A Safe Bet

Harlow played mindlessly with the bangles around her wrist, letting her blonde curls spray out on the pillow below her neck. She raised her tanned legs into the air and bobbed them to the beat looking over to her best friend who was dancing around the room.

Aimee shoved a cookie in her mouth whilst shaking her hips to an old Jennifer Lopez song. “So, I don’t get it,” she began, her words muffled by cooked dough. “He cheated, so what? The gesture was cute.”

“The gesture was cute?” Harlow repeated aloud. “How was it cute? He lied to me, Aimee. This is more than just cheating on a quiz…I thought he was trustworthy for a while.”

Aimee sighed and took a seat on the mattress next to her, “He’s a teenage boy, Har. He just wanted to take you out on a date and it was the only way you’d say yes. I don’t get why it’s a big deal, but nothing is going to change your mind, so I give up.”

“Good idea,” Harlow chuckled, a triumphant smile on her lips. She lay back on the mattress and stared at the ceiling which had a poster of Ryan Reynolds tacked to it. “He’s so sexy,” she sighed, looking over the abs that looked so amazing she concluded they were photo-shopped.

Her best friend laid next to her and stared up at the boy, sighing whimsically. “Do you know who else is sexy?”

“Don’t.”

“John.”

“No, no he’s not.”

“Yes,” Aimee laughed, “Yes he is.”

“Let’s not have this conversation, please,” Harlow groaned, wrapping one of her curls around her finger.

“Just forget who he is for a moment! And let’s just talk about him like he’s just another guy, okay? Third party...we don’t care,” she grinned, lying on her stomach and turning her mischievous green eyes to Harlow, “Just any other boy.”

Harlow sighed and cleared her mind. She was angry at John—she couldn’t trust him, and for some reason that hurt her more than it should, and she especially hated that. “He has nice hair,” she mumbled, giving in to her best friend’s wishes.

“He has big hands,” Aimee giggled like a young girl. “You know what that means.”

Harlow looked at her best friend’s wiggling eye brows and rolled her eyes, “You are so immature.”

“Big socks, you creep. Geez, and you think my mind is in the gutter.”

“Oh yeah, big socks. I’m sure that’s exactly what you were getting at,” Harlow chuckled, shaking her head disapprovingly.

“Don’t be such a prude,” Aimee teased brushing her long locks behind her ear.

“Don’t be such a slut,” Harlow countered, a laugh in her words.

Her friend narrowed her eyes at her, “Touché, but still, I bet he’s an amazing kisser, and other things. Other things you would like to know about.”

“Don’t you have some studying to be doing or something?” Harlow mumbled, rolling off her bed and walking to her computer where an unfinished essay on 1984 sat.

Aimee sat up on her bed and sighed, looking at her friend with a smirk on her lips before moaning loudly causing Harlow to throw a paper clip at her.

“Oh John!” Aimee screamed, biting her lip to keep back her laughter. “John don’t stop!” She yelled, pretending to be in ecstasy.

“Would you shut the hell up?!” Harlow laughed running to the mattress and clamping a hand over her friend’s lips. “My mom is going to hear you.”

“Not until you admit O’Callaghan is sexy!”

“No!”

Aimee lifted an eyebrow before letting a loud yell followed by a long drawn out ‘John-ohhhhhhhhh.’

“Fine!” Harlow yelled, throwing her hands in the air. “He’s drop dead gorgeous! But his personality sucks! He’s a complete ass.”

Aimee smiled and shrugged, “Most hot guys are.”

Harlow sighed, before lying down on the mattress, “And that is why I’ll never fall in love.”

*

“Duh, winning.”

Harlow kept her lips in a straight line, ignoring the boy sitting next to her who had an amused look on his lips.

“Awe, come on, Harlow. That was funny. It’s the Sheen! You can’t not laugh at the Sheen,” John whined, craning his neck to try to make her look in his eyes.

“I can, actually. I don’t find train wrecks that funny,” she replied shortly, biting her lip as to keep back her laughter at his dumb jokes he had been making for the past hour. “Are you done yet? I have somewhere to be.”

“Ah, hot date?” John asked simply, his eyes narrowing as they moved to the black table top.

