𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐈𝐒 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐄 |𝐓𝐎𝐌 𝐊𝐀𝐔𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐙| 𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐔𝐄𝐃

𝑾𝑯𝑨𝑻𝑺 𝑾𝑰𝑻𝑯 𝒀𝑶𝑼?

𝗧𝗢𝗠'𝗦 𝗣𝗢𝗩

"Hey, man,"  Cain he greeted next. "Hungry? We got some leftover food. Johanna eats like a mouse."
 
"I do not! You just cook for an army."
     
What. The. Fuck.
     
"What are you doing here?"
     
"What do you mean?" he replied, caught off guard by what I just asked. "Here. What are you doing in Johanna's apartment? Let alone her bed?" "Oh." He sat up, hearing the sharp tone in my voice. "We're partners."
     
"Excuse me?"
     
Johanna chimed in, "In our psych class, Tom. We're partners in our dual thesis assignment. What's your problem?"
     
"I don't have a problem."
     
"You look like you do," Cain intervened, arching an eyebrow.
     
"I'm just surprised you're here. I didn't know you guys have class together this semester."
     
Johanna stood. "Are you supposed to know?" "I thought we told each other everything." Tom explained.
     
"Bro, it's not a big deal." Cain stood, grabbing his backpack. "I was just leaving anyway." He looked at Johanna "Same time tomorrow?"
     
"Sure."
     
On his way out, he picked up a plate of food and handed it to me. "Here, eat something. You look hangry. Talk later, An."
An? He had a nickname for her now?
     
As soon as the door closed, I glanced down at the food in my grasp, recognizing it immediately. "Did Cain cook for you?"
     
"Yeah, you never told me he was such a good cook." "Why would I?"
     
She stepped back. "Tom, what's your deal? Why are you acting so..."
     
"So, what?"
     
"I don't know... weird? We were just working on our assignment."
     
"It's almost midnight."
     
"I guess we lost track of time."
     
"Didn't seem like you guys had any plans to stop working any time soon."
     
"What? Cain just told you he was leaving."
     
"You guys seemed awfully chummy for never saying more than a few words to each other."
     
"That's not true."
     
"So what? You guys are friends now?"
     
"Ummm... I don't know. I'll answer that when you stop acting like a dick."
     
"Oh, I'm a dick now? I was your best friend yesterday."
     
"Tom! What the hell? Did you not get your dick wet this week or something?"
     
Why was I acting like an asshole?
     
"Here." I handed her the Skittles. "I got you these." "Thanks. You should have opened with these." She sat them on her nightstand. "I'm going to take a shower. You can eat, you can chill, I'll be back in ten."
     
I watched her leave, standing there until I started cleaning up the food. Taking it to the kitchen, I placed the dishes in the sink.

Johanna and Cain.
Cain and Johanna
An.
     
It was not a duo I ever gave any thought about. Sure, he was around her, but it was always when I was there.
  
I wasn't jealous. This wasn't jealously. I was being protective.
     
I knew how Cain operated. He was charming without even trying. I didn't want Johanna to get hurt, unintentionally by him. Johanna was the only thing that had ever been truly mine. I lived in my parents' cabin on their land. I went to college and got the degree they wanted for me. I was going to work for my dad's business and take it over one day, with my dear brother Bill.
My whole life was planned out for me, had been since the day I was born.
     
Johanna had always been... just mine. My person. My best friend. My girl.

At that moment, I knew what I had to do. I needed to protect her, even if it meant going against...
     
      My other best friend.

𝗧𝗢𝗠'𝗦 𝗣𝗢𝗩

"Look at Tom, being the Eagle Scout and starting the fire while we handle the real man shit." Ashton was holding one of the kegs, and Sawyer was carrying the other one behind him down the stairs to my back porch.
     
"Eagle Scout?" Sawyer set down the booze a few feet away from the pit I was building for tonight's festivities. "Do you not remember the time he nearly blew us all up trying to light that thing?"
     
"I was ten, you pansy! You were all too big of pussies to do it yourselves."
     
"Do you see this face?" Ashton gestured to himself. "This face is the face of—"
     
"A pile of shit, yeah," I interrupted. "I agree."
     
He flipped me the bird, grabbing his balls. "Eat my dick, dude." I laughed, throwing him and Sawyer a cold beer from the cooler. This was my life. This was how I lived. Beers with my boys and bonfires with the people of the town. Everyone knew everyone.
     
Why would I want it to change? How could my life be anything but perfect?
 
Ashton pulled my attention, he was sitting near the pit, tearing the label off his beer. I nodded toward what he was doing. "Damn, bro, been that long? Sexually frustrated are you?"
     
He chuckled, "You dick. I have no complaints. I get laid frequently and since you offended my sex life, I'll make sure to have a threesome tonight. You know who you should be concerned about?"

"Who?" I opened my beer.
     
"Cain."
     
"Cain?" I took a few swigs. "What's up with him?"
     
"Ummm... what planet are you living on? Because here on earth, Cain has lived in the crevice of Johanna's asshole for the last two weeks."
     
"They're just working on their paper."
     
"Right..."
     
"What's that supposed to mean?"
     
"There's a reason why Cain likes to choose chicks to be his partners in his assignments for class. He gets his dick wet as a bonus."
     
"Shut up, Ashton. Johanna isn't fucking Cain."
     
"Not yet."
     
The fuck?
     

"I mean Ashton does have a point, Tom. It's had to cross your mind. Right?" Sawyer waited for my response and I honestly didn't have one.
     
The assumption did cross my mind.
     
A fuck load.
     
More than I cared to admit to two idiots who had no idea what Johanna meant to me. We were just friends.
 
"I mean it wouldn't be a bad thing," Ashton added while Sawyer sat next to him in the recliner chair. "Your best guy friend, your best girl friend... she could do worse. Cain is probably the most decent out of us all."
     
"Fuck you very much." Sawyer pointed to himself. "I'm going to be a doctor."
     
"You're going to be a gynecologist."
     
"Your point? I'm still going to be helping people."
     
"Women. You're going to be helping women with your hand up their puss—"
     
"Do you guys ever talk about anything other than getting laid?"
     
Our eyes shifted over to Johanna, who was coming down the stairs from the porch with Cain behind her.
     
"Speak of the devil," Ashton addressed. "We were just talking about you two study buddies. How's," he winked, "the thesis coming along?"
     
"I don't know what you're implying, but if you must know, it's going great. Your best friend Cain here is very intelligent, despite his pretty boy face."

Cain smiled, bright-eyed and bushy fucking tailed.

Was that infatuation I just saw dart across his stare?
     
"Why, An, that was almost a compliment."