Friends With Benefits

“What the hell are you wearing?” Fletch glowered at me as he approached where Will and I were sitting together on the couch.

“It’s a dress,” I replied, rolling my eyes. Fletch glared, looking at me and then to Will, who was smirking up at him.

“Ailee cleans up nice, huh?” Will said, teasingly.

“Shut up,” I laughed, playfully shoving him.

“Whatever,” Fletch rolled his eyes. “I’m gonna get something to drink.”

“Hey, if they have any more PBR in there, would you mind bringing me one back?” Will called after him.

“You’re such a hipster,” I rolled my eyes at him.

Fletch came back and tossed a beer to Will, who cracked it open and asked Fletch what he was having. Before Fletch could respond, Jason came over and said one of their friends from Westmoreland had showed up and wanted to know what the deal about the Natalie break-up was. Will politely excused himself since “The Bruiser” wanted to talk with him and promised he’d be back soon, looking more at me than at Fletch when he said it. With a wink, Will was off and Fletch slithered into Will’s seat on the couch.

“What the hell did you do?” Fletch glowered at me. “You went and pulled one of those ‘She’s All That’ pathetic makeovers on yourself. And for what? Because you’re slutting it up so Will will notice you?”

“Fletch! We’re in public!” I hissed at him. “I told you never to discuss…”

“Aileen, everyone in this room is too wasted to care,” Fletch rolled his eyes. “Seriously, what is your problem? You shouldn’t’ have to slut it up to get a guy to like you…”

“I’m not ‘slutting it up’,” I snorted. “God, I just throw on a dress I’ve had in my closet forever and worn to church for heaven’s sake, and you freak out on me. What is your problem Fletch? I’m not allowed to put a little effort into my appearance once in a while?”

“It’s not that. It’s why you’re putting effort into your appearance,” Fletch snorted. “You really think that Will is going to break up with Natalie and then, within a twenty-four hour period suddenly realize the two of you are destined to be together or some bull shit? You’re kidding yourself, Lenny. Besides, if he’s so willing to jump into another relationship so quickly after the one with Natalie ended the way it did… Well, I don’t if that’s the type of person I would want to be with. That’s for sure.”

“You’re an asshole,” I glowered. I got up off of the couch and headed into the kitchen, knowing I would at least need a small wine cooler to deal with the headache Fletch was suddenly giving me. He always had to show up at the wrong moment and ruin things or play Devil’s Advocate and keep me second guessing about decisions I had been completely sure of moments before.

“Seriously,” Fletch said, getting up and following behind me, “he’s going to end up making out with some other girl tonight and you’re going to be completely devastated. It’s what always happens…”

“It’s not what always happens,” I glowered. “Can’t you just leave me alone?”

“Why? You know you’re going to need me to give you a ride home,” Fletch snorted.

“Is that the only reason you came here? To be my chauffeur?” I glared at him before fishing through the bottles spread out on the kitchen counter until I picked up the one I wanted.

“So, you’d rather stumble home drunk off your ass?” Fletch snorted. I took the rest of my bottled water and dumped it on him, hoping Fletch would get the hint. I tossed the empty plastic bottle aside and picked up my new drink, stalking through the house to find Will.

I found Will outside around the Birchman’s pool. He was with Jason and a guy who I guessed was The Bruiser, a six foot seven tall guy who looked like the Incredible Hulk. Kelly sitting with Jason on one of the pool chairs, rubbing up against him in ways that were usually reserved for strippers and a pole. The Bruiser had two girls hanging off either side of him I didn’t recognize, flirting like crazy with him while he was engrossed with discussing football with Will and Jason. I sauntered over, hoping not to draw Kelly’s attention, until Will looked up and noticed me, a smirk on his face.

“Hey, Ailee,” Will grinned. “What’s going on?”

“Fletch pissed me off,” I grumbled. He pat the lawn chair beside his own for me to sit down and I did so, earning a glare from Kelly.

“What’d he do now?” Will laughed.

“He told me I looked like a slut,” I whispered. Will just rolled his eyes and laughed.

“Fletch is probably just jealous,” Will snorted.

“Why would Fletch be jealous?” I snorted.

“Well, it’s not like he could pull off that dress,” Will said, everyone was sent into sputtering laughter, though I didn’t really like the way all of these people who didn’t really know Fletch were laughing at him.

Will’s friends were so completely boring that even he seemed to get bored with them easily. I didn’t exactly want to be hanging on him at every turn, looking like another one of those desperate girls ready to fall at his feet. Even though I was hopelessly in love with him, I had some dignity left. When Will said he was taking a bathroom break, I also made an excuse about needing to go back into the house, not wanting to get stuck with everyone outside. I waited for Will to emerge and watched a game of beer pong that had been set up in Jason’s kitchen, leaving his mother’s flower vase smashed on the floor.

