Ali eyed the club warily as they waited in line and sighed, tugging at the short top that Stephaine had forced on her. At least she had managed to keep her jeans instead of that atrociously bright mini skirt Stephaine had picked out.
"Come on Alia. You look great – the skirt would have shown off your legs more, but the jeans do nice things for your ass. You'll have no problems picking up a guy tonight," Stephaine commented.
Alia glared. Hard. "That's precisely why I didn't want to come. I'm not looking for a guy and I don't want to spend the evening fending off the bumbling advances of half drunken males who can't seem to understand that 'fuck off' does not mean 'I'd love a drink."
Stepahine compressed her lips, then drew a deep breath. " It's been over three months since you and Daniel broke up. That's more than enough time. You need to get back in the saddle again."
"Look, Steph. I know you mean well. And I'm not heartbroken over the break up – lord knows it was far beyond time for that miserable excuse of a relationship to end. But I'm happy being single right now. I like having my own space, my own time, not having to deal with crap. I'm just not interested in entering a relationship. More than that, I'm not willing to put in the sort of effort it takes to establish a real connection with someone."
Stephaine turned towards her. "Who said anything about a relationship? I was talking about sex. Getting laid will do you a world of good. I'm sure you can find someone to meet your needs -- hell most guys will view the 'no relationship' bit as a bonus."
Alia choked, but long experience with Stephanie kept her from turning bright red. "First off, I really don't feel comfortable with casual sex, as you know. Second, I can meet my own 'needs' quite well myself, thank you for asking," Alia replied, trying to keep the edge out of her voice.
Stephanie stared at her wide eyed. "Was Daniel that bad in bed that you really don't remember what you're missing? Because there are few thing better in life than a nice hard fuck from a hot guy."
This time Alia felt her face burn. Then she straighten her shoulders, held her head high and entered the club. Just as she passed the bouncer she called to Stepahine, "I've always thought that if you need a man to do it for you, you must be doing something wrong."
Stepahine's screech, silence, then a rambling, incoherent attempt at a comeback followed her in. Thankfully, Stepahine had dropped the topic by the time they reached a table containing a few of their friends.
The evening went well. Alia successfully fended off a few drunken pickup attempts, no doubt aided by the strong glares of mutual friends. She got to dance a bunch, both with friends and friends of friends who could be trusted to understand that dancing was not an invitation to grope her in the hallway.
Brendan's dancing skills had still not improved, so Alia was happy to release him to go back to his drinking. Samuel was much better, but quickly left to pursue someone who caught his eye. .
She danced with a few others, not quite remembering them all. There was a Ken-something who was noted mainly for his red hair and ability to keep other guys away,
Today most of the group was assembled for a barbeque farewell for Stephaine, who was leaving in two weeks. She had always wanted to travel through Europe and sample its delights – both culturally and physically. She had found a magazine, that while not covering her expenses, would at least buy any stories she wrote about her experiences. Seeing that as a way to live her dream and make use of her degree in journalism, Stephaine was ecstatic. She planned to spend the next year or so traveling through Europe.
As they sat around the table munching chips and waiting for Jason to finish grilling the burgers, the topic turned towards sex. Actually it started out about Stephaine's trip, which brought up her sexual expectations for her endeavor. But over time the conversation seemed to keep returning to some aspect of sex. The current debate was that of 'friends with benefits'.
Brendan, of course, was all for anything that would get him laid more often. Stepahine's approach was the opposite.
"While I don't see anything wrong with sleeping with friends, it just seems like a waste. There are so many options out there you could be sampling, why take the edge off your game?" Stephaine commented.
Jason laughed. "I doubt anything with you is cheap or easy. I, on the other hand, am very easy. And I've slept with friends before. A friends with benefits opportunity is a nice way to keep the libido satisfied without the emotional drama of a relationship."
"I don't know," Alia replied, biting her lip. "It seems like sex could mess up the friendship and make things awkward."
Jason looked up, removing the burgers from the grill. "It doesn't have to be that way, with good communication and honesty…," he said, placing the burgers at the table. The remaining conversation was lost amidst the scramble for food.
