What Are Friends For?

Clink.

So. Goddamn. Unfair.

Clink.

With the weather starting to hit spring temperatures, Ryan convinced everyone that Friday’s Game be fought at the batting cage. The issue I had with it? Colin and Ryan were on the goddamn baseball team. I got to watch them ‘warm up’ by knocking out pitch after pitch of balls I could barely see.

There was a putt-putt golf course right outside. Why couldn’t we do that instead? My mood wasn’t helped by Emma giving me that knowing look. She knew I was going to fail. Again.

Brooding by the cage, I watched Grant struggle against the slower pitch machine. If there was any consolation, he was about as skilled as I was at this.

“We’re about to start here in a minute or so. You ready?” Ryan asked as he moved up beside me.

I sighed and rolled my shoulders back. “I guess.”

He nudged me with his fist. “Don’t give up yet. You never know what will happen.”

“I may not know how I’ll embarrass myself, but I’ll manage it somehow.”

He didn’t let his infectious grin drop for a moment. “The only way you lose is by giving up. Look at you. You chased Emma for months and didn’t give up. Now? She’s your girlfriend.”

“That’s different.”

“Is it? You could have quit at any point, but you didn’t.” He wrapped his arm around my shoulder, pulling me along with him. “Come on. Give it your all. You’d be surprised at what you can accomplish.”

Back with the rest of the group, Ryan kept me close as the guys talked shit to each other. Emma caught my eye and mouthed ‘good luck’ before giving an encouraging gesture. I wondered how much of that was legit. Grant joined us a moment later and Ryan got the attention of the group.

“Gentlemen, another week down, another battle to the ****!”

“Only thing that dies is your dignity,” Justin said with a snicker.

Ryan waved the comment away before continuing. “Anyway. We’ve done this before, but I’ll go over it for the new guy,” he said with an affectionate pat on my shoulder. “One token each. Sixteen balls from the seventy fastball machine.” Seventy miles an hour! Why god? Why? “Whoever hits the most is crowned champion. Ties are taken care of by another round until we have a winner. Any questions?”

Head shakes. I noticed Ryan glance over at Colin and the two shared a silent nod. Probably agreeing not to embarrass the rest of us too badly.

“Isaac is up first.”

“W-what? Me? Can’t someone—”

“Nope. It definitely has to be you,” Cameron said, coming up from behind to give me a push. He got me to the cage as the girls cheered and wished me luck. It was actually kinda nice. Even Emma was cheering for me, a big smile on her face as she shouted encouragement.

Maybe I could do this. I readied my bat.

Pat.

What the fuck was I thinking? I didn’t even see the fucking thing.

Pat.

Fuck this. I was an academic. Physical activity wasn’t my thing.

Ting.

Ow. Even clipping the damn thing hurt. How I even managed it was a miracle.

“That counts,” Ryan said with a laugh. “Come on Isaac, you got this!”

My embarrassment came to an end with four hits. They weren’t even hits. It was more like my bat just so happened to be in the same place the ball was traveling.

Rubbing my hands, I left the cage. All said, I did better than expected.

“Good showing,” Ryan said as he grabbed my shoulder and gave it a slight shake. “We can work with that.”

“Huh?”

He grinned and said nothing more.

I walked over to where Emma was waiting. She had a wonderful smile on her face. Probably because she knew one of the guys was going to be rocking her world later tonight.

“You did better than I expected.”

“Kinda had to, what with my girlfriend watching and all.”

Mischievous thoughts crossed her mind. “Mmm. You do enjoy watching, don’t you.” I groaned at the poor innuendo. Wrapping her arms around me, she snuggled closer as my hands found her hips. For the next several seconds, we simply stared at each other, smiling. Leaning forward, I kissed her. Finishing the kiss, I pulled away only for her to push forward and kiss me.

“What was that for?”

She shrugged. “Do I have to have a reason?”

“Nope.”