Since Will was taking a while, I decided to make my way through the house and see if any of my other friends had shown up. Jason had long since stopped guarding the doors to stop the “less than cool” people from coming in, so just about anyone from anywhere could waltz into the house at that point. I wouldn’t have been surprised if Chuck Fink had managed to crash the party and brought Eric and Sara with him. As I meandered through the odd layout of Jason’s house, I saw people I recognized from classes but no one I really was more than a passing acquaintance with.

I headed around toward the back of the house, where I remembered the Birchman family had a game room from a birthday party of Jason’s I had been to when I was ten or so. I knew Alex was using the bathroom near the kitchen, but I was completely bored with what was going on around there and was hoping I could find something or someone more interesting to preoccupy my time with. I had grabbed another flavored water after finishing my wine cooler since I didn’t want to drink myself into oblivion like everyone else seemed to be doing. I was only about halfway to the game room when I felt a tug and whipped around, only to find myself in a bathroom, being pressed up against the marble sink there. It only took mere seconds for me to be grabbed, to hear a click of a door locking, and feeling lips pressed against my own.

I knew any normal person would be completely freaked out if they were at a party and then suddenly thrown into a bathroom and kissed passionately like I was being. However, I had a pretty good idea of who had snagged me and who was desperately trying to gain entry into my mouth with this tongue. With an exasperated grunt, I pushed Fletch off of me and glowered at him. He stared at me drearily, his breath smelling of beer and near shock across his face. He looked not only confused but also as if he wasn’t exactly sure where he was. I sighed, realizing that if he wasn’t drunk yet, Fletch was close enough.

“What the hell?” I grimaced.

“Weren’t you looking for me?” Fletch frowned.

“I was looking for something to do while Will used the bathroom,” I rolled my eyes. “He’s should be finished soon, though. I’ve got to meet him…”

“So, that’s it?” Fletch snorted.

“What is your problem?” I grimaced.

“He made his move yet or what?” Fletch said.

“He’s been very nice and patient,” I snorted. “Unlike someone else I could name.”

“Whatever,” Fletch snorted.

“Fletch, you’re drunk,” I grimaced. “I’d recommend laying off the alcohol and maybe drinking some coffee if you’re even thinking about driving yourself home.”

“Dually noted,” Fletch snorted. Fed up with his exasperating attitude, I pushed past Fletch aside and stormed out of the bathroom to find Will.

I meandered through the house toward the bathroom near the kitchen, only to find that they bathroom Will had gone into was now empty. I went outside and scanned the crowd around the pool was gathered, not finding Will anywhere there. Still, there were a few people who were drunk and were now swimming in the pool, fully clothed. I headed through the house, wondering if maybe Will had gone looking for me when he found I wasn’t waiting outside the bathroom for him. I headed back into the house and passed an intense game of spin the bottle that had a freshman cheerleader basically dry humping one of the senior football team stars. There I saw Will, flirting with a girl I didn’t recognize, who had her hands all over him.

“Hey,” I said casually as I approached the two of them. The girl eyed me up and down and snorted, seemingly confident that she was more attractive than I was. “I’ve been looking for you.”

“I didn’t see you when I came out,” Will shrugged.

“I got bored watching beer pong and wanted to see if there was anything less lame going on. Didn’t find anything,” I replied. Will laughed lightly and the girl next to him glowered at me.

“Oh, this is Cindy. She goes to Westmoreland,” Will introduced. “Cindy, this is my best friend, Aileen.”

“Hi,” I smiled at her. She just scoffed at me and lazily draped an arm over Will’s shoulder, leaning in as close as she could without their faces touching.

“This party is sort of lame,” Cindy said flirtatiously. “You wanna go somewhere else?”

“That sounds fun,” Will smiled at her.

“Actually, Will… have you seen Fletch around? He’s kinda drunk and I thought we might have to take him home, you know,” I replied.

“You’ve got your license, Ailee,” Will pointed out.

“Not with me,” I replied. “I know you don’t want anything to happen to him…”

“You can drive without your license, Ailee,” Will replied. “If they pull you over, just tell them you’re insured. Besides, I doubt the cops would be too harsh on you for taking home a drunk person so they didn’t drive themselves and cause an accident…”

“Will, you are such an ass for doing this to me,” I glared at him, “forcing me to take home Fletch’s drunk ass just because you’re on the rebound and want to make out with whatever slut will have you…”

“What did you call me, bitch?” Cindy glowered at me. Will looked from her to me and sighed.

“You’re right, Ailee,” Will sighed¸ gently pushing Cindy off of him. “Let’s find Fletch, okay?”

“Last time, I saw him, he was in the bathroom…” I replied.

Will followed me straight to the bathroom where Fletch was. Apparently, he hadn’t taken my advice and had tons more beer. He was blowing nasty chunks of what slightly resembled apples into the toilet. He stopped, wiped his mouth and looked up at the two of us, confused. He moaned and then slumped against the back wall. Will slowly walked over, stooping down and resting his hand on Fletch’s shoulder.

“What did you do, man?” Will sighed.

