Beneficial

Chapter 1. Our Complicated Relationship

  I roll off of Riley, laying beside her under the covers of her duvet. We are both panting hard, and trying to catch our breath.

  "That...Was...Good." Riley comments between breaths.

  "Yeah." Is all I manage to get out. We both lie there for a couple more minutes until Riley starts to move. She wraps a blanket around her naked body and stands up and makes her way to her mirror. She groans.

  "You gave me a hickey! I thought I was clear when I said no more hickeys!" She grumbles.

  "Big deal? It's only a hickey." I reply.

  "Yes it is for two reasons. One, my parents freaked out when they seen the hickey you gave me when we were actually dating, and two, if they see it, how am I supposed to explain where it came from when I don't actually have a boyfriend right now?" She explains.

  Okay, here's a summary of what goes on in mine and Riley's...complicated relationship. Me and Riley have always been pretty good friends, but then we started dating. Our relationship was good I guess. But after some time, we realized that we only liked the physical and sexual side of our relationship. So instead of trying to make the relationship work which would have probably just resulted in a mess and us hating each other, we decided to end our relationship before it got any worse. We went off and dated other people, but we were still really good friends.

  About a month later, Riley came to my house late one night in tears. She had just found out the guy she had been dating was cheating on her. I brought her inside. But comforting her ended up with us sleeping with each other. And the week after that, and the week after that. We would sleep with each other whether we were seeing someone else at the time or not.

  After awhile, we realized that we had to either stop, or at least do something about it. We admitted that we still didn't have any romantic feelings for each other and we still just wanted to be friends. We only liked having sex with each other. So that's basically how we became friends with benefits.

  We still date other people, we just don't tell them about us sleeping together. I know it's not right but it's not like we're dating each other. And it's like sleeping with Riley has become an addiction.

  "You'll think of something if you get caught." I tell her, propping myself up on one elbow. She scowls at me but then sighs.

  "Can you get dressed? My parents are supposed to be home soon and-" She freezes when we both hear the sound of the front door opening and shutting.

  "Riley? We're home!" I hear Riley's mom call out.

  "Shit." Riley mutters. I watch her as she runs around the room, tossing on random articles of clothing lying on the floor.

  "Get dressed!" She hisses at me.

  "Okay, Jesus Christ, calm down." I mutter. I quickly slip on my boxers, shorts and shirt while Riley tries to fix the bed so it doesn't look like two people just didn't screw in it. Riley sits at her desk chair and I flop back on the bed, both of us trying to act casual just as the door opens. Riley's mom pokes her head in.

"Hey mom." Riley greets her calmly.

  "Hi Mrs Chard." I say.

  "Hi sweetheart. Hi James." She responds. She knows how close me and Riley are in friendship terms so she's never surprised when I'm here.

  "Did you stay here last night James?" Mrs Chard asks me.

  "Yeah."

  "In the spare room I hope."

  "Of course." I lie. Even if I did stay in the spare room, Riley would have probably been in there with me.

  "How was your vacation?" Riley asks her mother, who rolls her eyes.

  "A week crammed in a dingy hotel room with your father because the weather was terrible. It was wonderful." Mrs Chard replies sarcastically, making Riley and I laugh.

  "Riley! Is that a hickey?" Her mother shrieks.

  "No, I burned myself with my curling iron." Riley lies.

  "Again?" Her mother replies, shaking her head. Riley shrugs.

  "It slipped." She mumbles.

  "You have got to be more careful." Mrs Chard scolds, storming out of the room and shutting the door behind her.

"See? I told you that you would come up with something." I tell Riley, who glares at me.

  "You got your shirt on backwards by the way." She retorts before getting up and walking out of the room.