That's What friends are for

Chapter 9

"I promise no 'I told you so,' no 'you should have known better,' and I promise I won't try to talk you out of Ariana."

"You won't? Not sure I believe that."

"I promise. If you want to talk about it, we will. If not, just you and me eating popcorn and making up dialogue for the crappy movies. Just like we used to do before you started dating Lucy."

"Yeah, but—"

"And tomorrow, once you've calmed down, if you still want to call Ariana, then go ahead. But I'm asking you to at least take one night to think about it, and I'll keep you company so you're not stewing over it. How's that?"

"I ... I don't know, Mila."

"Please, Lauren? Consider it a favor to me."

I closed my eyes and thought about it.

She had a point that right now I was pissed. If I did have Ariana over, it might not be as much fun as it should be. I'd waited this long. One more night wouldn't make a difference. After brushing her off for Lucy so much in the last six months, I did owe Mila something.

"Okay. You're right. I'm probably better off with a friend than a slut right now." I laughed. "Too bad I couldn't find a friendly slut!"

"Yeah, too bad. Guess you'll just have to settle for me."

"I'm not settling," I told her, feeling much calmer. "I'd rather spend time with you right now anyway, Mila. You've never let me down and I appreciate you coming over."

"That ... that means a lot, Lauren. More than you know. You've helped me as much as I've helped you, you know."

"That's what friends are for, right?" I laughed.

"That's right, Lauren. Good friends will do anything for each other. I'll be there in an hour."

I looked up when I heard Mila's car pull up and getting off the couch walked over to let her in. When I opened the door, I was surprised to see Mila wearing the long black leather coat she had gotten for Christmas.

Granted, it was April and it had cooled down quite a bit, but it wasn't that cold. The second thing that caught my attention was that her long brown hair, which was usually in a braid or a ponytail, was down.

"Hey, Lauren!" She held up a bag. "I grabbed a couple of oldie, but not so goodies. I got the Alien Dead and Ghost House. I figured they would be good for some laughs. Got popcorn, too!"

"Um, okay," I said as she pushed past me.

I was surprised when I smelled perfume. I wasn't sure what brand it was, but it smelled pretty damn good.

Mila walked into the living room. At the sound of something clicking on the floor. I looked down. "Wow, what's with those shoes?" I asked, staring at the red heels she was wearing. They were high enough that I wondered how she could walk in them, and had straps that wrapped around her ankles.

As I stared at the shoes, it dawned on me I could see her calves. "Are you wearing a dress?"

"Maybe I felt like dressing up." She turned to face me. "It is Saturday night, after all."

"But you're hanging out with me," I said, closing the door behind me and approaching her. "Usually, you're dressed in—" I stopped and stared at her face, taking in her deep red lips.

"What's the matter?"

"You're wearing make-up!" In addition to her lipstick, Mila's eyelashes looked longer and thicker than usual, she was wearing eye shadow, and her cheeks had more color to them.

"So?"

"Mila, were you going out tonight? Because if you were, you don't have to hang with me."

"Maybe I dressed up for you." She unzipped the top of the jacket, then slipped it off.

"Wow!"

Mila was wearing a red dress that was not only low-cut enough to show cleavage, but calling the skirt short would be doing it a favor. The hem barely reached her mid-thigh. I wondered what she would do if she dropped something and had to bend over.

The dress featured black buttons in the shape of hearts that went down to her waist and staring at the top button, I couldn't help notice how tight the dress was, hugging her small breasts and pushing them up.

"Is that a good 'wow'?" She gave me a big smile.

"I ... yeah, you look great." I told her and wasn't kidding.

Mila's smile widened. When she reached up and pushed her hair back over her shoulder, I noticed that her fingernails were painted the same shade of red as the dress.

"Thank you."

"Why are you wearing that?"

"Oh, I don't know. " She shrugged. "Maybe I'm tired of your tomboy jokes and wanted to show you I can be a woman when I need to be."

"A woman?" I laughed. "You're eighteen."

She rolled her eyes. "Lauren, you are one step forward, two steps back, sometimes. You give me a compliment, then you say something stupid."

"Sorry." I pointed at the bag she had tossed on the couch. "You want to give me the popcorn and I'll heat it up while you put the movie in?"

"Not yet. I want to talk to you."

"I thought you said if I didn't want to talk we didn't—"

Without waiting for me to finish, Mila turned her back on me and walked out of the living room and down the hall towards my bedroom.

"Okay," I muttered.

I followed her down the hallway, my eyes glued to the backs of her long legs, which although a little on the thin side had a nice shape to them. Not just her legs; the tight dress was clinging to what I had to admit was a pretty nice ass and she had a sway to her hips I'd never noticed before when she walked.

Mila opened the door to my room. When I entered, she was standing in front of my bed, staring down at the nightstand.

"Oh, candles!" she said, picking up the lighter. "I love candles."

She lit the two small candles and walked around to the other side of the bed to light the pair on my desk. "You always have candles?"

"Tonight was supposed to be, well, you know ..." I sighed. "I thought it would be a nice touch."

"They are." She pointed behind me. "Shut the light off."

"Why?"

"Because I like candlelight." She rolled her eyes. "Why do you always ask questions about everything?"

"I don't know." I hit the switch and turned back to see her standing in the dimly lit room.

"That's better." She nodded. "Nice soft light. Very romantic, very intimate."

"Intimate?" That was an odd word.

"Lauren, come sit down. I want to ask you something."

I walked over to the bed and sat on the edge of it expecting Mila to sit next to me. Instead, she stepped up to me so she was standing directly in front of me between my knees, looking down at me.