Rhett

Chapter Two


I woke up with a smile on my face, grinning as I remembered the events of the previous night. Sally and Jackie had both been pretty upset as they realized that they were on a double date, but when they’d seen Tomas they had both turned into blubbering messes. I shook my head as I remembered Tomas saying line after line in Spanish. None of us had any idea what he was saying, but even I had to admit it sounded pretty Spanish. The funniest part was that Tomas had basically been speaking gibberish. He didn’t even speak Spanish and only knew a couple phrases. I’d nearly burst into tears of laughter as he’d said, “Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?” I’d had to whisper in his ear that I was pretty sure that was French. He’d laughed and winked at me as the two girls played with their hair and licked their lips. It had been a pretty good night overall. While neither of them had blown me, Sally had grabbed a hold of me a couple of times and rubbed her pretty little derriere on top of me as she’d given me a pretty lame lap dance.


I stretched and jumped out of bed and walked to the window and looked outside. The sun was shining and I knew that it was going to be a pretty day. My mind immediately turned to Clementine and I wondered if she wanted to go to the park and play some Frisbee or something. I sighed as I remembered it was Sunday. Sundays were always reserved for family time. Clementine always went home for Sunday lunch with her parents, Nanna and her brother Jake. I knew that I was always welcome to go, but I didn’t like to impose and go too often. I walked back to my bed and sighed as I plopped back down? the smile gone from my face. I was bored living in this big house by myself. I grabbed my phone and called Clementine and waited impatiently for her to answer.

“What’s up, Rhett?” She answered breathlessly and I wondered what she was doing.

“Nothing much. Just woke up.”

“Must be nice.” She laughed.

“What are you doing?” I asked curiously. “You sound like you’re out of breath.”

“Playing Frisbee with Jake.”

“Oh, cool.” I smiled as her brother’s face entered my mind. “Tell him I said hi. Tell him to call me. I got tickets to see the Gamecocks.”

“Okay.” She paused. “Rhett says hi, Jake.”

“Hi.” I heard Jake mumble in the background. “Tell him to come over.”

“Jake says you should come over.”

“Tell him next time.” I muttered, even though part of me really wanted to go.

“Rhett says he’ll come next week.” She shouted at Jake and I rolled my eyes at how loud she was being. I was pretty sure that Jake wasn’t that far away from her.

"What are you doing tonight?" I changed the subject.

"I'm watching Devious Maids."

"You don't have a maid." I stared at my bed as I spoke into the phone.

"It's a TV show." She laughed and I smiled at the sound of her girlish giggles.

"I was about to say."

"No Rhett, I didn't win the lottery and I didn't marry a Madison or a Vanderbilt."

"You already know I'm not getting married and I think all the Vanderbilts are gay."

"Rhett!" Her voice rose in disapproval.

"I'm joking. Well, not about the ‘me not getting married’ part."

"No one wants to marry you, Rhett Madison."

"There's a hundred girls that would disagree with that statement."

"Only a hundred?"

"Clemmie," I sighed and sat down on the bed. "Do you want to hang out or not?"

"Not. I told you I have TV shows to watch."

I rolled my eyes as she spoke. "I thought you had a DVR?"

"I do."

"So then you can hang out."

"I don't want to hang out."

"Come on." I frowned annoyed. If it was any other girl I would have forgotten them by now. I wasn't a guy who bothered with girls who played games. Fortunately for Clementine, she was my best friend and I knew she wasn't playing games.

"Don't you have a little black book? Call one of those girls up."

"I don't want to go on a date. I just want to chill."

"Ask Tomas."

"Tomas went out." I was starting to get upset at the fact that she didn't want to hang out. “And anyway we hung out last night.”

"Are you getting angry at me?" She laughed. "Oh Rhett, you think every girl should drop all their plans just to hang out with you, don't you?"

"No."

"If you want to hang out, you can come over and watch TV with me."

"Crazy Linda's not going to be there is she?"

"She'll be in her room. We'll watch TV in my room."

"I don't want a repeat of last time." I groaned and closed my eyes as I remembered Linda trying to corner me in the bathroom to kiss me.

"When did you get so picky? I thought you would have been happy that Linda tried to kiss you."

"She had a mustache."

"So?"

"And she has crossed eyes."

"She's having surgery."

"On her brain? Because she didn't seem too smart."

"Rhett, you're horrible."

"That's why you love me." I laughed. "I'll be over at 7, is that okay?"

"That's fine."

