Plenty of fish in the sea... and the lake

"Fishing!" Said Todd enthusiastically "I'm in"

It wasn't an invitation and truth be told if it was I would've expected no-one to join but I wasn't going to exclude anyone.

"Haven't been fishing in ages, me too" Continues Brad with a smile on his face

Mark hesitates, looking at Tess, "Why don't you guys take care of Maisie and we'll bring home a feast for you all"

It was clear Tess wasn't satisfied but gave in.

"Clemson you're welcome to join too" said Todd invitingly

"Nah thanks, I should head back to my group, hang out with them but we'll catch up later"

The company might be nice I thought to myself as we collected the rods, eskies and buckets.

To my surprise I was the most skilled of the guys when it came to fishing. I took them down to the beach and showed the how to use sardines to catch king worms which we can use for bait. They all got the hang of it fairly quickly, and we ended up with way more bait then we'd need.

We arrive at Lake Marvel rods in hand. Brad opens what I think is an empty esky for the fish Mark had promised and pulls out beers and hands them out, at this moment, I kinda hated myself for it, but I was starting to like Brad.

The beers helped the conversation and before long we we're sharing laughs having a good time like old friends.

When the conversation slows down "So how are things going with Ari?" asks Mark.

"Not bad. She let me feel under her shirt one time, but that's it. I don't mind, she's really nice but I don't think either one of us wants to date once we get back home, we're both happy just having a bit of fun while we're here. How about you, Mark? Things good with Tess?"

"Yeah, really good, actually! I never thought of myself as the kind of guy who dates the head cheerleader, but once I found out she was into old movies, we talked for hours. Hopefully we can keep this going when we get back home" Everyone looks at Brad, and Mark says, "We all know things are going well with you and Maisie."

Brad's eyes widen. He stares off into the distance, as if he's stunned. Finally, he says, "I might have to marry that girl."

Todd and Mark break out laughing but my heart drops, as I guess I'm not as over Maisie as I thought. Todd interrupts my thoughts "Are you in love already, dude?"

Brad grins. "I don't know about love. Honestly, I don't even know if I like her but the sex is so good... the things she's willing to do." he says while shaking is head in disbelief.

The grin fades. "And somehow, she knows me better than I know me, she keeps pushing me into new things, I don't think I'm going to like it and then... I love it."

"Wow" whispers Todd

"That's intense" says Mark

After a pause, Brad says "I gotta ask though, what happened between you two?"

"I don't know" I say

"Come on man! You're a shit liar. I've seen you and Maisie hang out for years and then suddenly this year, I don't see you guys together as often, now on this trip she's asking everyone to run interference because she doesn't want to talk to you and somehow without talking, you managed to make her cry. What's the deal?"

I pause, it's true I suck at lying, "From what I know she's crying about family stuff which to be honest isn't for me to share" I figure that is technically the truth. "Other than that, for a long time I gave her what she wanted whenever I could, didn't really ask for anything in return, after all we're friends... at least I thought we were" I say slightly dejected "and yeah, I was kind of helping her in some ways but I stopped recently"

"You guys are still friends" says Todd reassuringly

"It's just a rough patch, I'm sure once her family stuff is better you guys will sort it out.

"What kind of stuff were you helping her with anyway? Must have been something important" asks Brad curiously.

"Uhh..." I didn't have a good response and then, my prayer was answered, I was saved, I felt my rod tugging, I start reeling it in, all the guys get hyped start cheering me on It's big, I manage to reel it in, a massive bass, it's gotta be at least 6 or 7kg and the celebrations started. Brad ran to empty the esky, make room for the Bass, throw it on the ice in the esky. As we were dealing with that, then it happened, Brads rod was being pulled into the water, Brad scrambles to it, fights another fish and pulls up another Bass, a little smaller than mine but still beautiful.

By some miracle the catches kept coming. We filled the first esky and then the second the brim. We started filling the bucket we had the bait in. I couldn't believe our luck the most successful fishing trip I had been on in years.

We we're all smiles heading back, "I'm going to message Clemson" said Todd "Tell him to bring his mates as well,

"Good thinking! We have heaps for the barbeque tonight" responded Brad

____________________________________________

We walk into the beach house, as primitive as it is all of us are smiling ear to ear, ready to show off our haul.

The girls are all in the living room together. In a generally good mood. Mark announces our entry with, a joyous "What did I say babe" showing off the haul

"Oh wow, you're such a good provider baby" responds Tess, barely looking at the esky, hand on his chest she kisses him deeply. Marks hands explore her lower back. They break away and with a stupid smile on his face Mark says "Oh yeah, we told Clemson to come and bring his friends"

Everyone's caught up in conversation about the barbeque tonight, Clemson and his friends are coming as well. There's a positive energy in the air.

Even with all this, I can't help but notice, as soon as I step into the room, Maisie, gets up to go to her room. She looks exhausted, my chest tightens, I can't help feel guilty, I had previously made it so that she always wakes up well rested, her hair has lost a bit of its shine and wasn't sitting perfectly, another command I had given her. Her chest was less like Barbie pushing the limits of evolutionary biology, still great just... more realistic. As she went up the stairs, her ass, while still lovely had lost a bit of its shape and tone, must have been from making her naturally super athletic. She's still a beautiful girl, but no longer would there be history books written for her like Helen of Troy.

I go to follow her up the stairs but I'm intercepted by Ari, "Please just give her some space" she starts, just as she opens her mouth to continue Jayda joins the conversation "I love her but she's being ridiculous, she refuses to explain things to us, she refuses to speak to you, somehow we've come around and think you're the mature one trying to talk with her numerous times."

"she's right" continued Ari "For some reason no-one understands, you're her best friend, she clearly needs to talk to you and clear her mind but she's refusing all reason"

"So leave her be for now, we'll get a few drinks in her tonight and hopefully she'll come to her senses and talk with you" says Jayda

"I don't know how i feel about getting her drunk" I respond

"Yeah me too" replied Ari

"Listen you two, don't go soft on me, firstly we're not getting her drunk, just a little tipsy so that she opens up, secondly I don't hear any other plans to get her to speak and relax"