Friends With Benefits

Fletch seemed surprised how easily I jumped out of his car and ran over to the stadium stands to watch Will practice. Cheerleading practice was also going on and, though three of them had boyfriends also on the football team, all three of the Blonde Bombshells had shown up to flirt with Will. There was a plethora of other girls also in the stands, though I wasn’t sure how many of them were there for Will specifically. I was a little nervous, hoping that Fletch wasn’t completely right about how Will would treat me with all of the other girls there.

Honestly, I wasn’t at all interested in the sport of football, though I was rather intrigued by the very attractive, muscular guys running around for me to ogle at. I figured watching them work out shirtless was sort of the female equivalent of going to a strip club. I had only been there for fifteen minutes when Will looked up at the stands and noticed me. He waved and I wasn’t sure at first if he was waving to me or some other girl. I waved back cautiously and he shot be a thumbs up before hopping to his coach’s order. I felt slightly smug, though any hint of happiness was almost instantly quashed by the furious looks of other girls around me. When the coach called for a water break, I headed down to the fence to meet up with Will.

“What are you doing here?” he grinned at me through the wires.

“After you split, Fletch came over to bug me,” I replied. “I got fed up with him and asked him to drop me off. I was hoping I could hitch a ride home from him.”

“Why didn’t you call Sara or Eric?” Will asked.

“I had a feeling nothing would get rid of Fletch faster than proposing we watch a sporting event, or at least a practice for one,” I replied.

“You’re too good, Ailee,” Will laughed. “We’ll be done in an hour or so. How about we go grab some lunch afterward, okay?”

“Sure,” I grinned.

“It’s madness, you know?” Will sighed. “Ever since I broke up with Natalie, girls just won’t leave me alone. It’ll be nice to have a chance to just sit around with someone who only wants to flirt with me and then turns into a total bitch when I’m not interested.”

“You seemed pretty interested in Cindy last night,” I pointed out.

“I was pissed,” Will shrugged. “I think I’m over the rebound thing now. I just want to be a dude without a girlfriend for a little while…”

“I think that’s a good idea,” I told him. “Stay away from dating for a little while. I mean, you’ve been in a relationship ever since eighth grade. You’ve never had any time to yourself. Maybe now you could just focus on being Will, you know, figuring out yourself.” Truthfully, this was all just an ulterior way of keeping him away with other girls. I knew if he didn’t have a girlfriend, he would hang around me more and that meant he would get a chance to see me not as boring old Ailee but the girl of his dreams.

“You’re smart, Ailee,” Will grinned at me. “That’s exactly what I need to do.” I heard the coach’s whistle in the background, though Will seemed to ignore it.

“I guess you better get back to things before you get extra laps or something,” I told him.

“You’re always looking out for me, Ailee,” Will laughed before jogging over to his place. I retreated to the stands and, for once, was glad to have jealous eyes glaring daggers in my direction.

I managed to wait in the cooling weather for another hour before coach dismissed the players and they all went in to the locker room to change. I heard some rumors and whispering in the back from the other girls, mostly stuff I had heard before accusing me of breaking up Natalie and Will or how Will and I were secret fuckbuddies or how I was a major slut and did threesomes with Will and Fletch all the time. It was hard for any girl in my school to believe that Will and I were nothing more than friends. It often frustrated me that, even though every girl in school though Will and I were hooking up, Will seemed completely oblivious to the rumors and even more oblivious that I might be willing let him use me in the exact same way everyone already thought he did.

Within a few minutes after practice had ended, Will showered and came out cleanly dressed from the locker room. He came out of the gym and headed straight over to me with his duffel bag draped over one shoulder. He rested an arm around my shoulder, which was to Will an innocent act he had been doing since the two of us were still in diapers. However, this simple gesture earned hardened stares and accusatory looks from all of the girls who had gathered at practice to fawn over Will.

“What is their problem?” Will asked me, slightly freaked out when he noticed the two dozen or so pairs of eyes glaring at us.

“They want your body Will,” I rolled my eyes, making him laugh.

“Protect me, Ailee,” Will begged. “I need you to guard my honor…”

“What honor?” I snorted.

“Are you insinuating I’m not chaste?” Will said in mock offense.

“Well, you do have a tendency to dress like a dirty whore,” I shrugged.

“You’re cold, Ailee,” Will said to me with a pout.

