A roar of laughter went through the small apartment living room and the coffee table was almost up-ended by a rowdy Trace.

“Hey!  Watch the furniture!”  Christina threw a pillow that missed Trace but managed to hit Rylee squarely in the face.

“Thanks Tina.”  The small group consisting of Rylee, Christina, Justin, and Trace filled the living room of the girl’s apartment and they all sat around watching some talent show on television.  They were all laughing at a comedian that was actually rather funny.

“Hey, RJ, wanna grab me another beer?”  Trace threw his arm around her shoulders and gave her his most charming grin.  “I’ll give you a kiss.”

Rylee’s eyebrow raised in curiosity.  “Tempting, really, but I think I can get your beer without a kiss.”  Trace looked slightly disappointed as she pushed his arm off of her shoulder and stood from her stop on the floor.  “Does anybody else want something while I’m up?”

“Oooh, a refill would be wonderful, love.”  Christina’s arm shot in Rylee’s direction as she held out her empty cup.

“Justin?”  His blue eyes shifted in her direction and it seemed to take him a second to focus his attention on her.

“Huh?  Oh, no thanks.”  Rylee shrugged and Justin watched her as she walked out of the living room and into the kitchen.

“I need to use the ladies room, excuse me, boys.”  Christina pecked Justin on the cheek before standing from her spot on the couch and heading out of the room.  Trace took this opportunity to throw a rather dirty look at his best friend.

“Dude, what is up with you tonight?  You’ve been completely vacant the whole time we’ve been here.”

“Nothing’s up.  Just tired, I guess.”  He shrugged his shoulders and tried to avoid Trace’s intense stare.

“Wow, JT.  You really need to get over whatever this thing is.”  Trace scooted closer to Justin so he could lower his voice.  “You have a girlfriend, Justin, and she’s been throwing herself at you all night.  Start paying attention to her and stop lusting after her room mate.  Jesus, you could at least wait until Christina isn’t around.”

Justin threw a wild look at his best friend and suddenly felt frantic.

“What?  What are you talking about?”  He looked around nervously to make sure that neither of the girls was back in the room to hear this conversation.

“It’s written all over your face, at least, to me it is.  It would help if you stopped throwing daggers at me every time Rylee and I touch or joke with one another.”

Justin was about to respond but both of the girls came back into the room at the same time.  Rylee handed out drinks and put a bowl of chips down on the coffee table.  Christina cuddled up next to him on the couch and he made a conscious effort to pull her close to him and to kiss her forehead.

If Trace was noticing that something was up with him, he needed to start being more careful.  It wasn’t that he was openly lusting after her, but it did ruffle his feathers when he saw how well Rylee and Trace got along.  This was the third time that all of them had hung out together and Justin was starting to think that the two of them had feelings for each other.

Justin glanced at his girlfriend and really noticed how short her shorts really were.  He could see long expanse of legs and he forced himself to focus on that and not on Rylee.

It was difficult though, when his mind kept wandering to the tattoo on her back that was visible if she shifted in the right way.  He had this little fantasy going on where the two of them would play this sexy little game.  He would try and guess where her other tattoos were located and if he got it wrong he had to take off a piece of clothing.  If he got it right, she needed to uncover wherever the tattoo was and she needed to take off a piece of clothing.

Shit, he was starting to get hard.

“I’m gonna use the bathroom, I’ll be right back.”  He quickly stood from the couch and left the room in a hurry, leaving behind three confused people.

“I’ll go check on him.”  Christina stood and followed Justin down the hallway.  “Baby?  You OK?”  The bathroom door was open a crack so she pushed it open and saw Justin leaning over the sink breathing heavily.

“I’m OK.”  A smirk covered Christina’s face when she noticed his obvious arousal and she stepped into the bathroom and locked the door behind her.

“You, ah, having some trouble baby?”

“Huh?”  Justin turned to see that look on his girlfriend’s face and he turned a slight shade of red.  Did she know he was thinking about Rylee?  Nah, it was impossible…right?  “Uhm…”  Shit. Think, JT, think.  “Yeah…it was…it was those shorts you’ve got on.”

He saw her smirk grow and he inwardly sighed.  Now she was rubbing up on him and grabbing him through his jeans.  If he wasn’t hard before, he most certainly was now.

