fletch on the way home, but he was not buying the idea that Maddie forced herself on Will or that Will was anywhere closer to breaking things up with Natalie. In fact, Fletch was laughing at how gullible I was being. I didn’t care if I was being gullible. I really wanted to believe Will. I really wanted to believe that he hadn’t changed so much that he would lie to me. I sighed, remembering the time when Will and I shared all of our secrets, when we were the best of friends, when no one, not any of his girlfriends, got between our friendship.

“To be fair, I told him he was getting himself into a mess,” I reminded Fletch. “And I told him he had to make a decision before he got himself into more trouble than he already was. And he told me I was right. Actually, he told me that he doesn’t know what he’d do without me to put him on the straight and narrow.”

“Well, if he didn’t have you around,” Fletch mused, “I guess he wouldn’t make as many bad decisions. After all, it’s hard to think about making any decisions with your nagging shrew voice blasting in your ear.”

“I will massacre you, Fletcher Murphy,” I glowered at him.

“I’m shaking, Aileen Iverson,” Fletch shot back.

“Just drive,” I glowered at him. Fletch laughed turning up the volume on his radio and speeding up.

We headed back to Fletch’s house that afternoon on the premise of doing our math homework together. I honestly did need help with our math homework because I was having a difficult time with our current unit, though I was pretty sure Fletch thought I was making an innuendo when I asked if he could help me out that afternoon. In fact, he seemed rather surprised when we arrived at his house and I headed straight for the dining room and began setting up my books for our study session. Though he seemed rather disappointed, Fletch came over and threw his backpack into one of the chairs before pulling out his own books and notebooks.

Fletch and I argued nonstop over his teaching methods and by the time we were three problems in, I was already contemplating different ways to murder him with my Pre-Calc book. I could see the murderous rage in Fletch’s eyes, too. After he had explained a principle to me three times and I hadn’t understood it, I could see his brain calculating, wondering how hard he would have to shove my chair out from under me so I would fall backwards, hit the dining room sideboard and crack open my skull. We were about two second away from assaulting each other when the doorbell rang. Fletch moaned and went to answer it, thinking it was her sister who had forgotten her keys again. Instead, I was surprised to find Will rushing into the house.

“You’ve got to hide me… I think she’s gone crazy…” Will began. “She’s at my house… my mom told me… What are you doing here Ailee?”

“Fletch was supposed to be helping me with my math homework, put instead he just makes me want to shove a pencil up my nose until I cause myself to have a brain aneurysm,” I glowered.

“You should do that,” Fletch hissed. “If we’re both lucky, you’ll knock out the part of your brain that makes you a super bitch.”

“Oh, so I’m a super bitch?” I shot back.

“You want me to embroider you a cape?” Fletch snorted.

“Look, I think it’s hilarious when you two fight, but we have a bigger issue at hand,” Will said nervously.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“I broke up with Natalie… and she didn’t take it so well,” Will said.

“I’m sorry,” I said, trying to hide the inner hope that was starting to swell.

“About time,” Fletch snorted.
“And then I told Maddie there was no way we were getting back together… which royally pissed her off…” Will frowned.

“Shouldn’t she be over you by now?” Fletch snorted. “You went out with her for like a month and for most of that she was in the hospital getting a nose job.”

“That’s a rumor,” I told Fletch. “Maddie had her wisdom teeth taken out and then had a bad reaction to the painkiller.”

“Anyway,” Will sighed. “I’m afraid one or the other of them is going to key my car or attempt to burn down my house, so I need somewhere to lay low for a while. And I figured here was safe.”

“What about my place?” I frowned.

“Too close in proximity,” Will said. “Besides, Natalie is already suspicious of you, so she’d probably look there first. Not to mention, I wouldn’t want her going into a blinding rage because I was hanging out with another girl so soon. I also gave your parents the heads up that any arson Natalie or Maddie might create has the possibility of catching their house on fire with the right wind pattern.”

“And your folks?” Fletch asked.

“They’re at couples yoga tonight, so everything should be fine,” Will nodded.