"What do you want me to bring over? Actually don't tell me, let me guess. Salt and vinegar chips, chocolate chip cookies, a bottle of wine and some gummy bears."

"You know me too well." Clementine laughed and I could picture her eager smile in my head and it made me grin.

"You're going to get so fat, you know that, right?"

"Don't tell me. I can't be your best friend once I'm fat?"

"You wish you could drop me that easily. I'm not going anywhere."

"Well you never know. I might be."

"You might be what?" I frowned and sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Nothing, I gotta go. See you at 7."

"Okay."

"Oh, and Rhett?"

"Yes?"

"Bring a t-shirt if you plan on staying over tonight. You stretched out my last one."

"Well if you insist on buying girly-sized t-shirts, that's going to happen. I'm a man, you know."

"No need to worry too much. You'll be able to fit into my fat t-shirts quite soon."

"Clementine you're silly." I laughed and jumped up feeling excited. "I'll start training you at the gym if you want!"

"I don't want." She made a noise that made me think of sex.

"Don't make that noise." I groaned.

"What noise?"

"That grunting moaning noise."

"Are you going crazy? What grunting moaning noise?" She groaned again.

"You just did it again." I frowned, not wanting to think of her in that way. Clementine was the only girl that I had as a friend. She was the only girl I hadn't tried to sleep with and I wanted it to remain that way.

"Rhett, you have sex on the brain. I'm surprised you want to hang out with me tonight."

"I got cancelled on." I said lightly and waited for her to say something.

"Wow, don't I feel special! I'm back-up girl number two."

"Number five." I laughed. "The four other girls I wanted to take out were busy."

"Rhett, did you really have to tell me that?"

"No, but I value honesty." I laughed easily even though it was a lie. I hadn’t asked any other girls out for the night.

"If we hadn't met as kids there is no way that we'd be friends right now." Clementine’s voice sounded a bit annoyed.

"I can't help being hot."

"I know. Just like you can't help being rich or smart or cocky."

"Hey, hey now." I frowned. "You okay?"

"I'm fine." She sighed. "Be at my place at 6:30. I don't want you chatting away once my shows start."

"We wouldn't want those maids to feel like they're being ignored now, would we?" I joked and she groaned.

“I gotta go, Jake’s giving me a look ‘cause I keep throwing the Frisbee to the side.” She huffed out and then hung up the phone. I threw the phone onto the bed and then I checked my appearance in the mirror before leaving my room. I stared at my handsome face and frowned. Sometimes I wondered what life would be like if I wasn't so handsome. Would girls react differently if my eyes weren't so blue and sparkly? Would they still want to tousle my silky hair if it was ginger and coarse? Would they still longingly stare at me if I was average-looking? I took a deep breath and walked out of the room and wondered how much I took for granted in my life. My grandma had always told me that I was lucky I had such beautiful baby blue eyes. I had learned from a young age that all I needed to do to get out of trouble was to give a wide smile and a quick look of sorrow. I'd gotten away with almost everything with my mom and grandma. Until everything changed, of course.


It had been different with my dad and Clementine. Clementine seemed to be immune to my looks. She'd never flirted with me or expressed any sort of interest. We'd been friends since we were little kids and we’d stayed friends all the way through college. There’d never been one time that she’d ever expressed a romantic interest in me. Not even in high school, when all the girls had started flirting with me hardcore. We'd even been assigned as lab partners in chemistry and she'd spent more time staring at labels than she had staring at me. It had been disconcerting at first. I’d assumed that she’d eventually be like every other girl once I’d hit puberty. I had even daydreamed of her begging me to kiss her and be her boyfriend once we became teens, but she’d never treated me as more than her best friend. Of course I'd blamed her lack of interest on her being a lesbian for a couple of months, but then she'd started gushing about some junior called Tony and I'd realized that she was as into men as most of the other girls in school. She just wasn't into me. It had stung at first, but then I'd liked the idea. She would be my first real female friend that was really only interested in being friends. I wouldn’t have to worry about her falling in love with me and I didn't worry about falling in love with her. It was high school that cemented our forever friendship. She was the one stable person in my life. The one constant. She cared for me above my looks and my money. She wanted nothing more than to be my best friend. She didn’t demand emotions and promises from me that I couldn’t give. She understood that I didn't do love and never would.

***

"Move over." I pushed Clementine over on the bed. "Bed hog."

"Sit on the chair." She stuck her tongue out at me.

"Your chair's not comfortable. I want to sit on the bed."