“Dunno,” Fletch said with a slight smirk.

Will shook his head, draping Fletch’s arm around his shoulder and motioned for me to take the other arm. The two of us supported either of Fletch’s side since he didn’t seem capable of walking much on his own. We headed toward Fletch’s car and I looked up at Will skeptically, wondering why he was so willing to leave his own car parked on the curb near Jason’s house. Will asked me to find Fletch’s keys while he supported him and I unclipped the key chain from where Fletch had it attached to one of his belt loops. I unlocked the door to the backseat and Will slid Fletch the buckling him in and shutting the door.

“We can’t take him home. His folks’ll be furious,” Will frowned. “I’ll take him to my place and when he’s sober tomorrow, he can drive me back here to pick up my car. Besides, if he’s going to puke, he’s going to do it in his own car so he can clean it up.”

“Logical,” I agreed.

“I’ll fish around to see if he has any spare grocery bags in case he gets sick again,” Will said thoughtfully. “I’m going to need you to sit the backseat with him, just in case he needs someone, okay?”

“Sure,” I nodded.

“I can’t believe he did this,” Will sighed. “This is so out of character for him…”

“I know,” I nodded.

I slipped into the backseat with a grocery bag Will found in the front seat as Will started up the engine of the car, carefully backing us out of the maze of cars that surrounded where Fletch had parked. With a pained moan, Fletch leaned over so his head was resting on my shoulder. He was mumbling and he kept saying something that sounded like “Ivy” over and over again. My thoughts instantly flashed to the girl he had professed his love for. Had she been at the party with her boyfriend? There were tons of Westmoreland kids there, so it was possible. If Fletch had seen her and her boyfriend, that would have been enough to send him binging on drinks to forget or at least get his mind off of her. That would also explain his drunken attempt to make out with me.

“Ailee…” Fletch said, clear as day. “Lenny, why can’t I call you Ailee?”

“Will’s the only person allowed to call me that,” I replied. “You know that.”

“But why?” Fletch moaned.

“It’s his nickname for me. He’s always called me that,” I sighed. “Since I was little.”

“I want to call you Ailee,” Fletch pouted.

“Tough noogies, bud,” Will called from the front see. “Ailee is all mine.”

“She shouldn’t be,” Fletch snorted before passing out.

“I think he’s going to drool…” I grimaced.

“We’ll deal with that later,” Will sighed.

The rest of the drive was silent and Will parked the car in front of his house. The two of us worked together to get Fletch up to Will’s bedroom. Fletch was conscious enough to take off his own pants, which both Will and I were grateful for. Will decided to let Fletch have the bed since he would be dealing with a massive hangover the next morning. While Will went to go get blankets and pillows to create a makeshift bed on the couch in his room, I was charged with the task of tucking Fletch into bed. He went easily enough and asked me to tuck in the covers tight. Once I had basically mummified him in covers, he looked up at me with a smile.

“Now, I’ve got a trash can here in case you feel you need to get sick, okay?” I said. “Will should be watching over you tonight, so you don’t have to worry about that…”

“Thanks, Lenny,” Fletch said to me sleepily.

“I hope you realize what you did was really stupid,” I said to him.

“Kiss me goodnight?” Fletch asked curiously.

“Fletch…” I rolled my eyes.

“Just on the forehead, okay?” Fletch pouted.

“Fine,” I sighed. I gave him a light peck on the forehead. He smiled, closed his eyes, and snuggled into the covers, promptly falling asleep. I heard the noise of Will entering the room and putting his blankets and pillows down. He looked at Fletch and smirked.

“Lights out for sleeping beauty?” Will laughed.

“Yeah,” I sighed. “I don’t know what’s gotten into him lately.”

“I don’t either,” Will shrugged. He looked at the clock, which read a little after midnight. “I’ll walk you home, Ailee. I think Fletch can survive a few minutes and I don’t want you to get in any trouble with your folks for making sure Fletch was safe.”

“Okay,” I smiled. I walked with Will in relative silence, feeling a little awkward that I had nothing to say.

“Thanks, Ailee,” Will said to me when we stopped at my door. “I didn’t have my priorities right. I guess Nat really messed me up when she kept making me choose her over my friends.”

“It’s okay,” I shrugged.
“No, it’s not,” Will sighed. “I Should realize how important you and Fletch are to me. I don’t know what I’d do without you guys. And I see things have definitely changed since I started hanging out with Natalie. I mean, Fletch has never gotten drunk off his ass like that before…”

“I know,” I frowned. “I’m actually sort of worried about him…”

“I’ll have a ‘man talk’ with him tomorrow and set him straight,” Will smiled. “You won’t have to worry your pretty little head about him much longer.”

“Thanks,” I sighed. “He’d never listen to me.”

“Night, Ailee,” Will smiled at me. He pressed a soft kiss on my cheek, which left me in a daze as I headed into my house and headed up to my room. I fell into a deep sleep and dreamed only of Will and me finally being together.