Girlfriend's Best Friend

Chapter 3

          “Bro, why didn’t you get with her??” Graham yelled at me on our walk back to Duke’s house.

            “I tried to bu-”

            “You didn’t try to!” Graham laughed. “We heard you fuck up and talk about Brooke to her!”

            “Yo, that wasn’t even my fault!” I tried to defend myself

            “How was calling Brooke hot not your fault??” Duke laughed.

            “Because Kelli saw all you guys being whipped by Brooke and she was like, ‘Brooke is so pretty’ and I was like ‘yeah, she is pretty hot’ and then that’s when I realized I probably shouldn’t have said that. If she didn’t talk about Brooke first I wouldn’t have either,” I said.

            “But Brooke even told you to get with Kelli and you didn’t,” Mattie said.

            “Because I just called her best friend hot and made it seem like I was into her!”

            “So then that would’ve been the perfect excuse to hook up with her! So that she knew you were into her,” Mattie said.

            “Kind of like how you’re so into Brooke? I told her to hook up with you and you didn’t so why are you guys bagging on me so bad?” I said.

            “Maybe if you told me you told her that I could have!” Mattie said, hitting my arm.

            “Why should I have to tell you? You should have just done it!” I said.

            “Because what if she’s not about that? I don’t know which one of us she’s into,” Mattie said.

            “She’s into all of you,” I laughed.

            “All of us except you,” Carter laughed. “Is that why you’re trying to go for Kelli?”

            “That’s not even it at all. I’m actually pretty happy that I called dibs on Kelli first because she’s better than Brooke. Yeah, Brooke caught my attention first but I’m so glad I gave Kelli a chance because now I know I really like her and I didn’t waste my time trying to get a slut like Brooke who can’t decide what guy she wants,” I said, hoping the other guys would agree with me and not want her so hopefully, just maybe, she’d go for me.

            “I don’t like her but if she is a slut that would be fine, I just want to hook up with her,” Carter was the first to admit. Graham and Duke agreed but Mattie and Jace stayed quiet. Carter continued, “Sorry, didn’t mean to talk about your girl like that.”

            “I mean, Brooke’s fucking perfect, of course I like her,” Mattie said. We all looked at Jace, knowing he liked her too but now he couldn’t say anything because Mattie admitted it first.

            “It’s fine, I don’t like her,” Jace said. We all laughed at him, not believing it at all. “I mean she’s gorgeous and funny and just a great person in general but I don’t know, I just don’t like her like that.”

            “Just text Kelli now to let her know you’re still into her and not Brooke,” Mattie said.

            “So that you could have Brooke?” I joked.

            “You’ve made it pretty clear you think she’s a slut and that you don’t like her, what’s the big deal?”

            “Look, I like Brooke as a person just as much as you guys but let’s be honest, that girl is not going to be able to keep herself to one guy,” I said.

            “Because you have such a good reputation of keeping yourself to one girl!” they all laughed at me.

            “It’s not my fault every girl wants me,” I joked, trying not to let it show that that really upset me.

            “Brooke wants you?” Carter rubbed in my face.

            “Shut up!” I yelled at him, accidentally showing how much that bothered me.

            “Bro, just admit it, you want Brooke to like you,” Carter said.

            “I’m not admitting anything because the second I do, you’ll tell Kelli and I’ll lose her. I almost wish you guys got to know her the way I did. She’s so beautiful and-” I stopped myself because I knew my friends would start making fun of me.

            “Alright well, help us all get Brooke and we’ll help you get Kelli,” Carter said.

            “Deal.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

            “I swear to God, if I don’t get with Brooke today,” Carter said as we sat down at a table outside our favorite pizza shop on the boardwalk and ordered a pie.

            “Didn’t you just hook up with a girl like, three days ago?” Jace joked.

            “Yeah but Brooke is so hot, I can brag more about her,” Carter admitted. That’s what we all loved about Carter- he wasn’t afraid to say the actual truth, no matter how bad it sounded. He didn’t try to sugarcoat it or lie or sound better than he actually was—he was always honest. Yeah, he could be a dick sometimes because of it, but I sometimes secretly wished I could be as honest as him. If I’d been this honest last year, I wouldn’t have gotten into such a mess.

            “Are you gonna get with Kel today?” Duke asked me.

            “I’m gonna try to. I texted her all last night but I can’t tell if she likes me. If I can’t get her on my own you guys have to talk to her and tell her to get with me,” I said. They all agreed that they would but I hated asking my friends to help me with girls—I wanted the satisfaction of doing it myself. But my friends were good guys, they’d always help me and I’d always help them.

            “Brooke, Kel!” Duke called them over. We immediately stopped talking about them and tried to act cool, as if we weren’t all anxiously waiting for them.

            “The pie should be out any second,” Graham told them. I stared at Brooke as Kelli sat down next to me, having to remind myself I wanted her more. Didn’t I? She sat a little far from me so I put my hand around her waist, pulling her closer to me.

            As Brooke was swimming in all the attention from my friends, I noticed Kelli looked a little annoyed so I whispered to her, “You look really hot.”

            She giggled and blushed a little, which I loved; she wasn’t embarrassed, she was just modest and not used to that kind of good attention. I’d be able to show her what it was like to have someone love her and only her—not only her best friend. It would be so easy to make her love me.

            The waiter had set down our pizza and Brooke asked if we each only got one slice. “Brooke, you eat so much,” Kelli laughed. “One should be enough for you.” Brooke wasn’t fat at all—not even close to it. I didn’t know why Kelli would make a comment about that, but I figured it was out of pure jealousy, which was so unattractive.

            “You’re right,” Brooke looked hurt.