"You're annoying." She shook her head and her long brown hair went flying as she moved over. "Come on, then." She patted the mattress next to her.

I promptly plopped down on the bed next to her and lifted my feet up.

"Rhett, take your shoes off." She hit me in the arm and I laughed.

"Okay, okay." I leaned down and undid my laces and dropped my shoes on the floor and lay back. "So is Catty Maids about to come on?"

"It's called Devious Maids, and yes." She looked over at me. "You better not fall asleep."

"I'm not promising anything." I laughed and pushed my head back in her pillow. "Your bed is so comfortable."

"So why no date tonight?" She peered at me with a curious expression on her face. I didn't want her to know that I hadn't asked anyone out.

"I guess they're all busy because of finals."

"Finals are not until next week." She made a face. "I don't think the girls you date are studying this early."

"You've been studying."

"You don't date girls like me." She laughed and I reached out and grabbed her.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean that you don't date smart girls." She shrugged and her brown eyes flashed at me.

"Some of the girls I date are smart." My hand rested on her arm for a few more seconds. "Maybe not as smart as you, but they're smart."

"Uh huh." She rolled her eyes. "You don't do smart girls."

"I do all girls." I grinned and she groaned. "What?" I laughed. "It's true."

"You need to fall in love."

"Ugh, don't mention love to me." I shuddered.

"Come on, Rhett."

"I'm not interested." I sighed and thought back to my parents’ abusive marriage that had lasted way too long because they loved each other. "I'm not made for love. I'm made for lovemaking."

"You really think you're some sort of pimp, don't you?" She sighed.

"Not a pimp." My fingers ran to her cheek. "I remember when I kissed you, you didn't object."

"We were playing spin the bottle." She rolled her eyes, but I could see a red hue rising in her face. “And we were thirteen.”

"You didn't have to use tongue." I grinned at her and licked my lips and she groaned and pulled away from me.

"Let's just watch TV." She grabbed the remote and turned the volume up. "Now be quiet."

"You're so bossy."

"Shhh." She put her finger to her lips and I laughed and watched the TV screen. The screen flashed with a bunch of hot girls and I wondered what it would be like to sleep with a maid. I was busy staring at one of the actress’s chests when Clementine screamed and jumped up in the bed, making me almost fall off.

“Dude, what’s going on?” I looked at her in concern and she glared at me.

“Shh.” She put her finger to her lips and looked back at the screen. “He has a gun.”

“Who has a gun?” I whispered and looked back at the screen.

“Shhh.” She groaned and elbowed me.

“Ow, that hurt.” I looked over at her face as she stared intently at the TV screen. Her eyes were alert and I could see that she was concentrating hard. I grinned to myself as I thought about tickling her and distracting her. She’d be so pissed if I did that. I was debating risking her wrath when the TV went to commercial break.

“Rhett, you’re not even watching the show.” She looked at me with pursed lips.

“It’s boring.” I shrugged. “Let’s go out and do something.”

“I already told you I don’t want to go out tonight.” She shook her head.

“Fine.” I lay back and yawned. “Boring.”

“I don’t know why you came over if you wanted to go out.”

“I wanted to hang out!” I turned on my side and spoke to her. “You haven’t even asked me how my date went last night.”

“Because I don’t want to know.” She shook her head with a small smile.

“What do you mean you don’t want to know?” I raised an eyebrow. “You always want to know.”

“Rhett, I don’t want to encourage you in your shady dating habits.” She shook her head.

“So you don’t want to know what drama went on last night?” I cocked my head and looked at her. I watched as her eyes widened in excitement. I knew that she totally wanted to know what had happened the night before. Clementine was as into gossip and drama as any girl I knew. I wasn’t even sure why she was pretending that she didn’t care.

“What happened?” she gasped finally, unable to stop herself.

“I thought you needed to concentrate on your show.”

“These are the moments DVRs are made for. Pause.” She grinned and pointed the remote at the TV. “Now spill.”

“You sure you want to know?” I raised an eyebrow and almost laughed at the eager expression on her face.

“Yes, yes.” She nodded and leaned towards me. “Spill all the details. Did they scream at you? Did you get slapped?” Her voice rose eagerly. “Oh my god, did they fight?”

“Clementine.” I shook my head and laughed. “You’re watching way too much of that TV show.”

“Tell me.” She groaned and grabbed my arms. “I need to know.” I tried to ignore the warmth of her fingers on her skin. Her fingers felt smooth and pressed into my flesh tightly. I shifted on the bed at the slight buzz of electricity I felt at her touch.

