“I’ve been told I’m not always as funny as I think. I hope you know I was playing around out there,” David said.
She frowned before saying, “I know that, but it hit a bit too close to home.”
“I never said I wanted to break up with you.”
“You didn’t say you wanted to be with me either,” she fired back.
“I did say I wanted us to be friends and that, down the road, we might end up together.”
“That’s like you saying your two-and-a-half-year-old is sober. But we both know that might not be true in your
case,” Crystal said.
Even though Coby had gotten his daycare class drunk, that didn’t give Crystal the right … and he stopped himself from getting wound up. He must be growing up if he could see what she was doing because not too long ago, he wouldn’t have. Crystal was lashing out because she was hurting.
But that didn’t mean he had to take her back to make her feel better. Everything he’d told her was the truth, and in the long run, she would be glad he didn’t make her false promises. He thought that, knowing Crystal checked most of the boxes for the kind of girl he was looking for. The problem was that while he liked her, there had never been a time when his chest ached with love like it had with Brook.
He might have let this drag out were it not for the funeral making him face his realities. Besides, what was it his mom always told him: you must be willing to walk away? That was something Crystal didn’t know about him.
It might take him forever to decide something, but once he did, it was over.
That didn’t mean he wasn’t still interested in hooking up with Crystal. It was the same with Tracy and Pam; he’d had relationships with both of them. Those had been much deeper than what he had with Crystal, if he was being completely honest. The ball was now in Crystal’s court. She had to decide what she wanted.
“I’m going to leave before this gets ugly.”
“No, we need to talk this out. What are you really thinking?” Crystal asked.
“I mean, seriously, how many of your sorority sisters are dating anyone? They go out each weekend, meet a new hot guy, and fool around. Then they study, go to class, and hang out with the girls during the week.”
“That might be the case, but I never thought you were casual about stuff like that,” Crystal fired back.
“You’re right. I never have been.”
“Then what changed?”
“Lisa’s funeral,” David said. “When you’re at something like that, it makes you think.”
“And you thought you wanted to break up with me?”
David could tell he wasn’t going to make any progress, and he was already halfway mad at the drunken toddler comment, so it was time to walk away.
“I’m not going to start repeating myself. I think we both need to take a deep breath and cool down. I’ll talk to you later.”
David left her to her own thoughts. He gave them being friends after this about a ten percent chance.
◊◊◊
David returned to the party and found his brother with a big smile. Someone got lucky.
Phil was flirting with Emily and Wren. His brother had good taste in women.
“Why, hello, ladies! And Phil,” David greeted them. “You holding my brother for ransom? I’ll go, hmm, five dollars, tops.”
“If you weren’t currently my favorite brother, I would tell you to F-off,” Phil quipped.
“I heard that you’re single,” Emily said as the lie flowed from her sweet, pouty lips with well-practiced ease.
“I’m not sure that’s true,” Wren said.
“You have got to be kidding me. You dumped Crystal?”
Phil asked, the shock written all over his face.
“There was no dumping. We’re talking about what we both want. So, you can stop the rumors,” David said to Emily.
He could see she wasn’t fazed. It gave him a hint as to what he’d be facing if that rumor got legs and spread. It
was bad enough when women knew he was in a relationship.
They all stared at him.
“Welp. I have places to go, people to see,” David said and walked away.
◊◊◊
David put on his swimsuit and went to the pool, where he found Zak and Bec. He shook his head because Zak was leaning back in a lounge chair, enjoying a little honey blowing him.
David sat down on Bec’s lounger and looked at Zak.
“She wants to set a record for the number of blowjobs given. I’m number 833. You should help her out because she’s quite good.”
David had to remind himself where he was. That statement would never be uttered back home. Before Mr.
Happy could put his two cents worth in, David turned to Bec.
“Well, missy, we aren’t on set anymore. I’ve come for some payback,” David teased.
“Dude, thanks for sending her home horny as shit. It made for an interesting week for me,” Zak said.
“I felt a bit bad about that, but you’re a big boy,” Bec said with at least a look of embarrassment.
“She means that literally. She teased me about how big you are … you know. I say you do her, so her infatuation with your man parts gets out of her system,” Zak said.
“I thought you liked her getting horny because of me,”
David teased.
“To a point, Dude. Help me out and go bone her.”
Bec gave Zak an unbelieving look, so he came clean.
“I was hoping we could swap,” Zak admitted.
“I might not have anything to swap,” David shared.
“Now you have to do him,” Zak said.
“So you can go hook up with some porn star? I’ll pass,”
Bec said. “Plus, David doesn’t want to have sex with an old lady.”
“You can quit right there,” David said. “You know what you did to me, and I don’t get that hard if I’m not interested.”
That made her day, but he could tell they weren’t hooking up, even with Zak’s encouragement. In all honesty, David probably wouldn’t have gone through with it. He’d hate to ruin her for other men, or that was the story he would tell if pressed. His backup argument was the bro code that said you didn’t bone your friend’s girl.
◊◊◊
As these parties tended to do, people began to drink and do other stuff, which turned into bad decisions by all parties. The pool area started to turn into a full-blown orgy.
Two porn stars had decided to give Bear a double blowjob to kick the festivities off.
This reminded him of his recruiting trip to Michigan.
He’d slipped off with a gymnast to a swinger’s party, where some people were having casual conversations while a couple boned three feet from them. This was a weird mix of actors, porn stars, football players, and sorority girls.
He did see Cassidy sitting in Jim’s lap. They had dated in high school, so he hoped they might get back together. Jim was a good guy, which he felt Cassidy needed right now.
David quickly scanned the crowd and saw that Phil and Roc were missing, as were Crystal and Taylor. He assumed they were off talking.
“Hey, David. Want to join in?” Isabel asked.
As much as he wanted to, because she was rocking her bikini, Isabel probably was the last person he should hook up with. He had a feeling Lexi wouldn’t react well when she
found out, and he was smart enough to know that she would find out.
“No, I probably shouldn’t.”
She nodded her understanding.
“I figured I would give you the first shot. Maybe we can talk again after some time passes,” Isabel suggested.
“Maybe.”
That was when he spotted Zak, who had Crystal’s friend Taylor pinned to the pool house wall as his hips pounded her from behind. That made him think he should go find Crystal.