“I learned from the best,” I said, playfully shoving him. He laughed and we continued walking to his car, forgetting about the stares we were getting.

I was terrified that Will would suggest we go to the Buttered Roll for lunch since I didn’t want to the staff to get a bad impression of me, going to eat at the same restaurant with two different guys on the same day. Instead, I was relieved when he suggested a steakhouse type place near the mall to hang out with. We each ordered the same burger, fries, and chocolate milkshakes for lunch and then waited for our waiter to return with the meal.

“So, how was Fletch doing after I left him?” Will asked.

“He was being a complete ass,” I grimaced. “He came over, woke me up, and threatened my life until I agreed to eat breakfast with him. Then I had to pester him constantly before he would even consider dropping me off to see you. Seriously, I had to go to your practice today just to avoid him.”

“And here I thought it was because you were supporting me in my athletic endeavors,” Will said with a fake pout.

“Nah,” I snorted. “I just like checking out your teammates.” Instead of laughing like I expected, Will got super serious on me.

“You’re joking, right?” Will said with a grimace.

“Yeah… what’s gotten into you?” I replied.

“Look, Ailee the thing is…” Will sighed. “I know you looked good last night in that dress and I know you know you looked good, but some of the comments I heard from the guys on the team… they were sort of degrading… I mean, you’re better than that…”

“You mean I’m not allowed to look attractive?” I snorted. “I can’t wear anything that doesn’t cover me up entirely or heaven forbid, makes me look hot?”

“It’s not that,” Will frowned, “it’s just… I don’t like hearing them talk about you like that…”

“Maybe I want people to talk about me like that. Maybe I want people to think about me like that,” I replied.

“That you look like a slut?” Will snorted.

“You thought I look like a slut?” I said, angrily.

“No, but some of the things the guys said… they were really disrespectful,” Will said. “I had to threaten to bust a few chops before they’d shut up. I don’t like people talking about you like you’re an object… I mean, you’re a great girl and they should see that.”

“It’s nice to know someone thinks about me that way,” I snorted, wondering why Will himself didn’t want to do all of the things to me the other guys did.

“It’s nice to know guys are talking about borderline raping you?” Will said, upset.

“Will, I am sixteen years old and I have never had a boyfriend,” I said to him. “I’ve been on like two dates my whole life.”

“You dated Kevin Slaughter in eighth grade,” Will pointed out.

“No, Kevin Slaughter stalked me in eighth grade,” I replied. “No one ever hits on me. No one ever asks me out. I have to get set up on blind dates with losers. The only guy who seems remotely interested in me is Chuck Fink and he’s interested in anything that could have possibly been female in a past life. It doesn’t even have to be warm. What I’m saying, Will, is that I’d like to be noticed for once. I’d like for guys to think of me as a potential girlfriend, not as that smart girl in the front row of class who occasionally beats Fletcher Murphy up in the hallway.”

“It is pretty funny when you completely knocked Fletch out for accidentally feeling you up freshman year,” Will smirked.

“You have a new girlfriend every week it seems like,” I continued. “You have no idea how much it hurts to see everyone around you is in a relationship, everyone around you is going on dates or at least has someone interested in them. You have no idea how much it hurts to be alone night after night. You have no idea how much it hurts me to stay up wondering what about me is so absolutely repulsive that no guy ever wants to take me out.”

“They’re just blind, Ailee,” Will said comfortingly. “And I think you intimidate a lot of guys. I mean, you’re pretty, you’re smart, you’re funny, and you have a mean right hook. What guy wouldn’t be intimidated? Hell, you intimidate me sometimes.

“That doesn’t make it hurt any less,” I replied quietly. Will sighed and tried to think of something to say as our food arrived at the table.

“One of these days, Ailee, all of those guys who ignore you will realize what they’ve been missing out on. And all of those guys you are too scared to ask you out will grow some balls,” Will assured me. “I just hope that when the day comes that you’re super foxy and all the guys want to take you out, you’ll still remember your best friend.”

“Will,” I said, trying to think of how to broach the subject, “the thing is…”

“You guys went to lunch without me?” a familiarly annoying voice called out from behind us. I flinched as Fletch swept into the seat beside me and grabbed a fistful of my fries to down. I turned to him furiously. “What are you doing here?”

“I switch shifts this afternoon, so I’m working tomorrow,” Fletch said. “I was coming home, saw Will’s car, and thought I’d join you guys.” He leaned over and picked up the pickle straight off of Will’s plate before eating it.

