Friends?

Melissa Brewer
Long Story #1

July 14, 2008

Sheryl pulled her car up into the parking lot outside the Chevy's Restaurant, where their friend Christian worked as a waiter and began primping her shoulder length blonde hair in the rear view mirror.

"You should stop chewing your hair; it's getting really fried at the ends." her friend Natalie said.

"I think Christian likes you" Natalie says to Sheryl.

"Whatever, we’re just friends. You know I don’t need a boyfriend to hold me down, and he’s such a dork anyway. Even if I wanted a boyfriend it wouldn’t be him." Sheryl said rolling her eyes.
Christian came out ready to party; he had changed in his work's bathroom before they came so they could go straight into town where their friend Amanda had been planning her roommate Mallory’s 21st birthday for months. Christian was about 6 foot 7 inches tall with brown hair, dark eyes and light skin. He might look Italian if he ever got some sun. He was wearing a white button down t-shirt and loose fitting blue jeans. Natalie caught Sheryl checking him out before Sheryl blushed and looked away. Christian hopped in the back seat, you could smell all too well the musty cologne he must have sprayed on just before coming out to the car, and they drove off.

Along the way they got stuck at a red light behind a Mac Truck and unanimously decided to do a Chinese fire drill. They all got out of the car, ran circles around it and in the midst of the drill Sheryl went to the truck driver ahead of them, bummed a cigarette and got back into the car, now in the passenger seat with Christian driving and Natalie in the backseat. They had the radio on full blast and were singing along to Sublime’s self-titled album the whole way there.

They arrived at Amanda’s three bedroom house in Chicago about 20 minutes later. When they walked up to the house, Christian opened the door.

"Thanks." said Natalie flashing a little bit of a sympathetic smile to his obvious efforts to impress Sheryl.

Sheryl followed, saying nothing and then Christian after her. You could smell the Tequila and Whiskey that had already been spilled through the course of the night upon entering the room. The chatter of the people within a two foot vicinity as you walked through the room was all you could hear over the blaring radio.

Christian headed straight into the garage where a game of Beer Pong was in progress. His height gave him an unfair advantage and he was a beer pong pro. Sheryl and Natalie started to make their usual round around the party before settling on a room.

"Dude, you're here, you totally missed it!" Amanda, a tiny red headed girl came rushing up to them.

"Carolyne totally thought the oven was a toilet!" Amanda laughed and caught her breath to finish the story. "She pulled the lid down, peed in it, wiped her ass with a paper towel and walked away like no one just saw her do that ahhh hah hah hah." Amanda was holding her chest which had turned as red as her hair she laughed so hard.

"Damn I wish we would have came earlier!" Sheryl said, Natalie laughed quietly behind her.

"Jews are from Jerusalem ?" they heard Stoner Nick asking Christian as they walked through the garage. Christian for some reason was already engaging in one of his well known historical facts lectures, this time about the holocaust. Stoner Nick thought a Jew was just something you call someone when they didn't share. Nick was also Sheryl's ex-boyfriend, but they were still friends. Natalie leaned in and whispered in Sheryl's ear.

"You really do know how to pick ‘em, Sheryl. Let's just make a couple rounds and then go home ok?" Sheryl ignored her.

They continued through the house heading out back where there was a keg right by the door, and a bonfire in the middle of the huge backyard, surrounded by large rocks stolen from the river earlier that summer. That's where they found Carolyne surrounded by people oblivious to the fact that she was puking up what looked to be Enchiladas, Beans and Rice.

"Serves her right, she's such a bitch." Sheryl said and laughed, then preceded toward a group of guys with her flirty, I want some tonight, walk. Carolyne used to be Sheryl’s best friend until it seemed Carolyne dropped her like a bad habit and became best friends with Mallory, who they still hadn’t found to wish a happy birthday to yet. Natalie helped Carolyne up, carried her through the crowd of people in the house and toward the bathroom. Along the way she saw the news was on the T.V. There was a cow that had gotten stranded on top of a house and Stoner Nick was still talking to Christian.

"What is a cow’s natural enemy?" Christian asked Nick, "I mean all domesticated animals used to be wild and had natural enemies, but who's natural enemy had been the cows?"

"No one dude, I'm telling you man, who's got beef with a cow?" Nick replied.

After holding Carolyne's hair back for about fifteen minutes, Natalie went to the backyard again and found Sheryl in a lip lock with her next bad boy toy. Natalie had never seen this guy before but wasn’t surprised. Sheryl had an affinity for the wrong type of guys, especially ones they didn’t know. Natalie didn't date much at all, she barely went to parties and when she did she never smoked or drank. She was usually the sober driver. This party however, had a surprise for her. Mitchell Davies. He was her childhood crush and best friend from the 6th to the 10th grade. He had moved away and she hadn't seen him in five years until she ran into him by the chips and dip table.

"Holy shit! Natalie?" Mitchell yelled excitedly. "Damn girl, you are lookin good! Come hang out with me, I'm about to blaze a joint." He was looking good too she thought. He had gotten pretty tall, not as tall as Christian but much more muscular. He had sandy blonde hair, gorgeous blue eyes and the softest skin as he grabbed her hand and pulled her toward one of the backrooms. She almost hesitated, only for a moment, and then followed quixotically behind him.