“Let’s just say that Jackie didn’t mind at all.” I raised an eyebrow. “At least, I don’t think her breasts minded as they rubbed up and down on my chest.”


“What?” Clementine’s jaw dropped and her eyes narrowed. I saw a flash of disappointment in her eyes, but it faded quickly. “They still slept with you?”

“No,” I defended myself, even though I wasn’t sure why I wanted her to know I hadn’t slept with them. “We didn’t have sex. She gave me a lap dance.” I shrugged.

“What? You booked a date with two girls on one night and one of them gave you a lap dance?” She shook her head.

“Well, I took Tomas with me for Sally.”

“How nice of you.” She rolled her eyes.

“You think I’m a pig?” I grinned.

“Let’s just say I wouldn’t want to date you.” She lay back and her brown eyes looked at me in disgust. “You just don’t care, do you?”

“I care about you.” I reached over and pinched her cheek. “But only because you’re a brat and I’ve known you for years.”

“I mean about the girls you date.”

“I care.” I shrugged. “I ask them on dates, I pay, I give them what they want.”

“No you don’t.” She moved away from me and frowned.

“Yes, I do.”

“You’ve never given one girl what they really wanted.” She shook her head. “Not one. You’ve never made one of them your girlfriend.”

“Ugh, don’t say that word.” I shivered.

“I don’t understand why you won’t get a real girlfriend.” She sighed. “We don’t all have cooties, you know.”

“Trust me, I know.” I licked my lips suggestively and she groaned.

“All you care about is sex.”

“At least I don’t lie and tell them I want a relationship.” I sighed, not wanting to get into a conversation over me being a commit-ophobe. “I’m not interested in having a relationship.”

“Yeah, yeah. I know.” She grabbed the remote. “Now, shh.”

“Wait, what?” I grabbed her hand. “You’re turning the TV back on already?”

“Yeah.” She smiled at me and winked. “You know how I need my drama. And it looks like tonight I have to get it from the maids and not your pitiful love life.”

“Whatever.” I stared at her. “I should leave if you’re going to be mean to me.”

“Uh huh.” She stared back at me with a challenging gaze. “We both know that’s not going to happen.”

“Bully.” I made a face and she grinned.

“You’re a mess, Rhett Madison.”

“You’re a bigger mess, Clementine O’Hara.” I grinned at her and showed her my perfect white teeth and dimple.

“You can’t charm your way with me, Mr. Madison.” She batted her eyelashes at me and I bowed my head.

“But I sure can try.” I pretended to lift off a pretend top hat and she laughed.

“Shh.” She pressed play on the remote and the maids came back on screen. I leaned back and tried to understand what she saw in the show, but my mind started drifting within a few minutes. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and checked my text messages. There was a message from Jackie asking if I was busy and if I wanted to watch a movie. I knew exactly what that meant. She wanted to move on from lap dances to the real thing. I tried to picture her face, but all I could remember was her rubbing her smaller-than-I-normally-liked breasts across my face. I deleted the text and put the phone back in my pocket. I had a rule that I never let a girl interrupt one-on-one time with Clemmie. I’d created the rule in high school when I’d nearly destroyed our relationship by flaking on her one too many Friday nights to take random girls out to the movies at the last moment. I could still remember the flash of anger in Clementine’s eyes as she’d accused me of taking her for granted.

“I don’t know about you, Rhett, but I would never put a date in front of my best friend.” She’d fumed, her eyes sparking darts at me.

“It wasn’t on purpose,” I’d muttered, annoyed that she was getting angry.

“This is the fourth time you’ve ditched me at the last moment to go on a date.” She’d counted her fingers. “And it’s the last time. You will not do this to me again. I’m not some second-class girl, just because I’m your friend.”

“I never said you were second-class.” I rolled my eyes at her dramatics. Girls!

“You didn’t have to say it. That’s how you’ve been treating me.” Her finger had poked me in the chest as she pushed her shoulders back. “This is the last time. The next time you ditch me at the last minute will be the last time you call me your best friend.” Her words had been melodramatic and slightly over-the-top, but they’d scared me. I couldn’t imagine a life without Clementine being there for me. I’d rolled my eyes at her and pretended that I thought she was being over-the-top, but I had never ditched her at the last moment again.

“Oh my god, that was crazy.” Clementine’s squeals distracted me from my thoughts. “I totally didn’t see that coming. Do you think he’s going to kill her?”

“Um, I guess?” I mumbled and gave her a smile.

“You weren’t watching, were you?”

