Chapter Five – Best Friends!

The following Monday, you sit at your local diner, waiting for Jess and Molly to meet you for lunch. Your head is spinning around everything that happened this weekend. Work has been a drag today, thankfully you worked alone, so you had a chance to think. Just a couple of phone calls, and some orders that came in. You managed to do everything you were supposed to. But you couldn’t seem to get Brock out of your head. Your belly clenched every time you thought about him, and that made it extremely hard to concentrate. And you’re still not sure if you’re dreaming or not.

– So… Kissed him yet?

Jess asks, casually sliding into the booth next to you. You take a breath, look at her.

– Where’s Molly?

You ask. Hoping to derail this particular conversation.

– Ahh.. We should wait until she gets here. This will be so great!

Jess says, smiling widely, and rubbing her hands together.

– I want all the dirty details.

She continues.

You friendly roll your eyes at her, before you lift up the menu. Stupid move, you know. You and Jess always have your lunch here, ever since you got back from New York, and you both know what you’re going to get. So the menu thing isn’t necessary at all. You know that, and Jess knows that.

– Oh my God! WHAT happened. Tell me, tell me, tell me!

You give her a “shut up” look.

– Not here, Jess. Everybody knows my dad!

You whisper, trough your teeth.

Jess instantly get’s up.

– Drive through then. You can talk in the car!

Then she drags you with her outside. You bump into Molly in the door.

– Drive through, Molly! YN’s gonna tell us something.

Jess says, walking fast and firm over to her car, with you in tow.

– I call shotgun!

Molly shouts behind you.

Fifteen minutes later, you all have your food, and Jess parks the car.

– So, YN! Spill!

She says, turning towards you.

– Jess! Maybe she isn’t ready!

Molly states, taking a big bite of her burger.

– Oh, please, we always tell each other everything. And this is the juiciest thing yet. This is even better than me and Ben!

Ben fucking Caplan, the first guy Jess slept with. Every girl liked him, he was like the hottest guy your age. And everybody wanted him. So when he and Jess started dating, it was a big deal. Then the stupid fucker cheated his ass off, and Jess dumped him, pretty publicly. And that was also a big deal. At least for people your age. People still talked about that. And
Ben never got back his old status after that. Jess made sure of it. Showed Ben Caplan, and everybody else why you should never mess with Jess. Ben never got his reputation as the schools stallion back after Jess told everyone how he really was in bed. You don’t remember every single detail, but words like “flaccid” and “magnifying glass” were used. You still have a deep respect for Jess, for how she handled that situation. Not every 16 year old would be able to think on their feet like that. But then again, Jess always had a smart mouth and a quick response to every single situation.

– He’s a good kisser, if that’s what you mean!

You say, as Jess takes a sip of her soft drink. As soon as the words leave your mouth, Jess almost chokes on her drink.

– I knew it!

Jess almost yells.

– Did you sleep with him?

Jess asks, turning around to face you again.

– YN, you don’t have to answer that!

Molly states. Turning to face you as well.

– What are you talking about, Molly? Of course she needs to answer that. We want to know. Both of us! I told you when I slept with Ben.

Jess says, so eager that she’s almost levitating off her seat.

– To be fair, it was actually Ben who told everyone about that.

Molly states, probably to take Jess down a notch.

She’s not wrong. Ben broadcasted his encounter with Jess in such a manner that he just as well could have made a statement on the schools intercom. It was almost so you thought it would be on the News at one point. Stupid fucker. But it gave Jess some PR. PR she still lives off to this day. You actually think it was this thing with Ben that gave Jess her rough exterior, and the “I don’t give a fuck” attitude. A perfect example of the term “all PR is good PR.”

– I slept IN the bed with him, but no. No sex happened.

You say. After all they are your best friends, and you do need to talk about this. Carrying this around alone will be impossible.

You don’t know if it was his intent or not, to have you in bed with him. But when he woke you up there on the couch, you kinda just followed him, and he didn’t say no. You both slept with your underwear on. Sweet Brock, so considerate after he found out. He didn’t even kiss you after you got into bed, but you could feel his breath on your neck, he was close enough for that. Just thinking about that, sends shivers down your spine.

– And?

Jess asks. Putting some fries in her mouth.

– Nothing. Nothing happened.

You answer, shrugging.

– No!

Jess says, slapping her hands on her thighs.

– Tell us about the kiss!

She continues, almost jumping up and down.

So you tell them. About the pool, how he held your face, and about how slow and careful he was. About the kitchen, and how he lifted you up on the counter, how his hands felt on your back. How he kept saying that he was sorry. And about how he found out you were a virgin.

When you’re done talking, you’re almost out of breath yourself, and both Molly and Jess just looks at you. You can almost see the stars in their eyes.

– YN and Brock sitting in a tree…

Jess sings, and does a little dance. You friendly nudge her shoulder.

– YN…

Molly suddenly says. Her voice sounds concerned.

– Yes!

You answer. Looking at her.

– What about your dad?

Molly asks, in her own concerned way. You know she only want’s to look out for you. That she doesn’t want you to get hurt. But her question makes your stomach sink.

You never thought of your dad in all of this. The stuff with Brock was so intense, it kinda took everything else away. And you never thought anything like this would ever happen. So your dad sorta never entered your head. What would he think about this? He wouldn’t be happy about it that much you know. But you have no idea what he’d do about it.

Molly looks at you.

– Probably best not to tell him. You don’t even know if this is going to be a thing, right? No use in worrying about that now.

Molly says, putting her hand comforting on your knee.

– Yeah…

You say, looking down on Mollys hand on your knee. What did you actually do? What did you think was going to happen? Why did you do this? Brock is your dad’s best friend, since childhood. This is never going to end well. And what is Brock thinking about this? You need to talk about this. You need to figure out what you’re going to do, when your dad gets back.

– Lunch break is over, time to head back to the trenches!

Jess states, as she starts the car.

– You work at Starbucks, Jess. How much hard work can it be?

Molly says, holding in a laugh.

– Oh, you have NO IDEA how hard it is to get a caramel latte, almond milk, no foam, to be absolutely “right” in a customers eyes. AND, and, you have no idea how rude people get, when you get it wrong!

You almost laugh yourself. Both you and Molly knew how much Jess hated her job, and Jess knew how much you and Molly liked to tease her about it. It’s been a couple of times you and Molly showed up at the local Starbucks when Jess worked, just to give her the most ridiculous drink order you could come up with. Of course you never actually made her make them. But you messed with her. Thankfully the three of you go way, way back, and you could all take a joke. At least from each other.

And right now. You couldn’t be more thankful for them. You would never be able to carry all of this alone, and the fact that both Molly and Jess had your back in this, helped you to relax a bit about the whole situation you managed to get yourself into. Whatever happens next, you know you’ll always be able to talk to the two girls sitting in front of you. And you couldn’t stress enough how grateful you were for that.

Why? Just why did it have to be Brock?