Best Friend Forever

"Uh... Best friend forever?"

The **** of Matthew's laugh was almost strong enough to jettison the beer from his hand. Almost. "Seriously mate? That's what you come up with? What are you, a white girl? That was by far the cheesiest thing I've ever heard you say."

Toby just blinked, confused at his friend. "Wait, it didn't work?"

"How the fuck were you expecting that to work?"

"I dunno man! You're always spouting on about how you and Sam are a package deal and I feel let out sometimes."

Taken aback, Matt relaxed his laugh, eyeing his friend and the beer he was holding. "Woah there mate, too many emotions for Thursday afternoon. Is that beer almost empty? I sometimes forget you're a lightweight." He leaned forward into his hands, the tone in his voice immediately shifting to a serious one.

"Listen, whatever Samantha says, she'll never come between us, alright? You're my best mate; my main man. That bullshit about Sam and I being a package? That's wrong! We're the package deal. I'm always telling Sam that, remember? I've got your back until the end." He downed the rest of his beer. "Just don't tell Sam that." He added with a wink.

The sound of a door opening and closing pierced the room, killing the moment. "Speaking of which..." And both turned towards the hallway leading to the two rooms, just in time to watch Sam emerge from the bedroom, hair still wet from her showering, wearing a casual pink t-shirt and white short shorts.

"Who you talking too, Matt?" She asked as she approached, only later noticed Toby. "Oh my god, Toby! Hey!" She ran up to him, catching him just as he stood, giving his a hug. "How you been? You doing okay?"

"Hey Sam, I'm good." He replied, disengaging from her grip. "How are you?"

"Oh, you know." She shrugged. Sam, in a word, was a knockout. How Matt managed to snag such a girl, Toby would never understand. She had long, luscious blonde hair that descended down towards her mid-back, a baby-doll face that made her seem exceedingly innocent, killer tits sitting up top of the perfect, stereotypical hourglass frame, and an ass to die for. She was quite literally sex on legs, and easily the kindest girl Toby had ever met.

Pleasantries exchanged, she plopped down next to her boyfriend, his arm immediately snaking around her. "What are you two talking about?"

Matt answered before he could. "My BFF over here is now the newly proud owner of the Ring of Threes, capable of changing anything and anyone with just three words."

At that, Sam turned to look at him, eyebrow raised. "Your BFF? Magic ring? Okay weirdo, clearly he's already gotten you under his spell." As Matt laughed, she glanced over at Toby. "Does it work?"

He just shrugged. "That's what we're trying to find out. But, so far, it's been unsuccessful."

"So you have used it on him." She said while gesturing to Matt, who was still giggling.

"Yeah, with no effect."

She eyes the two men before sighing. "And you two call yourselves engineers." She uncrossed her legs and sat up. "Okay, so they taught me this in one of my courses. When you're doing an experiment, the best way to observe the results is to have a target set and a static set. The target set is the one you're changing, while the static set stays unchanged. Once your experiment is done, you compare the two and write down the results."

As she lectured, Toby nodded along. "Right, I get that. But how is it relevant here?"

"Don't you see? You need an unbiased observer after you've made the change. That way, if it does work and the person is indeed changed, you have someone else with whom you can compare the results."

Sitting right next to her, Matt just eyed his girlfriend, giving her a smirk. "Alright then Hermione, what do you propose?"

She flashed a grin back at him. "Simple, use it on..."