“Truth or Lie?” I grinned and watched her jump off of the bed. “Where are you going?”

“Getting some water. Want some?”

“I’d rather have a beer.”

“Fine. Hold on.” I watched her walk out of the bedroom and looked around the room. It was small, but it was totally Clementine. It was decorated in blues and greens and there were at least fifteen framed photographs on the walls. I grinned as I saw one of us at Disney from the previous summer. I jumped up off of the bed and looked at the different photos that chronicled our friendship. They brought back so many happy memories. I walked around the room and looked at all the photos and then frowned. There was a photo of Clementine and I at my eighth birthday party. It was a picture of us cutting my cake together and my mom and dad were standing behind us grinning. I stared at the photo for a few seconds and then turned around. What a farce that had been. We’d looked like such a happy family. Only we were anything but that. My dad’s smile had hidden his affair with his secretary. It was so clichéd it wasn’t even funny. And my mom, well, my mom was the biggest liar of all. Her smile hid her alcohol problem. And it hid the fact that she didn’t give two shits about me. She’d walked away from me and my dad just a few years later and never looked back. She didn’t care about me and she didn’t care about our family.

“Okay, I’m back. I decided to have a beer as well.” Clemmie walked into the room grinning. “I know, I know, you’re shocked. We have class tomorrow and I’m drinking, but after the week I’ve had, I deserve a drink.” She paused and handed me the bottle and then looked in my face. “Hey, what’s wrong?” She frowned and studied my face.

“Nothing.” I grabbed the beer and took a long swig. The bitter cold taste felt welcome in my mouth and throat.

“Nothing like ‘nothing’, or nothing like ‘I’m not going to talk about it’?” She took a step closer and peered into my eyes. I looked away from her. I wasn’t in the mood for her to do her body intuition tests. Clemmie figured she could tell my mood just from staring into my eyes or studying my body language. It annoyed the shit out of me. Sometimes a man just needed to be a man. That was the problem with having a girl for a best friend. They wanted to talk through everything. She wouldn’t let things go and she always needed to know what my real feelings were. Sometimes I just wanted to tell her to leave me the f*ck alone, but I knew how sensitive she was to just about everything, so I’d resisted so far.


“I’m fine.” I plopped down on the bed and grabbed the remote. “I’m going to see what’s on ESPN, cool?”

“That’s fine.” She sat on the bed next to me. “What happened in the three minutes that passed when I went to the kitchen?”

“Nothing.” I grunted and stared at the screen.

“You are so annoying.” She groaned and stood up. “Let me think, you were standing over here.” She walked over to the side of her bedroom and looked around, her face deep in concentration. I tried to ignore her, but I couldn’t stop myself from watching her. There was something about Clementine that you couldn’t ignore. Especially when she was wearing her cheerleader shorts. I knew that it was wrong of me to stare at her legs as hard as I was, but I couldn’t help myself. She looked at me then and her eyes narrowed. My breath caught as she stared at me. Had she realized I was staring at her bare legs? They seemed so much longer than I remembered. And tanner too. Had she been laying out?

“What?” I frowned as she continued staring at me.

“Shh. I’m thinking.” She stared at me and then looked around again. She looked at the wall and then stopped in front of the photo I’d been staring at. I froze as I realized she’d figured it out. I was upset because I’d been looking at a photo of my mother. How clichéd was I? Typical man with mommy issues. I waited for her to bring it up and start the conversation about my mother. I lay there staring at the ceiling, waiting for her to broach the subject. It was inevitable. Clementine was one for getting everything out in the open. “So, what do you want to do?” She walked back over to the bed and I stared at her through narrowed eyes.

“Huh?” I watched as she joined me on the bed again.

“What shall we do?” She smiled at me and took a swig of her beer and grimaced. I wasn’t sure why she drank beer, as she hated the taste of it.

“What do you want to do?” I sat up, suddenly feeling relaxed again. “And please don’t say you want to give me a lap dance. I’m not sure I can handle two in one night.”

“You wish.” She rolled her eyes at me and I laughed. I looked down at her long legs again for a brief second and looked away.

“Not particularly, I can’t imagine you’d be very good.”

“Excuse me?” Her voice rose.

“I mean that’s not a bad thing.” I gave her my signature Rhett smile. “It’s just a fact. You don’t really know much about moving your hips.”

“You’re an a*shole.” She shook her head.

“Better an a*shole than depressed, right?” I winked at her and I watched as her eyes softened.

