“You know, you could always bring us along with you.” My head darts over to where she is standing and I’m trying my hardest to make telepathy work at this moment because I cannot believe she just asked him that. Chase doesn’t say anything, just takes a big scoop of guacamole on his chip and shoves it in his mouth.
Between chews he says, “You two wouldn’t have fun. It’s just the guys.” Wiping his hands on the towel beside him he grabs his keys off the table.
“All the more reason, Chase. We’re two single ladies, and hanging out with some guys is just what we need.” Chase rolls his eyes and looks back and forth between me and Summer. Meanwhile, I’m shaking my head and putting my hands up to signal I have nothing to do with this sudden interest in guys' night.
“Abso-fucking-lutely not. Last thing I need is my friends trying to piss me off by hitting on either of you. Stay home. Have your girls’ night. Sing along to Taylor Swift or whatever it is you do when you’re together.” Summer gives him a pouty look before grabbing the whole bag of chips and bringing them in the living room as Chase walks out the door.
“What the hell was that? Not once did we discuss leaving this couch tonight,” I ask her with a laugh.
“Eh, just testing it out, seeing what he’d say. He reacted about as I expected.” She shrugs her shoulders.
“Now that he’s gone though, let's pick up where we left off.”
I tell Summer all about the epic elevator kiss and the best orgasm I’ve ever had that followed. All the while she’s gasping and smiling ear to ear about the whole thing.
“Oh, and when he picked me up from the side of the road the other day after my car took a shit, he was a total gentleman. He took my bags for me, he was already playing good music and he didn’t make one single snarky comment about me taking my shoes off in the car.” Of course those things aren’t monumental, but to me they matter. Summer shakes her head and lets out a little giggle.
Her blue eyes are staring at me intently. “He sounds like he might be fun for you, Ab. A little spontaneity would be good.” She wiggles her eyebrows and takes a sip of her drink. I’m not really known for my spontaneity, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a tad bit curious if maybe Summer is right? Maybe it would be good to try and just let myself have some fun.
We spend the rest of the night catching up on what she’s been up to in Miami. She’s a bartender right now at one of the sports bars on South Beach and she’s in nursing school. It’s a miracle she was able to come here this weekend with her schedule. I’ve always valued spending time with her, but now that it’s not as easy as it used to be, I’m treasuring it even more.
When shit hit the fan with Andrew, Summer was the first person I called. I stayed with her for a week before even telling my mom what happened. She quite literally picked me up off the floor and helped me stand on my own feet again. She’s the one who found the job listing here for me, she’s the one who suggested I ask Chase if I could stay with him in Tampa. It’s like I couldn’t function after things ended with Andrew. I was so embarrassed with how that relationship ended. Who wants to say, “Yeah, my boyfriend of three years, the person I thought I’d marry, have kids with, yeah, he cheated on me with someone who I thought was a friend and I was too blind to realize it was happening right under my nose.” It was humiliating. I relied so much on Summer in the aftermath of everything and I’m just so thankful for her friendship.
She breaks my thought and asks, “Does the ice cream place down the street deliver?” As if she’s seeing the wheels turning in my mind replaying the last couple months, she reaches out and holds my hand. “I could go for a few scoops of cookie dough.” She smiles at me and I grab my phone and pull up the menu.
“I’m not sure, but let’s find out.”
Best friends cure everything.
“Bro, what the fuck?” I’m watching Nate and Liam in another video game shouting match. “Get your head out of your ass! We’re getting fucked here!” Nate yells. Liam just shakes his head and looks over at me.
They’re playingCall of Dutyand I can hear Nate yell from the other room. “Ford, call next. I can’t play with him again.” On the football field, I’ll go to war for these guys, but in a video game, they’re on their own.
“If you think for a second I’m getting involved in this shit show…” I wave my hand around. “You’re out of your damn mind.” They can sort this shit out amongst themselves.
Chase is out on the balcony when I step through the sliding doors. The skyline catches my eye immediately, damn Nate’s got a hell of a view up here. He’s in the same building as Chase, but a few floors down. It’s peaceful out here right now. Later on though, the downtown area below us will pick up with people enjoying a night out and music from the bars and clubs will fill the streets. My mind drifts to Abby and I wonder what she’s up to tonight since her brother is here. Is she home alone? Fuck I’d hate that. Maybe she’s with Mia, they seem to have become friends or at least acquaintances.
I feel a hand on my shoulder and turn around to see Chase beside me.
“Listen man, thanks again for helping out Abby. She’s fucking stubborn sometimes and I wasn’t sure she’d even let you help her.” Shaking Chase’s hand, I remember Abby’s Uber comment. She definitely made it clear she didn’t need the help, but she did graciously accept it.
“Oh, yeah, it was no problem.” We stand in silence for a moment, I’m waiting to see if he has anything more to add, but he doesn’t. His focus is on the water, he’s just staring at it, it’s similar to how Abby was that first night I met her. Looking at it like they’re waiting for some kind of answer.
The sliding door swings open and Nate is carrying a tray of steaks with Liam not far behind him as they joke with one another. They’re obviously over whatever feud they had five minutes ago.
Nate lights up the grill while Liam is telling Chase and me about some college kid he saw on ESPN highlights that he thinks would be a great addition next season to our team.
I chime in. “Well, I don’t know about you, but I don’t plan on having an early draft pick next year.”
The better we play this season, the later our pick will be in next year’s draft.
“As long as you and Campbell start scoring, we’ll be solid,” Liam says, turning his head in Nate’s direction.
“Start throwing some missiles down the field then,” Nate fires back. Chase rolls his eyes at Nate for that one and shoots a sympathetic grin in Liam’s direction. Liam is our quarterback, another guy drafted the same year as me and Nate, but in the third round. Our draft class was definitely a rebuilding year for Tampa and not to toot our own horn, but we’ve rebuilt pretty damn well.
“Fuck off, Campbell. You’re not complaining when you get all of those handoffs.”
Liam’s right, Nate Campbell is Liam’s go to guy for a quick few yards since he’ll pummel through people to get that first down.