“You sure you want to do this with those guys in the other room?”  He really didn’t want anyone to hear him having sex, that just seemed a little inappropriate. 

“We’ll be quick.  I promise.”  She attacked his mouth and reached her hand into his pants to grab onto his erection.  Yeah, this would probably be pretty quick.

---

Trace and Rylee sat in a slightly awkward silence as they listened to a series of loud bangs coming from the bathroom.

“That’s classy.”  Trace was the one to comment.  He could see the look of disgust and upset written on Rylee’s face, she seemed really uncomfortable.

“Yeah, that’s Christina.”  The words were laced with a form of disgust and her nose wrinkled as she spoke.  “She can be a classy gal.”

Trace shifted over on the floor and threw his arms around Rylee in a hug.  They didn’t say anything for a moment, just sitting there keeping each other company.

“It’s probably really bad that I’ve got a thing for my best friend’s boyfriend, right?”  The sentence was soft and Trace was surprised that he caught it at all.  He was also surprised that this girl was opening up to him, but it seemed like this was weighing heavily on her mind and she needed to vent to someone.

“You wanna get out of here, Ry?”  Her head shot up and she threw a strange glance at him.  “I dunno, we could get some ice cream or something and talk.  It’s getting a little noisy in here for me anyway.”  The end of his sentence with punctuated with a rather interesting moan-like sound.

“Yeah” she nodded emphatically.  “I do.”

The two stood from their spots on the floor and Trace slipped his shoes back on while Rylee grabbed a sweatshirt and her flip flops.  She scribbled out a note on the message board, then she snagged her keys from the table and they headed out the door.

The night air was crisp and it was becoming more apparent that summer was coming to an end.  It was still warm, but it lacked the usual haze that comes with the warmer months.

“Let’s walk.”  Trace suggested, so they steered away from the cars and headed down the street.  “So, girlfriend, tell me what’s bugging you.”

Rylee smirked but stayed silent for a moment.  She looked lost in thought so Trace waited patiently for her to start talking.

“I love my best friend.”  There had to be a large ‘but’ coming sometime soon, he could feel it.  “But she pisses me off sometimes.”  Yep, he knew it.

“Because of Justin?”

“Because of a lot of shit.  Throughout the whole span of our friendship, she’s gotten the guy.  I can’t tell you how many hearts have gotten broken because she’s just so careless with who she hangs out with, and every guy ends up falling in love with her.  She moves on and their left pining after her.”  She gave a rather nasty laugh.  “It’s after she breaks their heart that they notice I exist, and they come running to me for advice on how to win her back.”

“I don’t think Justin is like that, though.”  Trace was trying really hard to defend his best friend, but sometimes he thought that Justin made some stupid decisions, especially when it came to women.

“I don’t know.  It’s just…”  She trailed off, leaving her sentence hanging in the air between them.

They walked in silence for a few moments.  Sounds of the night life could be heard floating on the air:  car horns blared from the freeway near by, voices carried from the apartment buildings and houses, and the buzzing of the street lights could be heard if you listened hard enough.

“I think I’m more pissed at myself for having a crush on Justin than anything else.”  Rylee finally looked Trace fully in the face and he had to hug her when he saw the desperate look marring her features.

“If it makes you feel any better, I know he’s got this thing for you, too.”  She laughed again, but it wasn’t a very happy laugh.

“Thanks, but I think that just makes it worse.  I would never act on my feelings for him, whatever feelings they may be.  That would ruin my friendship with Christina and it would ruin their relationship.”

Damn, she was right.

“Well, this should make you feel better.”  He waited until she was looking at him.  “I think you’re ten times the woman she is, and Justin is an idiot for staying with her and not going after you.”  This time her laugh was filled with amusement and it made Trace smile.

“I like you, Trace, even if you are goofy looking.”  This comment earned her an arm around the neck as Trace rubbed his knuckles into her scalp.

“That was completely uncalled for.”

The two continued to banter as they made their way into the local ice cream shop.  Rylee was feeling a little bit better about having confessed her feelings, and she couldn’t help but have a good time when she was hanging out with Trace.  He was really starting to grow on her, and she knew that whatever happened with Christina and Justin, Rylee would come out of this with a good friend.