“I fucking knew it. He’s such a hottie. Well done you,” Audrey says, holding up her hand for a high five.
Shaking my head profusely, I quickly lower her outstretched hand. “Oh no. We’re just friends. But…”
“But what? Give me the juicy details,” Audrey says, shifting forward to refill my glass before topping up her own.
I can’t quite look at her as I admit, “I sometimes wish we could be more. He calls me almost every night, and we literally talk for hours. I’m even reading less these days because I’m enjoying talking to him more. That’s never happened with anyone before.”
“So what’s holding you back from jumping his bones?”
“I’m not sure if he sees me as anything more than a friend.” It’s one of the biggest factors for keeping my guard up as high as I can with Beck, because having all of these feelings and finding out they’re one-sided would be the most excruciating thing to ever happen to my heart. More so than finding my best friend gone the morning I was planning to ask him to be my first kiss.
Audrey sets her glass down so hard, a bit of wine spills over the side but she pays it no mind, concentrating all of her incredulity on me. “What the fuck are you talking about? No guy is willingly spending all night talking to a girl if he doesn’t either really like her, or wants to fuck her. Or both.”
I’m quick to counter that so-called fact. “But we used to talk like this when we were kids and—”
“I’m going to stop you right there,” Audrey says, effectively cutting me off with a raised hand. “I know you guys were friends as kids, but you’re not the same people you were then. You’ve got to think of this current version of who Beck is and who you are. Meet each other where you are atthispoint in time and stop trying to compare things to when you were kids. That’s borderline gross.”
I giggle at the disgust on her face and a tiny part of me thinks there might be a kernel of truth in what she’s saying. “That’s actually really good advice. Thank you.”
Audrey picks up her wine again as another one of her signature smirks pulls at one corner of her mouth, making me nervous about what she’s about to say. “If you want to test the waters, pun intended for your dragon boy, and see if he’s ready to make a move, you can always just show him your spectacular tits.”
“How do I—? How can—? No,” I splutter, instinctively wrapping an arm across my large breasts.
Shrugging, Audrey gestures at my entire body with her glass. “If you’re not going to show him your tits, then at least give him some kind of sign. That guy wouldn’t get subtle hints. Write it on your forehead. Fall strategically face-first into his crotch, or sit on his hand, preferably when two fingers are facing up. And make sure you’re shaved. Just in case,” she adds with a wink.
“I’m not trying to fuck him.”
“Ever?”
“I’m not saying that,” I mumble, my cheeks burning with the admission. Just this past week I was searching again for any articles I could’ve missed on dragon anatomy. The results are still inconclusive, but some sites suggested that he might have two… appendages. I can’t imagine that to be true, and knowing how secretive dragons are with their lore, I don’t believe these claims are substantiated. But if Beck were to have feelings for me too, and he did happen to have two dicks, I’d certainly be up to the intriguing challenge. Though, I might need some prep work before I could take both.
Fuck, Eleanor. You’re jumping ahead here. Figure out if he likes you first before you start contemplating double penetration.
Unaware of the naughty trajectory of my thoughts, Audrey stuffs another bite of pasta into her mouth before making a rather sage suggestion while pointing her fork at me. “Well, at least try to move things in that direction before you’re stuck in the friendzone. That’s a hard place to get out of.”
“But isn’t the friendzone better than no zone?” This is the question I’ve been battling with since I’ve realized my feelings have developed further than the mere platonic connection I thought we had.
Do I have moments imagining walking up to Beck, grabbing him by the shirt collar and pulling his mouth down to meet mine? Or perhaps pushing him down on the dock, straddling his hips right there instead of getting on the boat another Saturday evening? Maybe. But do I dare do anything as outrageous as that and risk our friendship? Honestly, no. Maybe if I had an iota of Audrey’s courage, or Maisie’s, or Tilly’s. But my pusillanimous self could never.
Audrey leans forward and takes my hand, her smirk firmly packed away as she meets my eyes with a tenderness I rarely see from her. “If you really think you’d be okay to keep things the way they are now for the rest of your lives, then sure, staying in the friendzone is fine and dandy. However, if you have the opportunity to influence your own fate, maybe nudge it in a direction you think could make you happier than you are now, then I say grab it by the balls, twist it, and go for it.”
“Nudge fate a little?” I ask, mulling the sound of that over in my head.
“Yeah.”
“I think I can try a subtle nudge,” I say, feeling a little bit of steel strengthen my spine as a smidgen of hope blooms in my chest.
“Good,” Audrey says approvingly, a sneaky grin creeping back into place. “Then later Beck can nudge you with his dick.”
A raucous burst of laughter bubbles out of me and I don’t even try to hide how much I like the sound of that. Now I just need to manage getting through the week so I can try out my mediocre nudging skills on Saturday.