“Wonder who’s going to claim me tonight,” she said in a sultry tone as her eyes searched mine. Running her hands down my chest, she wore a small smile on her face as she spoke. “I’m hoping for Ryan. Pretty sure I can convince him to let me film the entire thing.” Her eyes flicked up to mine. “Would you like that, Isaac? Watch me fu—”

I pressed my finger to her mouth, causing her eyes to widen as the shock blew away the persona she was acting. “You, Emma, have a naughty mouth. One that should not be out playing in public.”

She pouted. “You’re no fun.”

“If you’re looking for fun, we can always sneak away. Head back to my place…”

“And do what?” she asked with a suggestive tilt of her head.

My eyes trailed down. “I can think of a few things.” I waited a few seconds. “Netflix… anime…Mario Kart…”

She snorted, holding her hand over her mouth as she giggled. “Oh, Isaac. I think we have different ideas of fun.”

I shrugged. “I can always toss you over the back of the sofa and have my way with you.”

“Okay, so not that different.” I wiggled my eyebrows at her. She slapped the back of her hand against my chest and stepped away. “Come on, lover boy. Let’s go see who’s winning.” Before she could go too far, I snaked my arm through hers and grabbed her hand. Smiling, we went back to the group.

“What number we on?” Emma asked Sarah.

Her friend had an amused look. “Colin’s the last one. I think he only has a few more pitches left.”

Pat.

The ball hit the back of the cage and rolled down the gentle slope.

“How many has he hit?” Emma asked.

Sarah’s smile widened. She looked like a child desperately trying to fight back a great secret. “Two.”

Emma’s eyes went wide as her head snapped over to Sarah. “Two? How is that even possible?”

“By missing?”

“Bullshit. I watched him smack them around for an hour before this. How many did Ryan hit?”

“Three.”

Emma was silent, the smile long gone.

“Sarah. Who is winning?” Her friend was silent, struggling to keep the smile off her face. “Sarah!”

Colin left the cage, shaking his head. “Man, I must be out of practice.”

Ryan clapped him on the back. “You did your best. That’s all anyone can ask.” Turning back to the group, he addressed us with that overly charming smile he was blessed with. “Ladies and gentlemen, your attention, please. If I could have you all give a big round of applause for our winner: Isaac Carter! Come on down!”

Emma’s body went ridged behind me, her face unreadable.

“Me?” I asked. “But I only hit four…”

“The highest of the night!”

“Yeah man, I was super off. Congrats,” Colin said as he came over to give me a little push. I stumbled away from Emma as everyone lightly clapped. The girls were giggling. The guys though, all had that same conspiratorial grin.

“What’s going on?” I whispered to Ryan when I went to stand beside him.

“You sir, are getting your first choice in the Prize Pool.”

“Yeah, but… how?” My eyes widened. “Did you guys seriously throw the fight?”

His hand patted my back. “What are friends for?” He nodded to where Emma stood. Wasn’t sure how to read her. She wasn’t angry, but I don’t think she knew how to process this. “Go get her.”

Numbly shuffling over to Emma, I heard a few whistles and hoots. “H-hey.” Reaching out, I took her hands. “I just want to be clear I didn’t put them up to this. I’m as shocked as you are.”

“This wasn’t how it was supposed to go.” Pulling her hands from mine, she turned and walked away. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a look of panic flash over Sarah’s face. I held out a hand to stop her from chasing.

Turning to the group, the joyous mood was gone as they watched with various levels of concern. “Thanks, everyone,” I said, giving them a heartfelt thanks. “Really. This… I really appreciate it. We’re going to head out first.”

“Isaac,” Ryan called out before I could chase after her. “Did we do something wrong?”

I grinned. “Nah. You guys were great. It’ll be fine.”

I hope.

With a wave, I headed off after Emma. I caught up to her in the parking lot. She was making a beeline to my car.

“Emma. Don’t be like this. They were just trying to help me out—”

She spun on her heel, facing me. “Are you okay with this?”

The question took me off guard. “I—“ Frowning I went another direction. “Why are you upset?”

Taking a breath, her expression softened. “Sorry. I know I’m acting like a child, but this was important to me.”

“If you wanted to sleep with one of them tonight, I’m sure you can—”

“What? I don’t care about that,” she said, waving me off.

“Then what?”

Brushing back some hair, she avoided my eye. “It’s stupid.”

