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“Blake, I don’t want to go find another girl. I like the idea of having a girlfriend. I want to be with someone who likes me as much as I like them.”
My best friend’s face screwed up in horror. “Like, only be with one woman?”
“Yes, mate. Have you ever thought how amazing that is? Someone choosing you out of everyone else? And you choosing them?”
Blake scoffed. “Have you not heard how amazing having sex with lots of women, some at the same time, if possible, is?” Hegrinned and tilted his head, looking at me as if seeing me for the first time. “You really like this Ari, don’t you?”
I couldn’t hold back a heavy sigh. “Yeah.”
“Shit, you’re gone. She’s got you by the balls.”
“If only,” I muttered. “I don’t know how to be just friends with her.”
Blake frowned. “Isn’t she halfway around the country?”
“Practically, yeah.”
“So what are you going to do to convince her to be with you?”
“Aren’t you going to convince me I should just fuck other women until I forget about her?”
Blake shrugged. “Last year, I would have. But you’ve been different since that speed dating night when you met her.”
“She wants to be friends, and as much as I want more, and told her that, it’s not changing. She’s not even here!” I laughed without humour. “So I am the one who needs to move on.”
“I’m sorry, man.”
The old clock in the lounge counted the seconds of silence.
“You know, your grandfather bailed me up in this kitchen after we’d been arrested and then let out on bail into his care. You’d gone to bed, but he had words with me in here.”
“What the fuck?” I sat up straight. “You’ve never said a thing about that.”
Blake shrugged. The movement was anything but casual.
“What did he say?”
“Told me to lift my game and make better choices. That he knew I didn’t have family. That I was always welcome here as a place to call home.” Blake glanced around. “Being your friend probably did save me, you know?”
“He ripped me a new one that night, too. Told me I was going to learn to be a better man.”
Blake grinned. He glanced around the room again and shook himself. “Feels weird being here, like I can just see your grandadout the corner of my eye, walking in from the paddocks. He’d love how you are all tied up over a girl.”
I smiled in spite of myself. Blake was right.
“What would your grandfather tell you to do about Ari?”
I took a large swallow of my beer, relishing the bitter aftertaste. “Might see her at Ash’s wedding in a month. Maybe I won’t go. Maybe I will, and we will be just friends again.”
I drained my beer as thunder rumbled, as if right on cue, ominous and foreboding. The wind had picked up, and there was a flash of lightning and the lights went out.
Blake sighed. “Well, I’m not driving out in a storm, so I guess you’re stuck with me for another night.”
I flicked on the battery-operated camping lantern. “I’ll cook something on the barbeque after you sort out Tupperware lids and bases while I get onto saucepans.”
Blake barked a laugh as he got up and retrieved more beers from the fridge. “No way, mate. I’m going to drink your beer and watch you play house by candlelight.”
Ari