“If you ever want to talk about it, you know I’m here, right?” She grabbed my hand and squeezed it softly.

“I’m fine, Clemmie.”

“I know. You da man, Rhett. You’re stronger than He-Man.”

“I’m glad you recognize it.” I took another long chug of the beer.

“Wanna watch a movie?” She put her beer bottle down on the bedside table and lay down.

“As long as it’s not a chick flick.” I lay back next to her and I felt our shoulders rubbing together.

“I can’t promise that there are no chickens in the movie.” She switched the screen to Netflix.

“Can you at least promise that no chickens were hurt in the process of making the movie?” I joked.

“I can promise that I wasn’t hurt in the process of making the movie.”

“Well, that’s good.” I said seriously and we both laughed.

“Okay, what shall we watch?” She flicked through the titles and paused. “What about this?”

“’Date Night’?” I read the title on the screen. “Pass.”

“It’s got Steve Carrell.”

“He’s not funny.”

“Fine.” She groaned and paused again. “What about this?”

“Are you joking?” I gave her a crazy look. “No way in hell am I watching a movie called ‘Beauty and the Briefcase’.”

“You don’t appreciate fine art,” she mumbled and I started laughing.

“You’re not seriously trying to suggest that a movie called Beauty and the Briefcase is a work of art, are you?” I glanced at her and raised an eyebrow. “Next thing you’ll be saying is that ‘Zack and Miri Make a Porno’ should have won an Oscar.”

“Very funny, Rhett.” She shook her head at me, but I could see a hint of a smile on her face.

“Would you make a porno?” I asked her thoughtfully as she continued flicking through the movies.

“What?” She looked at me like I was crazy. “Hell no.”

“Just asking. No need to bite my head off.”

“Would you make a porno?”

“No.” I shook my head and then grinned. “I’d make a sex tape though.”

“Rhett.” She groaned. “Of course you would.”

“Come on now. Don’t knock it.” I laughed. “I think it would be pretty hot to watch me getting it on.”

“I wouldn’t be watching it.”

“I wouldn’t mind.” I laughed and stared at her. “I don’t have any secrets from you.”

“That’s one secret I wouldn’t mind you keeping.”

“So you wouldn’t watch my sex tape?”

“Hell no.” She shuddered. “Would you want to watch mine?”

“I don’t know.” I muttered and felt a pang of something in my stomach even thinking about it. “Likely not.” I frowned at her, images of her in bed having sex with someone crossing through my mind. “That would be gross.”

“It’s gross for me to have a sex tape, but not for you?” She crossed her legs and I watched as her shorts rode even higher up her thighs.

“Let’s not talk about sex tapes.” I grabbed the remote from her. “Let me find a movie.”

“Hey,” She squealed. “I was looking.”

“You’re being too slow.”

“No, I wasn’t. I only paused because you asked me a question.”

“Well, I’m not asking any questions right now.” I kept scrolling. “Hey, what about ‘The Expendables’?”

“Nope,” she exclaimed immediately.

“Fine.” I sighed. “I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.”

“I’m sure I won’t.” She retorted.

“Dude, Sly Stallone’s in it.”

“Dude, I’m not a dude and I don’t care about Rambo or Rocky or whoever he was.”

“He was Rambo and Rocky.”

“Whatever.” She laughed. “He could have been Barney for all I care. Not interested.”

“What about ‘The Transporter’.” I stopped and grinned at her. “This is a good one. I’ve seen it already.”

“No thanks.” She shook her head and we stared at each other for a few seconds in silence.

“You’re so difficult.” I said finally and she reached over and tried to grab the remote back from me. “Stop.” I held the remote up high as she grabbed my arm.

“Rhett.” She moved over and kneeled next to me. “Give me the remote.”

“Nope.” I laughed as she tried to pull my arm down.

“Rhett.” She said my name in a softer tone now. “Please.”


“Nope.” I grinned and pushed her away.

“Rhett!” Her voice was more adamant and she grabbed my arm with both of her hands. “Come on.” She moved even closer to me and I felt her breasts pressing lightly against my shoulder.

Knock knock.

“What’s going on in here?” Linda walked through the door without waiting for an answer.

“Hey Linda.” Clementine moved away from me slightly. “I’m just trying to get the remote from Rhett. We’re about to watch a movie.”

“In your room?” Linda looked at the two of us and her eyes narrowed.

“Yeah,” Clementine answered her, not noticing the look Linda was giving us.