“Your parents do couples yoga?” Fletch snorted.

“Fletch and I’ll stand guard,” I assured Will. “You don’t have to worry about scary exes coming around here. In fact, I don’t understand why I willingly hang around him…”

“Thanks,” Will grinnd.

“Super Bitch to the rescue?” Fletch snorted. I glared at him, warning him that he better not let anything secretive slip. He just smirked and resumed his seat at the table.

“Thanks you guys,” Will sighed, sitting on my other side. “I know I’ve been the lamest friend recently, and you have no idea how much I appreciate the two of you helping me out despite that.”

“Best friends forever, right Will?” I smiled at him.

“Totally, Ailee,” Will grinned back. He looked over at my book. “So, it’s functions that’re causing all of the problem?”

“Yeah,” I grimaced, “and it doesn’t help that Mr. Murphy here can’t break anything down into simple words I can understand.”

“Sorry that you’re too dumb to understand me,” Fletch scoffed.

“I don’t have hardly anything for homework,” Will assured me. “I’ll help you out, okay? Fletch, you can work on your own stuff.”

“I was helping her,” Fletch said, annoyed.

“In between complaints about how you were never going to get to your own mountains of homework because you were too busy breaking everything down into baby steps for me?” I snorted.

“See? You can do your stuff and I’ll tutor Ailee. Win-win, huh?” Will grinned.

“Whatever,” Fletch rolled his eyes before pulling out his history textbook.

It was much easier to understand my homework with Will explaining it to me. Rather than being distracted by Fletch’s constant insult hurling, I was instead a tad districted by Will’s good looks and soft, pearly white smile. Once math was finished, I had done my homework for the weekend and Will and I played video games upstairs while Fletch continued to work on all of the homework he had neglected so he could take a nap during study hall. By the time supper rolled around, I was so ecstatic about all of the time Will and I were finally getting to spend together. However, Will had to leave to go to the football game tomorrow and I walked him down to Fletch’s front door. Fletch, who was still doing homework, glared at me as I showed Will out.

“Hey, I know you aren’t much into football,” Will said with a warm smile, “but there’s going to be a big party around ten, after the game is over, and I think you should come. It’s at Jason Birchman’s house.”

“Never been there,” I admitted.

“I’ll come by and pick you up, okay?” Will suggested.

“Sure thing,” I grinned. “I guess… a little after ten thirty?”

“Yeah,” Will nodded. “I don’t plan to stay long… maybe leave a little after midnight… Your parents will be okay with that, right?”

“Come on, Will,” I snorted. “You know my parents love you so much they wouldn’t care if I stayed out until four in the morning as long as they knew you were there.”

“What about me?” Fletch called from the dinning room.

“You can come too,” Will said, “but I didn’t think you typically liked those things. You’re typically antisocial at parties… and you always complain about being there the whole time.”

“So?” Fletch snorted. “I’d like to be included.”

“You want me to pick you up too?” Will asked curiously.

“No. I’m a big boy and can drive myself,” Fletch snorted.

“Whatever,” Will laughed. He turned back to me. “You know, I’ve got to pick up my stuff before I head in for the game. You need a lift home?”

“Sure,” I grinned, “just let me get my bag.” I grabbed my backpack from the dining room table and tried to ignore Fletch as he rolled his eyes at me. I returned to Will, who kindly held the door open for me and walked with me out to his car.

We spent the first part of the drive laughing about something stupid a kid had said in one of our classes that day and then joking about how Eric had been sent to the principal’s office for juggling oranges during lunch. It was like old times and I was positively giddy that I now had Will all to myself. He was done with Natalie and he was done with Maddie. It was my chance to make him realize how great we would be together¸ that we belonged together as more than just friends. As Will seemed to be in a better mood, I decided to carefully bring up the subject of his recently ended relationship, hoping I could begin the process of being his person to lean on.

“So, are you okay after everything?” I asked Will.

“You mean the deal with Natalie, right?” Will smiled slightly.

“Yeah,” I said.

