“Still raining?”

I didn’t move my eyes from the TV and my thumbs continued to move rapidly over the video game controller. “Yeah. Can’t you hear the thunder?”

Ben sighed. “Shit, I’m bored,” he said, leaning back in the couch, dropping his own controller in his lap. “Aren’t you bored?”

“Of course I am. We’ve been sitting here for three hours.”

“I thought Trace was coming over.”

“Yeah, I dunno where he is.”

Ben leaned his head against the back of the couch and draped his arm over his eyes. “So you guys are leaving tomorrow?”

“At eight.”

“Who’s all going camping?”

“Me, Trace, Becca, Em, Lo, Gavin.”

“And you’re gone for a week?”

“Five days. Too bad you’re not coming.”

He gave a short laugh. “Pretty sure I’m not welcome.”

“Maybe next month we can go camping,” I said, frowning when my car crashed into a wall and the words ‘game over’ flashed across the screen. Sighing, I set my controller down. “Feel like going to a club tonight?”

“Has she asked about me?”

My eyes moved to Ben at his sudden question. “Emily? No.”

“Mentioned anything about me?”

“Not really.” Wanting to get off the topic of him and Emily, I asked, “So what about tonight? There’s some new club opening in the city. We could check it out.”

Ben lifted the arm from his eyes and stared up at the ceiling. “We could I guess. Shit, I just don’t feel like doing anything. I’m bored out of my mind.”

“I know.” I stretched out my legs in front of me. “Maybe we could go…go to…” I trailed off when I heard the sound of my front door opening. “Maybe that’s Trace.”

“I hope he brought food.”

“I’ve got food here.”

“I mean real food. You’ve got all that health food shit.”

“So I’ve been trying to eat more healthy. Don’t hate on it till you try it. This granola cereal I’ve got is ama…” My words trailed off when Emily appeared in the doorway.

Shit, this is going to be awkward.

A prolonged minute of silence followed and I was in the midst of trying to come up with something to say to ease the tension when Ben’s voice broke the quiet.

“How are you, Emily?”

Her eyes narrowed. “I’m great actually.”

“It’s been awhile since I’ve seen you.”

Her arms crossed over her chest. “Well that hasn’t been by accident.”

“I was hoping we could talk.”

“Talk?” she laughed. “Are you shitting me?”

Time to go. I stood. “Maybe I’ll-”

Emily’s eyes shot to me. “Sit down, Justin,” she snapped.

I obediently dropped back down. She seemed too fired up to even think about arguing with.

“I just wanted to talk to you alone for a bit, Em,” Ben said, standing up.

She raised her eyebrows. “Whatever you are so sure you need to say you can say in front of Justin. It’s not like I wouldn’t be telling him everything later anyways.”

I shut my eyes and laid my head against the back of the couch. I hated getting involved in things like this. I tried to block out Ben’s voice as he whined that he was still sorry and he missed her and Emily’s voice as she yelled accusatory things at him.

You see, this is why you don’t allow your two friends to get involved with each other. When I introduced Ben to Emily when I had first met him and realized how much they were alike, I should have realized I wouldn’t be able to keep them apart.

It wasn’t that they were always bad together. When they weren’t fighting, they seemed to so in love and so happy. But when they were fighting…that was just brutal. Two opinionated, outspoken people arguing was enough to give anyone a headache.

A headache like the one that was currently forming between my temples. I’d like to say that this was the first time I’d been caught in the middle of one of their fights but this was a recurring thing. They seem to have their best fights when I’m present.

The yelling was getting a bit much for me and it had pushed me to my breaking point. Willing to face Emily’s wrath, I stood, mumbled something about a phone call, and slipped from the room, deciding to get as far away as possible.

I found myself outside in the backyard. Shutting the door behind me, I walked over to the small basketball court at the side of the yard and picked up a basketball. I started to shoot the ball, hoping that Emily wasn’t going to break anything in the midst of their fight. There were some pretty expensive things in that room.

“Hey, you wuss!”

I shot the ball one more time before turning my head towards Emily’s voice.

“Couldn’t handle me putting Ben in his place?” she asked as she sauntered over to me.

I threw the ball to her. She caught it and rested it against her hip. With a raised eyebrow, she asked, “Are you not talking to me or something?”

I sighed. “Just tell me you didn’t break anything.”

“Nope.” She threw the ball and I smirked when it missed the basket. She’d always sucked at basketball. I had given up on trying to teach her a long time ago.

“Where’s Ben?”

She picked up the ball and passed it back to me. “I sent him packing. So now you’re stuck with your cooler, more honest friend.”