There were about five other people in there, no one she knew. As usual she didn't say much. The room quickly filled with smoke and laughter. Natalie got stoned, pretty fast. When it got back to her the fifth time around it was nothing but a tiny roach (the butt of a joint). She held it up to Mitchell and said.

"What do you want me to do with this?"

"Put it in your pipe and smoke it." He responded with humor in his voice.

"But I don't have a pipe." Natalie said. Everyone laughed and she didn't know why. The room cleared out once the joint was over and they were alone. He looked at her with his sly little grin and moved closer. They had a lot of catching up to do.

“So, what have you been up to sweet thang.”

Natalie giggled and began to tell him how little she had been up to since he left.

About 2 hours later...
"I think I might be pregnant." Sheryl was done making out with that guy and was now talking to their friend Crazy Katie, in the living room. Of all the people there, Sheryl knew she could talk to Katie about anything.

"From that guy Dave? The one who you screamed Dan, over and over, while you were having sex with him?" Katie asked.

"Yep. That would be the guy. Haha, he stopped me too and was like "I'm Dave." Sheryl laughed.

"So what are you gonna name the baby, Dan? or Dave?" Katie asked.

"I'll probably intend to name him Dave and then write Dan on the birth certificate. He won’t know until he turns 18 and tries to get his I.D. at the DMV. The lady behind the counter will be like, here you go Dan, and he's gonna say "I'm Dave". Oh my god, look at Natalie!" Sheryl pointed, Katie turned. Natalie was full on making out with Mitchell in the corner of the room.

"Niiice" Katie said. "Let's go have some shots." Natalie agreed and followed her into the kitchen, where Christian was now in a heated debate with Amanda over whether you can put steak and hamburger patties on the same plate in the fridge without cross-contaminating them.

“They come from the same cow!” Amanda claimed, stuttering her words and not realizing she made little sense.

A few minutes after they took their shots and spent time bullshitting with other guys at the party, there was a knock at the door. It was a couple of fireman. Amanda answered it.

"Ma'am, we have reports that you have a fire in your backyard. We're going to have to take a look at that." Amanda led them out back, managing to keep a sober composure for them.

"Well it is safely contained by these rocks, but you're not allowed to have a fire like this unless you're cooking something." One fireman said.

The guys surrounding the fire, who had been playing and singing along to acoustic guitar jams, were suddenly holding marshmallows on sticks up to the flames.

"We're making S'mores!" their friend Anthony said and flashed a cheesy smile to the firemen. The firemen exchanged a glance, one shrugged at the other.

"Alright then, just make sure you don't leave it unattended, and put it out when you're done, carry on." One of the firemen said before exiting the party. Anthony, a heavier set guy with an amazing voice and talent for music, ate his marshmallow, threw down his stick and picked up his guitar. He continued the song he and Jonathan (another one of their good friends) was singing about a 'fish' with 'big tits' and everyone around them was laughing and singing along with their beers and lit lighters held up and swaying side to side in the air.

A few hours later the party was dieing down. Sheryl decided she was too drunk to drive home; besides, Natalie had already passed out with Mitchell on the couch anyway. Funny she thought, I still haven't even seen Mallory to wish her happy birthday. She asked Amanda where she was but Mallory had already gone to bed. She found Christian in the garage explaining to a few people historical facts about Chicago and the Chicago & Illinois Western Railway, saying they should be proud of where they live when Sheryl butted in...

"We're staying the night, I'm tired and still a little too buzzed to drive anywhere. Ok? I have to pee now." She walked back through the house and into the bathroom where Carolyne was sleeping, on the floor. She didn't wake her. Instead she stared at her, almost feeling sorry for how stupid she made herself look. She did her business and walked toward the living room to see if there was still a free couch to crash on when she felt a hand on her forearm pull her back around. It was Christian, next thing she knew he was kissing her, with a passionate fervor she had never seen come from him before. A fervor she had never before felt when being kissed by any man before. She pulled away, confused. She looked at him, his brown eyes gazing hopelessly into hers.

"What are you.. Wait. Come here and do that again."

She pulled him back to her, their lips locked; he pulled her arms around him and scooped her body up and into his. He carried her into the spare room and laid her down on the bed. They spent the rest of the night wrapped up in each others arms. He was shocked she was so receptive once he got the balls to finally go after her; she was in awe of his aggressive side that she had never seen before. Either way, they both lay, all night, barely able to put the butterflies in their bellies asleep so they could sleep too.

The next morning Mallory of course, was the first one up.

"Man that was a cool party." she said to Amanda. They were cleaning up. Sheryl and Christian came out of the room just as Mitchell and Natalie were waking up.

"Let's go to the river!" Mitchell said.

"Yeah!" They all replied almost in perfect unison, just as Carolyne stumbled out of the bathroom and said...

"I wanna go too, but can I have some water first?"

Amanda and Mallory put down their cleaning utensils, locked up the house and they all walked out to Mitchells green VW van. Mitchell opened the passenger door for Natalie and slapped her ass as she hopped in. As Carolyne stumbled onto the shag carpet lining on the floor of Mitchells van, Sheryl helped lift her into it, and then snuggled up next to Christian on a bean bag chair in the back of the van. Natalie turned and smiled at Sheryl and Christian from the passenger seat as she grabbed a piece of hair to chew on; while she grinned with that I told you so face. Mitchell turned the ignition key, winked at Natalie, and off they all went, to the river.