“You wanted something, Linda?” I looked at Clemetine’s roommate and gave her a smile. Linda was one of those girls that was mad at the world for everything, but she always seemed to soften when I turned on the charm. I knew she had a thing for me. She made it pretty obvious, but I had absolutely no interest in her.

“I was just wondering what’s going on.” She smiled at me and batted her eyelashes. “I heard Clemmie squealing, so I wanted to make sure she was okay.”

“I’m fine.”

“You guys can watch the movie in the living room if you want.”

“We’re fine in here.” Clementine responded.

“Hmm.” Linda paused. “Are you sure you guys want to watch it in here? Your bed is so small.” She looked at us. “Plus, it’s a little weird. People might get the wrong idea if they knew you guys watched movies in bed together.” She made a face. “And that he stayed over so much. Not that it’s my business, but it’s weird that you guys share the bed if you’re not hooking up.”

“We’ve been friends for almost fifteen years, Linda.” Clementine sighed. “We’ve shared baths before.”

“Not recently?” Linda’s eyes widened in shock.

“Well, if you count last month as recent.” I spoke up and smiled wickedly.

“What?” Linda gasped and Clementine hit me in the arm.

“Rhett’s joking, Linda.” She laughed. “We haven’t had a bath together since we were little kids.”

“I can still remember it like it was yesterday though.” I winked at Linda and I watched as her face went red.

“Well, you know...” She swallowed. “If you ever want to you know,” She smiled at me suggestively. “Just let me know.”

“I will.” I winked at her and watched as her face went bright red. It never failed to amaze me how easily it was to bring a woman to her knees. It didn’t matter how shady she thought you were. Flirt, give her a sexy smile, and bam, all other thoughts went out of her head.

“Night, Linda.” Clementine’s voice was dry as she dismissed Linda from the room.

“Oh, night.” Linda looked frustrated as she left the room and I felt Clementine staring at me as I lay back.

“What?” I questioned her.

“Why do you flirt with her when you know you’re not interested?”

“It makes her feel good.” I shrugged. “What’s wrong with that?”

“It makes her feel like she has a chance.” She sighed. “It’s mean.”

“How is that mean?”

“Because she doesn’t have a chance.”

“Well you never know...” I let my voice trail off and she hit me in the shoulder.

“You’re gross.”

“Hmm, I prefer easy.”

“You prefer to be called easy?”

“I prefer to be called hot, but hey we can’t always have what we want.” I ran my fingers through my hair. “I can’t help it if all the girls want me.”

“Whatever.” She rolled her eyes and grabbed the remote out of my hands. “Who’s hot now?” She giggled as she scrolled through the movies.

“I let you get it.” I shrugged and watched her laughing. I smiled as I leaned back and glanced at the wall again. I was grateful that Clementine hadn’t asked me about my mother and my feelings. It had been years since I’d seen her and I hated talking about her. Clementine knew that it was something that I wasn’t ready to really discuss. I appreciated the fact that she respected my wishes and I was grateful that she could always make me smile. “You can choose the movie.” I said finally. “Just please please please, nothing with Channing Tatum.”

“What?”

“I’ll never be able to remove those moves from ‘Magic Mike’ from my brain.” I shivered and made a face. “I don’t want to watch a movie about male strippers.”

“Yet you were fine with watching ‘Showgirls’.” She rolled her eyes again.

“Uh, yeah. Hot topless women, having sex in the bar and the pool is fine with me any day of the week.” I licked my lip. “Shoot, I’d love to have sex in the pool.”

“Rhett.” She groaned.

“Fine, we won’t talk about sex, but if you play a chick flick I will proceed to tell you all about the time I had sex at the movie theater and...”

“Stop.” She slapped her head to my lips and gave me a look. “We might be best friends, but I do not want to know all of your intimate details.”

“But that’s part of the fun of being best friends.” I grinned and licked her hand. I laughed as she yelped and pulled her hand away.

“You’re gross.” She rolled her eyes and I laughed. I jumped off of the bed and pulled my jeans and t-shirt off and jumped back on the bed, wearing just my boxer shorts.

“You’re way too comfortable with me, Rhett.” She shook her head as she stared at my naked chest.

“What?” I laughed and stretched. “You’ve seen me in boxers before.”

“I know.” She sighed. “But I was thinking about what Linda said. Don’t you think it’s weird that we still have sleepovers?” She paused. “And the fact that you sleep in only your boxers?”

“It would be weird if you were naked.” I shrugged. “But, seeing as you’re wearing shorts and a tank top, it’s not really that weird is it?” I ignored the fact that my body was reacting to her in a way that was definitely not platonic.