“Well, I can’t say I’m not disappointed,” Will shrugged. “I mean, that’s the longest I’ve ever been with one girl. Still, you know, there wasn’t anyway I could force it to work out between us and it wasn’t fair to either of us to try and force something that wasn’t there.”

“So, not because you decided Maddie was a better kisser or something?” I snorted.

“Come on, Ailee. Give me more credit than that,” Will laughed. “No, it’s really because. well, Natalie’s a sophomore and I know it sounds stupid, but she’s not mature enough for me. I mean, she’s still stuck in that middle school mentality and I’m thinking about college and scholarships and the rest of my future. She only cares about what brand of nail polish is on sale. It didn’t help that she was clingy and, again so immature she can’t handle me hanging out with my own friends or even sitting next to other girls. Natalie definitely has trust issues and problems with smothering people. Of course, honestly, it’s not just because she’s a sophomore. I mean, Maddie’s immature and clingy and she’s our age.”

“I think that’s a smart move,” I nodded. “You probably do need someone more on your level, more mature. Someone you can have a conversation with – and not just about nail polish either.”

“You know, Ailee,” Will said as he pulled up toward my house, “there really should be more girls like you out there.”

I was grinning from ear to ear as I headed into the house, knowing I had planted a seed in Will’s mind about what he should look for in his next girlfriend. It was only a matter of time before Will put all of the puzzle pieces together and realized I was the girl he had been looking for all of this time. After I quick supper, I spent the majority of my time deciding what was I was going to wear to the party that night. Normally, I sloppily threw on a pair of jeans and an old musty shirt, but I knew I had to dress up to impress Will and further get the gears in his head turning about how I was his ideal match.

The game ended surprisingly early, around nine thirty, due to the fact that our team was basically creaming the other guys. Will showed up at my house while I was finishing doing all sorts of girly stuff to my hair I had never really done before. I just about burned myself with the curling iron when my mother yelled up the stairs that will was coming to see me and quickly put on a last bit of eyeliner before he burst into my room, just like when he came over to our house when we were in elementary school.

“Hey, Ailee. Are you ready to go…” Will began. He stopped short and then looked at me for a moment, his jaw slightly hanging open. “What… My God, Ailee… what did you do?”

“Too much?” I grimaced, eying myself over.

“No…it’s just…” Will aid, shocked. “Who exactly are you trying to impress?”

“What?” I lied casually. “I had a few hours to kill. I figured I could put on something other than just another ratty pair of jeans.”

“I just hope you don’t get into any sort of … trouble wearing that…” Will frowned.

“Honestly,” I rolled my eyes. “You act like I’ve never worn a dress before.”

“Not one with straps that thin and so north of the knee,” Will snorted.

“You sound like my brother,” I rolled my eyes. I grabbed a jacket off of my bed and then turned around to face him. “Ready to go?”

“Sure,” Will grinned.

We headed out together and he sped off to the party. I was ecstatic that I was showing up to this party with Will, looking and feeling completely fabulous. Sure, I wasn’t exactly “with” Will, but the fact that I showed up alongside him was enough to start the high school rumor mill going. Rumors about how great Will and I looked together would definitely get the gears in his brain turning about us, just another little seed to be planted in his brain. I followed Will into the house and through the maze of rooms to say hello to Jason but awkwardly avoid Kelly Montauk, who is Jason’s girlfriend and Will’s ex. Will then went and said to a lot of his friends and they seemed to say hello to me, glancing over as if trying to figure out who the mystery girl with Will Swain. There were a few shocked gasps when Will pointed out who I was, as if it was obvious.

Finally, Will grabbed us both a drink from Jason’s kitchen: a beer for himself and just a fruity-flavored bottled water for myself. The two of us sat on a couch together and just talked, Will seeming exceptionally happy and grinning from ear to ear. He even seemed to be flirting with me a little by the way he leaned in toward me or would smile at me, angling his head as if he was about to swoop in for a kiss. Things were going absolutely perfect and I couldn’t shake the feeling that maybe Will was starting to wake up to the chemistry between us.

Then, Fletcher Murphy showed up and ruined everything.