“Oh yeah, you know me. I’m a huge player. The guys just line up and down the street to talk to me,” Harlow responded shortly, embarrassment at the sarcasm in her words. She couldn’t remember any date she had ever really been on before besides ice cream with John and that didn’t count as far as she was thinking.

“I’d line down the street for you,” John said simply, shrugging and tapping his pencil against the table.

“You’d be the only one,” Harlow sighed, closing her book and laying it on the table. “Seriously, are you almost done? I’ll check your answers and then you can go.”

John sighed softly before handing her the green packet of paper. She grabbed it from his hands (not without noticing that they were in fact large), and started checking the answers, which to her surprise were all correct. She handed him back the paper a few moments later before packing her bags. “It’s amazing what you can do when you actually apply yourself isn’t it?” She mumbled, throwing her messenger bag over her shoulder.

John groaned picking up his back pack, jogging behind her, trying to keep up with her quick legs that were carrying her away from him as soon as possible. She felt his hand grip her arm and she whipped her head to look at him, “What, John? What do you want?” She spat angrily, narrowing her eyes at him.

“Harlow, just talk to me like normal, come on. You can’t be mad at me forever…” he pleaded, his green eyes looking at her desperately. “I’m sorry, okay? I just wanted to take you out…”

She bit her plump lip as she looked at his eyes which seemed to be telling the truth, but she didn’t want to hear it. She’d believed him once—she’d fallen into his trap and she wouldn’t let him do it again. She couldn’t…

John grabbed both of her hands in his and bent down to where he was staring into her eyes, “Harlow, please, just give me a shot…I—I know I can be better. Give me a chance.”

She looked into his eyes once more before sighing, feeling butterflies as she felt his thumb run over the back of her hands, and she knew instantly that she’d regret her next words, “Don’t screw up, O’Callaghan.”

*

“I think I need a girlfriend.”

John choked on his pancake as he listened to his friend’s words. “You do not need a girlfriend, Halvo. You would literally be the worst boyfriend in the world.”

“That’s not what you’re mom said last night,” Eric retorted, sticking his tongue out.

“Oh burn,” John mumbled, rolling his eyes. “But really? What’s with the change of heart? I thought you were hitting it and quitting it?”

“I have been, but it’d kind of be nice to have a girl to cuddle with whenever I want to, you know? Or just to talk to when I’m bored. And to you know, fool around with whenever I want—not like that’s a current issue. But I’m tired of having to go to the clinic every week or so. It’s not good when you’re on a first name basis with all the receptionists,” Eric laughed.

John shrugged, shoving a piece of bacon into his mouth, “I guess, but it’s good you’re being safe at least. I wouldn’t want you to die suddenly of Chlamydia. That’d be quite embarrassing for my rep.”

“I’m glad that’s the only thing you’re worried about. Not the fact that your best friend just died or anything, no big deal,” Halvo laughed, stealing a piece of sausage from John’s plate. “Dude, your mom makes the best breakfasts.”

“Breakfast for champions. They’re the best when you’re hung-over.”

“I bet,” Eric mumbled, chewing his food loudly. “So, how’s this Harlow thing coming? She still pissed off at you?”

John shrugged. He really didn’t feel like talking about her with Eric—he didn’t know her. Harlow to Halvo was just a game. She wasn’t a beautiful girl with feelings. She wasn’t funny to him…or completely adorable with her dorky jokes. All Halvo saw was a piece of ass—one that John was becoming unexpectedly protective of.

“Think she’s going to put out anytime soon? Or are you going to have to keep sneaking around her back to get laid in the mean time?”

John’s hand clenched and he bit on his tongue to keep his anger in. “I—I uh, who knows. I’ll do it though,” he said through gritted teeth.

Eric laughed, “Calm down there, buddy. Your eyes just got all crazy like.”

John took a deep breath and shut his lids. “I just…do you think this is a bad idea?”

Halvo looked at him confused before breaking out into a grin, “This is going to be the easiest bet ever, Jesus. You haven’t even reeled her in yet and you’re backing out.”

“I’m not backing out!” He argued, “I just, it was a dumb question. Don’t worry about it.”

His best friend laughed, “Are you pussying out?”

“No,” John said determined, “No. I’m going to do this.”

And as he pictured the sweet girl in his mind he felt a new emotion he has never felt towards a female before: guilt.