Keep Me Close

“Benji!”

“What Jeffrey?” I laughed at his kidlike demeanor.

“Benji, come here!” he called down the hall from the kitchen.

“Why?” I chuckled. “What do you want?”

“Just come here, boy!” he yelled again, dropping the childish tone of voice.

I laughed and shook my head, putting down my crossword puzzle and getting out of my comfy chair to head to the kitchen. Alright, so I wasn’t doing anything particularly important, but I was comfortable and didn’t feel like moving. Jeffrey was standing in front of a bowl, and when he noticed that I had walked in, he turned around and I saw that he had a wooden spoon in his mouth. He smiled at me and took the spoon out of his mouth, making it pop with his lips.

“You need to come try this,” he smiled, putting the spoon back in the bowl and scooping up some of whatever it was he made inside of it. You may be think, ‘ew, he just had that in his mouth and he’s using it again without washing it. That’s so disgusting.’ But it really wasn’t to me. I doubted that whatever it was that he was making would be eaten by anyone other than the two of us and it really didn’t bother me. We’ve been living together for three years and after a while, things like that stop mattering so much.

“What exactly is it?” I asked, taking the spoon out of his hand.

“I, uh, well I don’t exactly know what to cal it. It’s some kind of brownie-type thing, but it’s not chocolate. I mean, it’s got chocolate chips on top of it and all, but the base of it is, like, coffee-ish, I guess,”

“Does it require actual coffee?” I asked skeptically.

“Yeah,” he mumbled, looking away from me for a second.

“How much?”

“A cup,”

“And how much did you drink after you added the cup to the recipe?”

“Another cup,”

“Measurement wise or drinking utensil wise?” I asked, smirking at him, knowing the answer already.

“Like a mug of it,” he chuckled.

“No wonder you’re so hyper,” I laughed. I wasn’t really chiding him, but it was fun making him think I was either way. I just love messing around with him like that.

“Try some of that,” he pushed, nodding at the spoon in my hand that was covered in a slightly runny goo. I gave it a weird look and then decided to go for it. I took a big lick off of the spoon and rolled it around in my mouth thoughtfully. Jeffrey must have noticed when I finally took in the full flavor of whatever this was, because he just smiled and said, “It’s good, isn’t it?”

“Ah mah gahd,” I flubbed incoherently, the gooey mess that he made me try sticking to every corner of my mouth, making it near impossible for me to talk. I got a bit more swallowed and tried speaking again. “This is so good.” I just barely got that sentence out while making sense, but he would have known what I was saying either way.

“I know, right?” he asked, taking out another spoon from our container of kitchen utensils and dipping it in the batter. “Ah luh dis suff. Mm, there we go. I love this stuff so much.”

“We can’t eat it all before we bake it, however much I’d so very much love to,” I laughed, picking up some more on my spoon as well.

“Well it’ll be even better once the chocolate chips and powdered sugar are added, so yeah, we aught to get this in the oven before we scarf it all down like it is,”



“Oh my Jesus,” Jeffrey moaned, taking a bite of the brownie-thing. “This is too good.”

“We should call up the guys and see if they want any. This made a lot,”

“I don’t know if I want to share,” he chuckled.

“I know, but think of it this way too,” I mused, giving him a look that I knew would make him agree with me sooner or later. “We haven’t seen any of the guys in probably a month. This would be a good excuse to see them again.”

“Alright, I’ll call ‘em up,” he sighed, sounding utterly exasperated but smiling as well. I knew he was only messing with me so I smiled back at him as he finished wolfing down the brownie. I grabbed another for myself and leaned back onto the counter, listening as he called our three best friends.

He tried Todd first, but he didn’t pick up so he dialed Avery’s number next. Really, he should have just called Avery first, since that boy never leaves his phone’s side. And no, I didn’t say that backwards; anywhere his phone is, he is, and he freaks out when he can’t find it because he says he feels lost without it. Anyways, Avery picked up almost immediately and I could hear Jeffrey telling Avery to round up Todd and Evan and come to Hinckley Park so we could all hang out and ‘eat good shit’, as he so put it. Those three rent an apartment across town from the one Jeffrey and I rent, and with our busy lives added onto that, the five of us barely ever get to see each other anymore.

“Avery said that Todd was in the shower, but that they’ll leave when he gets out,”

“Is Evan just hanging out?”

“I’d assume so,” he shrugged, taking another of the brownies out of the pan and engulfing it whole with his mouth. “I just can’t get over how amazing these are.”

“I know; they’re the best brownie-type thing I've ever had. But we should probably put them away until we all get to the park,”

“Oh, alright,” he groaned jokingly. It was obvious to anyone that he just liked to mess around with me, and he and I both know that he usually is never actually complaining when it seems like he is. I guess you could say it was just one of his little quirks.

A little less than a half an hour later, the five of us were sitting in a clearing off to the side of the park, eating those brownie do-dahs and chatting. Not necessarily the most interesting thing to do in the middle of a Saturday afternoon, but all of our lives were so crazy that something like this was a breath of fresh air. Within a few minutes of meeting at the park, the brownies were completely gone, leaving us with a container full of crumbs.

“What the hell’s in those things, Jeff?” Evan asked, flipping some of his hair out of his face.

“I don’t know, but they’re way too amazing. What, are they ‘special’?” Todd laughed, his nose scrunching up oddly.

“Well, yeah, kinda,” Jeffrey laughed, leaning back onto my shoulder.

“You didn’t,” I gasped, looking down on the seemingly so innocent boy that was my best friend. “I never smelled you making the oil, though.”

“Oh, see, you know how to make them,” he laughed, looking up at me through his unnaturally thick lashes. “Why’s it so bad that I made them if you have before?”

“Who said it’s a bad thing?” I chuckled. “But seriously, I never smelled the oil cooking.”

“What, man, do you have a stash of pot-oil sitting around your kitchen?” Avery joked, taking a sip of his drink.

“Yeah, actually I do,” he laughed again.

“So you weren’t hyper from the coffee earlier; you were hyper from the pot, weren’t you?” I asked suspiciously.

“No,” he chuckled, dragging out the word. “It was the coffee at that point in time. But now, well,” he laughed heartily. “Now it’s the pot.”

“So we’re all high right now, yeah?” Evan smiled, crossing his right leg over his outstretched left leg.

“Basically,” Jeffrey giggled. He looked up at me and smirked. “You’re pretty damn comfy, you know that, right?”

”I guess I do now,” I laughed, letting him lay farther onto me. I really didn’t mind it, and I'm pretty sure I was a bit too high to think anything else. I ended up falling backwards onto the soft green grass and he fell with me, his head landing on my lap.

“Whoa, Jeffrey dude, your head’s practically on top of Ben’s dick,” Avery laughed.

“Hah, would you look at that?” I laughed, not particularly caring.

“Aw, don’t lie Jeff, you know you like it,” Todd joked.

“Oh of course,” he laughed, rolling his head over and burying his face in my crotch, making fake moans and other ‘pleasurable’ noises. I played along with him and lolled my head to the side so the guys could see the fake turned on look on my face.

“Oh, whoa! Having a bit of a moment over here, now are we?” Avery laughed, giving the two of us a really awkward look.

“Not being serious, Avery,” Jeffrey said, rolling back over and sitting up to look at the guys. He was being as serious as I've seen him all day so far.

“So that’s why they share an apartment!” Evan laughed, slapping his knee in hilarity. I just shook my head at the lot of them and sat back up, rolling my eyes. We’re in our twenties and still just as immature as high school kids. Wonderful.