“I guess.” She sighed and nibbled on her lower lip.

“What is it?” I asked her softly.

“I just,” She sighed and continued nibbling. “I just don’t know if we’re giving people the wrong impression.”

“Wrong impression?”

“Like we’re hooking up or something?” She jumped off of the bed. “Get up, I need to pull the sheets down.”

“It doesn’t matter what people think.”

“Penelope thinks we act like an old married couple, yet we don’t have any of the benefits.” She sighed as she got under the sheets.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I crawled into the bed next to her.

“It means that we’re intimate in ways that most people aren’t, yet we’re not really intimate.”

“Lots of friends share beds, Clementine.” I stretched my legs out and felt her smooth ones brushing against mine. “We’re mature adults. Who cares what anyone else thinks?”

“It’s just that maybe it’s not healthy.” She sighed and snuggled into the sheets.

“What’s not healthy?” I put my arm around her shoulder and she snuggled into my chest.


“This.” She looked up into my eyes as her arm crawled across my chest. “Maybe we shouldn’t share a bed anymore.”

“That’s stupid.” I glared at her and saw her face flushing. “If we’re comfortable with it, then who cares what anyone else thinks?”

“I guess.” She sighed and I felt her breath teasing my nipple.

“Most people don’t have a friend like us.” I stroked her hair and relaxed back in the bed. “They don’t understand that you can be close with someone, without sex. They’re just jealous.”

“I guess.” She rested her chin on my chest and shifted against me. “I just don’t know if we’re too old to continue being this close.”

“There’s no age limit on a friendship, Clementine.” I shifted my legs and slipped one between hers to get more comfortable. “People are just jealous of how close we are.” I closed my eyes as I felt her fingers running up and down my chest. They felt soft against my skin and I felt relaxed holding her in my arms.

“Did you shave?” She asked me softly and I opened my eyes and saw her smiling at me widely.

“Huh?” I pretended to be ignorant.

“Did you shave your chest?” She grinned widely now. “There’s no hair on your chest.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh my god, Rhett, you’re so vain. You shaved your chest.” She said and then giggled as she ran her hands across my chest.

“Oh my god, Clementine, you’re so vain, there’s no hair on your legs.” I imitated her girly voice and ran my hands down her legs. That was a mistake. Her legs felt soft and supple to the touch and I found myself hardening as she shifted against me. Her hip was pressed against my groin and I tried to shift away from her as I became very aware of how close we were. My head started pounding as I moved my hands away from her legs quickly. This wasn’t supposed to happen. I wasn’t supposed to start seeing Clementine as a woman. I wasn’t even sure why my body was reacting this way. It wasn’t as if we hadn’t shared the same bed hundreds of times before. Many times, she hadn’t even worn shorts. I thanked God that she had shorts on now. I’m not sure what I would have done if she’d just been in her t-shirt and panties. Who knows what my hands would have done, where they would have gone.

“Ugh.” She leaned away from me. “I forgot to take my bra off.” I watched as she undid the bra and pulled it out of her t-shirt and threw it on the ground. I avoided looking at her chest. I didn’t need to see her unsheltered breasts straining against her tank top. “Damn, I have to turn the light off.” She sighed and jumped out of the bed. I stared at her ass as she walked to switch the light off. “Ready for the movie?” She grinned as she jumped onto the bed. I couldn’t stop myself from watching her bouncing breasts as she moved and I stifled a groan as she cuddled up next to me again. Maybe her friends were right. Maybe we were getting too old for this.

“Yeah, sure.” I muttered and stretched. “Though, I might just go to sleep. I’m feeling tired.”

“So I can choose what I want to watch?” She peered up at me and grinned.

“Yay,” I faked a yawn and closed my eyes. “I’m feeling sleepy.”

“Night, sleepy head.” She whispered and leaned up and kissed my cheek. I felt her breasts pressed against my arm as she kissed me and I clenched my fists to stop myself from grabbing her around the waist and pulling her on top of me. I frowned at myself. These were not the thoughts I wanted to be having about Clementine.

“Night.” I whispered back and tried to control my breathing as she made herself comfortable next to me. All of a sudden I was aware of how close to naked we both were. Her body felt warm next to mine. Her scent filled my nose and her hair tickled my chest. All of a sudden, sharing a bed with Clementine didn’t feel so innocent. It felt like temptation. And I didn’t like it. Clementine was the last person I wanted to hook up with. It would ruin everything.