I moved in closer. It didn’t seem like she was angry. Upset, but not angry. “What’s wrong?”

She had tears in her eyes. Her hand came up and wiped them away before they could fall as she blinked more back. “I knew you would struggle through these. It’s all stuff you normally don’t do. But I expected you to win eventually. In time, the Game would be something you could fight them on equal ground.” Her eyes looked up at me. “I wanted to see you win. The elation of overcoming countless defeats. The joy of standing on top. The confidence as you claimed me as your prize. I hoped that—” She stopped suddenly, looking away.

“What?” She shook her head. “Emma…”

Head down, she avoided looking at me. “I hoped that seeing you like that would make me want you. You know. Sexually.” She wiped at her eyes. “Now it’s all ruined. I know they meant well. They were just trying to help you and I completely get that. It’s just that I’ve been trying so hard at being a girlfriend and for it all to—”

“Wait,” I said, latching onto her last sentence. It was the way she said it. “Emma, these past weeks… Were you… pretending?” She took a step back. I didn’t dare look at her face. I couldn’t. I couldn’t see the expression she was making. I felt sick. “Oh my god.”

“It’s not like that. Isaac. I—”

I held up my hand, stopping her. “Are you messing with me right now?”

“No!”

“So you were just pretending to what… enjoy being with me?”

“Isaac. You going to shut up and let me explain, or are you just going to continue torturing yourself with delusions?”

Her voice seemed to snap me back from the edge I was teetering over. It still took a few breaths to calm myself enough to look at her. She didn’t look happy.

“It’s true that I may have been playing up the girlfriend part, but it’s not some malicious plot on my end. I saw how happy it made you, so… I leaned into it.”

“Why?”

“I told you. I saw how happy it made you.”

“I never asked you to pretend to be someone you weren’t. I just want you to be… you.”

“I don’t want to be me.” The emotion behind it took me by surprise. “I’m terrified, Isaac. I care about you. That isn’t a lie. Never, ever. But I know who I am. I saw what I did to you when I was telling you about Colin and what we did. I gutted you.”

“You stopped.”

“Only because you stopped me.” She avoided my gaze. “I saw it before you said our safe word. I saw what I was doing to you. Saw the devastation wreck you.” There was a slight shiver in her body. “I didn’t stop. I couldn’t stop. I was ready to dig in, tear at you until—”

The silence left things unsaid.

Moving forward, I wrapped her in a hug. Her body was tense as I held her tightly. “But you did stop.”

“It was hard.”

“But you stopped.” I pulled away so I could look at her. “I said you didn’t need to be a perfect girlfriend and I knew we were going to discover things that didn’t work. The important thing is that we trust each other. You think I don’t know about your twisted side? Come on, Emma. I’ve known about that for months before we started dating, yet here I am.”

“I’m scared, Isaac. Scared that I will hurt you beyond what you will forgive me for. I’m afraid that I won’t give you what you’ll need and you’ll leave. All those cute and cuddly moments, I don't know if that is really me. This is all so new...”

I stomped down my initial emotional response to that and focused on getting answers. “Do you not like kissing me?”

She seemed taken aback by my question. “No. I do.”

“What about the flirting?”

A little smile. “Of course I enjoy that.”

“Hanging out?”

“I liked that before we started dating.”

I scratched my head. “Emma, maybe you are the one blowing things out of proportion here by over-thinking things.” She looked away. Reaching out, I rubbed at her arms. “It’s okay to not know everything. We are still figuring things out. As for me, I don’t require much to get me back on my feet. Just hold me a bit and whisper nice things to me.” I grinned. “Putting my head in your boobs helps too. You should do that more often. At least once a day. Twice, if you really want to be a good girlfriend.”

Her smile was looking a little more confident.

“This week, focus on being yourself. Don’t do things just because you think I’ll like them or it’s something you think I want. I bet I won’t even notice the difference. Okay?”

She nodded. “Okay.”

I gave her a hug, happy when she returned it.

“So, how about a little Netflix?” She nodded. “And chill?” I added hopefully.

She grinned and pushed me away. “You wish.”

I chased after her. Wrapping my arm around her, we headed to my car.