Just Friends

1 | Coming Over

CHAPTER 1

COMING OVER

"I think we've overcomplicated this."

"What do you mean?" Alice looks at me over her shoulder, and I can't stop the swell of satisfaction that shudders through me at the sight of her flushed face and pink lips. I glide back into her with another groan. She hangs her head low and breathes out heavily.

"Don't you get it Eli?" She pants between my thrusts. "This is the simplest interaction we could ever have."

Words no longer matter to me as I pound back into her again, relishing her soft cry of delight and her urge of "faster".

I don't want to stop and think about it.

I should explain.

Nineteen hours earlier.

"Hey, Aiden can't make it tonight," I say into the phone. "Are you still coming over?"

Alice laughs. "You couldn't stop me coming over if you tried."

There's a pregnant pause and Alice coughs awkwardly into the silence. "That sounded so wrong."

"Yup," I reply with a grin.

"Well, the point still stands. I have so much to tell you and I... I kind of need your advice on something."

"Can you give me a hint now? You know how impatient I am."

"No, it's too awkward to talk about over the phone." Alice laughs awkwardly again. "Is it weird that I'd rather see your face when you laugh at me about this?"

"Laugh at you?" I try to sound incredulous. "When have I ever done that?"

Alice mutters something.

"What was that?" I say, looking around the office to make sure no one else can hear how long this social call has been going on.

"How about last Friday when you laughed at my pitiful attempt to pick up the bartender serving my drink?"

"Hmm," I answer. She does have a point. "Come on, can't you just give me a hint? A teeny, tiny hint?"

"I'll tell you tonight, just hold your horses until then big boy."

"Ugh, fine," I mumble dejectedly, checking my watch to see how long it is until then. Just a little over five hours of anticipation. This could actually kill me.

"All you have to do is practice your delayed gratification." Alice pauses, and I can hear her laboured breathing fill the line. Is she running? Walking fast? Why does she sound like she's out of breath? My mind provides another explanation that is so inappropriate that I quickly shove the thought from my mind. "That's your hint by the way."

"What?" I say, beyond confused by that hint. And still kind of thinking about who Alice is with and what she is doing.

But all I get in reply is a "see you tonight!" before she hangs up.

I stare down at my phone in bewilderment. Delayed gratification? What is she on about?

"Is this about the Marshmallow experiment?" I ask her as I open the door later that night. Alice looks about as confused as I feel by my abrupt question.

"Huh?" Her brown hair is pulled back into a messy bun on the top of her head. "What are you on about?"

"I was googling delayed gratification today, and that was what came up, so I bought a bag of marshmallows pre-emptively so that we could test it. Assuming that is what you wanted to talk about."

Her head tilts back as she genuinely laughs. The sound rocks me, and I can't help myself from grinning back at her.

"Oh my god, Eli!" she says when she regains enough air to speak. "Can you at least invite me in before we get into it?"

I step back like a gentleman, and gently sweep my hand to let her pass through.

Shaking her head she mouths something like 'you ninny' to me as she passes. "So where is this bag of marshmallows?" she asks, as she enters the kitchen.

I fumble around in the shopping bags and hold it up triumphantly. "So, I was right?"

I hand over the bag when she gestures for it, and I wait, shifting from foot to foot as she settles herself, opens the packet and fishes around in it for a pink one. She places it in her mouth and moans slightly, before she chews contemplatively.

When she finally finishes the marshmallow, she sits down on one of the bench chairs that face where I'm standing in the kitchen. She grins evilly. "No, it's not about marshmallows you doofus."

Alice considers her statement as she searches the packet of marshmallows again. "At least, maybe your research into delayed gratification is about marshmallows, but not my dilemma."

I'm about to wring my hair from anticipation at this point and I place my hand over the packet of marshmallows, preventing her from pulling her hand out. "You've tortured me about it enough, Alice." I look her in the eyes to let her know I'm serious.

"Tell me," I command. That is what she came here for, after all.

"I will," she squirms in her seat. "Just - you promise not to tell Aiden any of what I say to you?"

This is so weird. Normally, she loves to talk to Aiden about anything she is feeling. He is the one in a committed relationship and has a younger sister. He seems to have perfected the art of listening quietly and non-judgementally.

"Of course," I answer. It's true. If she doesn't want a word of this to reach Aiden's ears, then I can respect that. Lord knows I've told Aiden stuff that I never wanted reaching Alice's ears. Like that time I had a weird sex dream about her. It had started with her entering my room at night and telling me how much she had always wanted me, before her hand had found my length, and mine had found her warm wet heat.

"I think I killed my sex drive," she blurts.