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"Bully" I rinned

"You’re a er rinned at her and showed her my perfect white teeth and dimple

"You can’t charm your ith me, Mr Madison" She batted her eyelashes at me and I bowed my head

"But I sure can try" I pretended to lift off a pretend top hat and she laughed

"Shh" She pressed play on the remote and the maids came back on screen I leaned back and tried to understand what she saw in the show, butwithin a few minutes I pulled es There was aif I was busy and if I wanted to watch a movie I knew exactly what thatI tried to picture her face, but all I could re her smaller-than-I-normally-liked brsts across my face I deleted the text and put the phone back in irl interrupt one-on-one tih school when I’d nearly destroyed our relationship by flaking on her one too irls out to the movies at the last er in Cleranted

"I don’t know about you, Rhett, but I would never put a date in front ofdarts at me

"It wasn’t on purpose," I’d ry

"This is the fourth tio on a date" She’d counted her fingers "And it’s the last tiain I’irl, just because I’m your friend"

"I never said you were second-class" I rolled my eyes at her dramatics Girls!

"You didn’t have to say it That’s how you’ve been treating er had poked me in the chest as she pushed her shoulders back "This is the last time The next time you ditch me at the last minute will be the last time you call htly over-the-top, but they’d scaredthere for ht she was being over-the-top, but I had never ditched her at the last od, that was crazy" Clehts "I totally didn’t see that couess?" I , were you?"

"Truth or Lie?" I grinned and watched her ju some water Want some?"

"I’d rather have a beer"

"Fine Hold on" I watched her walk out of the bedroom and looked around the room It was small, but it was totally Clereens and there were at least fifteen frarinned as I saw one of us at Disney from the previous summer I jumped up off of the bed and looked at the different photos that chronicled our friendship They brought back so many happy memories I walked around the room and looked at all the photos and then frowned There was a photo of Clehth birthday party It was a picture of us cutting rinning I stared at the photo for a few seconds and then turned around What a farce that had been We’d looked like such a happy fa but that My dad’s smile had hidden his affair with his secretary It was so clichéd it wasn’t even funny And est liar of all Her smile hid her alcohol probleive two shits about me She’d walked away from me and my dad just a few years later and never looked back She didn’t care about me and she didn’t care about our family

"Okay, I’m back I decided to have a beer as well" Cle "I know, I know, you’re shocked We have class to, but after the week I’ve had, I deserve a drink" She paused and handed ?" She frowned and studiedThe bitter cold taste felt welco’, or nothing like ‘I’ to talk about it’?" She took a step closer and peered into my eyes I looked away from her I wasn’t in the ured she could telle It annoyed the shit out of me Sometimes aa girl for a best friend They wanted to talk through everything She wouldn’t let things go and she always needed to knohat s were Sometimes I just wanted to tell her to leave me the fk alone, but I kne sensitive she was to just about everything, so I’d resisted so far

"I’rabbed the re to see what’s on ESPN, cool?"

"That’s fine" She sat on the bed next to me "What happened in the three " I grunted and stared at the screen

"You are so annoying" She groaned and stood up "Letover here" She walked over to the side of her bedroom and looked around, her face deep in concentration I tried to ignore her, but I couldn’t stopabout Clenore Especially when she earing her cheerleader shorts I knew that it rong of s as hard as I was, but I couldn’t help myself She looked at ht as she stared at s? They seeer than I re out?

"What?" I frowned as she continued staring at " She stared at ain She looked at the wall and then stopped in front of the photo I’d been staring at I froze as I realized she’d figured it out I was upset because I’d been looking at a photo of my mother How clichéd was I? Typicalit up and start the conversation aboutfor her to broach the subject It was inevitable Cle out in the open "So, what do you want to do?" She walked back over to the bed and I stared at her through narrowed eyes

"Huh?" I watched as she joined ain

"What shall we do?" She srimaced I wasn’t sure why she drank beer, as she hated the taste of it

"What do you want to do?" I sat up, suddenly feeling relaxed again "And please don’t say you want to give ht"

"You wish" She rolled her eyes at ain for a brief second and looked away

"Not particularly, I can’t iood"

"Excuse ave her nature Rhett smile "It’s just a fact You don’t really knowyour hips"

"You’re an asshole" She shook her head

"Better an asole than depressed, right?" I winked at her and I watched as her eyes softened

"If you ever want to talk about it, you know I’rabbed my hand and squeezed it softly

"I’er than He-Man"

"I’ of the beer

"Wanna watch a movie?" She put her beer bottle down on the bedside table and lay down

"As long as it’s not a chick flick" I lay back next to her and I felt our shoulders rubbing together

"I can’t promise that there are no chickens in the movie" She switched the screen to Netflix

"Can you at least pro the movie?" I joked