I sighed. “Emily, don’t put me in the middle of you guys like that. You guys are both my friends and I’m not picking sides.”

Her mouth formed an unconscious pout that had always made me instantly no longer annoyed at her. I’m pretty sure she didn’t even know she did it. “I didn’t mean to. I’m sorry. I just got so mad when I saw Ben.” She rested her hands on her hips. “I didn’t mean to drive you out of your own house.”

I bounced the ball a couple times and gave her a look.

She came over to me and slid her arm around my waist, squeezing me tight. “Justin…you love me too much to be mad.”

A smile slowly spread across my face. It was impossible to stay mad at her. “You’re such a pest, Chief.”

She giggled and poked my stomach. “That’s part of my charm.” She took the ball from me and this time actually got it in the net when she shot. “So I was thinking we should go out tonight.”

“Actually I was wanting to go to this club downtown. Ben didn’t really want to go.”

“Well I want to go out. And me and you always have fun when we go out together.”

“As long as you don’t get drunk again and get all crying and pukey on me.”

“Hey, I had just broken up with my boyfriend. And I was drinking whiskey. Give me a break.” She threw the ball again and as per usual missed the net. “So can we go.”

I stole the ball from her. “Like I’d turn it down.”

* * *

Justin’s hips are like liquid when he dances. I’ve never seen a man move his hips the way Justin does. Every single movement ha makes is so smooth, so effortless, and with such fluid perfection that it sets him apart from every other person around.

He actually taught me how to dance. When I first met him, I couldn’t hold a beat to save my life. But he eventually found my very deeply hidden rhythm and now I feel like I can hold my own on a dance floor. Not to say that dancing with him doesn’t always leave me a little breathless. But I like to blame that on the fact that he’s worked with professional choreographers before and I definitely have not.

“Look at that girl over there,” Justin’s voice says in my ear, pulling my attention away from keeping up with him. I looked over to where he motioned with his head and saw a half naked girl dancing on the bar.

“Classy,” I commented.

“You should get up there with her.”

I let out a laugh. “I’ll get right on that.”

“Come on. It’ll be funny.”

“I love how you think I’m here to entertain you.” I took another look at the girl. “I would never get up there. Everyone can see up her skirt.”

“You’re wearing pants. You’ll be fine.”

I laughed and completely stopped dancing. “Justin! I’m not doing it!”

“Come on, Chief. Live a little.”

“You live a little,” I responded. “I’m going to get a drink. Are you coming?”

“Nah. I’m going to find someone who’ll live a little.”

I rolled my eyes. “Come find me when you get bored.”

“I will.”

I parted from Justin and pushed my way through the people around me. I got a bottle of beer and then went upstairs and found a table near the railing where I could see the whole dance floor. I spotted Justin in the crowd and smirked. He was doing that annoying thing guys always do where they act all cocky and uninterested in all the girls trying to get their attention, when in reality, they’re loving every minute of it. It’s funny to me because I know the real Justin and he’s so far from that but it’s like second nature for him to act like this in this environment.

I moved my eyes from Justin and the flock of girls to search the rest of the crowd. I needed to find a man. Sure, I had only been single for a month but I definitely didn’t like it at all. You would think my last horrible attempt at a relationship would deter me for at least a few months but…I don’t know. I had always liked being in a relationship. I’m really not a fan of the single life.

Justin had been dancing with the same blond, skinny, model-esque girl for fifteen minutes now. Not that I’m jealous or anything. But this girl was so tiny it looked like Justin could break her in half. That girl needed to eat something.

I sighed and wiped the condensation from around my beer bottle. Who was I kidding. I would kill to have a body like that. I was cursed with my mom’s big hips and butt and it’s like the source of all despair when I go shopping for pants. And my shoulders seem too wide and my calves are just weird. As annoying as that all is, I try and just accept it. I’ve tried enough diets to know I can’t change anything.

“Hey, stop frowning. You’re gonna get wrinkles.”

I looked up at Justin’s voice and found him pulling out one of the chairs and sitting down. “I’m just thinking.”

He wiped away the light sheen of sweat on his forehead. “Bout what?”

I shrugged as an answer.

“So I was thinking about you dancing on the bar.”

I began to smile. “Justin, I am NOT-”

“For fifty bucks?”

“No!” I laughed.

“A hundred.”

“If I get up there you’ll take a picture of me and show everyone. There’s nothing you can say to get me to even consider it.”

He gave a dramatic sigh. “I need to find more fun people to go out with. You aren’t cutting it.”

I rolled my eyes. What a little shit. “You don’t know anyone more fun than me. Don’t kid yourself.”