“So, you ditched my practice, but you’ll eat my food?” Will snorted.

“Watching a bunch of sweaty guys wrestle each other into compromising positions so they can grab a ball or two isn’t my kind of entertainment,” Fletch replied. He turned, flagged downed a waitress, ordered the special and then turned back to us. “So, what’s shaking?”

“You are so lame,” I grimaced at him, still furious that he had interrupted the closest I had ever gotten to confessing my true feelings to Will.

“Fletch, you think Ailee looked hot last night, right?” Will said.

“Um.. what?” Fletch said, completely dumbfounded.

“Don’t ask him,” I hissed at Will.

“What?” Will said defensively. “Seriously, Fletch. You saw her last night. Didn’t Ailee look good? You know, like a girl you’d consider taking out on a date?”

“I was really too drunk last night to remember anything,” Fletch said to Will tersely.

“Will, that was sort of in confidence,” I hissed at him.

“I thought maybe Fletch could help. Give you a second opinion,” Will shrugged. “After all, I’ve known you my whole life. Fletch hasn’t exactly though. I’m sure he could help you figure out why guys are so narrow minded.”

“Narrow minded about what?” Fletch wanted to know. I sighed, knowing I had to tell him before Will did and blew the entire thing out of proportion.

“Will was upset about some of the things his teammates said to him about how I looked last night,” I replied. “And I told him I wanted to dress up because I think it would be nice to be noticed for once. You know, not be wallpaper girl who guys just see through and don’t even consider when they’re thinking about who they want to take out Friday night.”

“I can solve that problem,” Fletch said excitedly.

“How?” Will and I asked at the same time.

“Just give Luke Garretson a blow job. He’s got the biggest mouth of any guy I’ve ever heard. He’ll tell the whole football team and then the word will spread around school and guys will be dying to take you out,” Fletch suggested. Before I could do so, Will reached over and whopped Fletch upside his head.

“Ailee is a lady, Fletch,” Will snorted. “She is a woman of substance and deserves to be treated as such. You know, romance and all that jazz…”

“Unlike any of the girls you date?” Fletch smirked.

“Does drinking turn you into an asshole for twenty-four hours?” I grimaced at him.

“Not like you weren’t thinking the same thing,” Fletch retorted. “Come on, Will. It’s common knowledge that every girl you’ve dated is a known slut or at least became one after you were finished with her.”

“That’s part of this new priority realignment thing Ailee suggested for me,” Will nodded.

“What?” Fletch said skeptically.

“Ailee said it’d be smart if I remained single for a while. You know, didn’t have a girl constantly hanging off my arm,” Will replied. “It’d give me a good chance to find out things about myself and have fun without some demanding girl needed my attention constantly. It’d be cool to actually get a chance to hang out with you guys again and not have to fork over all of that extra money for dates and flowers and candy and junk.” Fletch looked at me with a knowing glare while I sipped my milkshake, ignoring Fletch’s subtle hints at my ulterior motives.

“Well, Ailee is smart, making suggestions like that,” Fletch said, one eyebrow arched in my direction.

“Total genius,” Will agreed with a grin.

The waitress brought Fletch’s food to the table and he flirted with her a little as she sat it down, glancing at me out of his peripheral vision to see if I was any bit annoyed he was flirting with someone else in front of me. I made a point to not only ignore him, but be overly friendly to the waitress by complementing her dress before she left. Fletch seemed a little perturbed at this, but launched into his food and forgot whatever point he was trying to make.

“Hey, since you’re doing this whole ‘examining your own life thing,’ why don’t we all hang out today?” Fletch suggested. “I don’t have work, your practice is over, and God knows Ailee has no life outside of following the two of us around…”

“Excuse me Mr. I’m So Lonely I’m Going to Threaten You Until You Eat Breakfast With Me,” I interjected.

“We could go hang out at the mall today,” Fletch continued. “You know, hit up the arcade, drop slushies over the railings on to your ex-girlfriends’ heads, move all of the science fiction books to the non-fiction and self-help parts of the bookstore… It’ll be like old times.”

“Yeah, that sounds great,” Will beamed. I shot a nasty look at Fletch. He knew how long I had been trying to get Will to myself and he was here ruining it by butting in.

“It’d be nice for it be just the three of us again, you know?” Fletch smirked at me triumphantly.

“Yeah,” I glowered back at him, “the three of us.”