Best Friends Ch. 03

"Yeah I know, right?" Kim smacked her gum. Jaelyn had had enough.

"Would you two please stop talking about me like I'm not in the room!" she spat out.

"I don't know...you sure have been acting like we haven't been in the room for the past week. Hi Bryan," Adrianna's gaze flickered over Bryan again.

"Hey Adrianna," he said, almost sheepishly. "Next time we're going to my apartment," he whispered to Jaelyn. She readily agreed. "It's not polite to whisper Bryan," Adrianna admonished.

~

Jaelyn was ecstatic! It was a beautiful Friday, she'd gotten an A on her chemistry test and she was in love! She dialed Bryan's digits in her cell as she walked to her silver 2009 Jetta TDI. That car was her baby.

"I got an A!" she exclaimed as soon as Bryan picked up the phone.

"Good job sexy, so I guess our study session paid off huh?" hearing Bryan's voice over the phone sent a longing through her body.

"Yep!" she said still excited. She'd just had to know what her grade was before the weekend, or she would have been sick with worry - not that she hadn't been sure that she would pass when she was answering the questions, but it was just so much better to know for sure. She'd begged Professor T. to let her know her score, and since, miraculously, everyone had been present for the exam, she'd gotten to see her grade after class.

"Well how 'bout we celebrate?" she heard Bryan ask.

"Can't," she said, disappointed, "the girls and I are having ladies' night. They're still a little ticked off about me not letting them know what was going on so we need to have a little female bonding," Jaelyn had thought she'd never hear the end of it when Bryan left that night.

"Well, why don't you all stop over at The Pub when you all get done doing whatever girls do," he asked hopefully.

"Yeah, I'm sure we could make that happen," Jaelyn agreed.

~

Jaelyn bobbed her head to the music, trying not to roll her hips in the seat while she was driving. She didn't have a clue what the song was about, something about sticks and stones and weed and bones, but the upbeat tempo, combined with the excitement that all three of them were sharing just made her happy. The atmosphere was definitely festive. The girls had gone shopping earlier, and this time the theme was: "au natural". They'd decided that they would do some old fashioned do it yourself pampering at their place with all natural, organic products. The challenge was to use the least chemicals possible. It was so fun! The three of them ended up with nails that were shaped and buffed to a beautiful shine and bare, moisturized skin and hair that smelled like heaven. It was so free and enlightening to go out with not a bit of makeup on. They'd found some wonderful natural products that made their skin and nails glow, but none of them wore makeup or perfume (though they certainly didn't skip the deodorant). It felt great!

They were so intent jamming to the music that was filling the car that they didn't have to talk. Which was a relief to Jaelyn because it seemed like she'd been talking all day -- she did however refuse to kiss and tell, which left Adrianna and Kim unsatisfied for a while but they finally got over it. All they needed to know, she thought, was that Bryan was now her man, and that they were happy together. Jaelyn had finally convinced them to go to The Pub after their girl session by letting them know that a lot of the frats would be there, so that's where they were heading to. Personally, Jaelyn was tired of the Frat boys; she was going for her man.

~

Bryan laughed at something Roland said, the problem was he didn't know exactly what it had been. He was too busy wondering what time Jaelyn and the girls would get here, well actually just Jaelyn, he didn't care if the girls came or not. He took a shot at the ball on the pool table and made it. He didn't really care for the game but he was moderately good at it, besides it gave him something to do while he waited.

Waiting. It was definitely a change for him. He'd met up with Roland and Terrence, and usually the three of them had a good time together, but tonight he could barely even concentrate on what was going on because she was filling his mind. He took a sip of his beer.

"And what do we have here?" He heard someone say loudly behind him. He turned around and was face to face with Keith. He nodded his head and then turned back around to size up his shots.

"I've been hoping to run into you. I really should thank you for breaking Jaelyn in for me. It's great that you did that. Now she'll be ready for a real man," Bryan tensed and flexed his jaw. What did this fucker just say?

"Look, I don't know what the fuck you're talking about but your best bet is to keep Jae's name out your mouth," Bryan said calmly before making his next shot.

"Ha ha! So it's true! The tell-tale sign that you've fucked her: getting all defensive and shit. That's funny," Keith said walking around the pool table and smiling at Bryan. Bryan glanced over at Roland and Terrence who were simply staring. They looked a little uncomfortable standing at the bar, drinks in hand in full hearing distance of the conversation. He put the last ball in the hole and watched Keith retrieve a pool stick and set up the game again. Arrogant mother fucker wasn't he? Bryan thought. Uninterested in playing, he pulled up a stool to watch, knowing that Keith wasn't done with his little tirade and so ready to knock him down a peg or two -- or three. He was too tense to sit on the stool though so he just leaned on it.

"Look I know you test drove her and all, but you two really shouldn't get too close, you know. No need pretending like you're actually going to be in a relationship with her or anything," Keith continued.

"Look Keith, you and Jaelyn didn't work out, and that's fortunate," Bryan began, pacing around the stool as he spoke, "As a matter of fact it is I who should be thanking you for royally fucking up any chances you ever had with her. So thank you Keith. Oh, and by the way, Jae is with me now, so that means that anything that goes on between us is our business -- not yours. And even if she wasn't with me, Keith, anything rude that you say about her, personally offends me. So if I were you, I'd think twice about popping my mouth off." Bryan continued in a calm, pleasant manner though he let Keith know with every fiber in his body that lines were being crossed and that he was highly pissed off. He heard someone shuffle behind him and realized that Roland and Terrance were probably a little more uncomfortable now.

Keith walked back around the pool table to the side where Bryan was, visibly thinking and shaking his head. "Dramatic and lengthy...damn, you must have gotten all up in that bitch's pussy. Huh, I bet she sucked your dick too huh Br-" Bryan's fist connected with the flesh of Keith's nose with a satisfactory crunch. It hurt like hell but it felt even better.

"Bryan!" He turned around at the sound of Jaelyn's voice and immediately felt an impact to his forehead. Blood dripped into his left eye. He turned back around and saw Keith holding the poker stick that had just split his eyebrow. Anger boiled in him. Before he knew what he was doing he had Keith pinned against the wall, the poker stick at his throat, choking him. He stared into his face, joy lighting in him at the sight of Keith struggling, his broken nose pouring blood onto his fresh white tee shirt. Somewhere in the background he heard Jaelyn screaming his name. He knew he had to calm down but his body wouldn't let go. He felt four arms pull him away from Keith and was relieved. It was a good thing someone was there to get him off of the boy, whose face had turned a deep purple. Keith fell to the ground gasping for air. Terrance and Roland were gripping him from behind and telling him to calm down. People had gathered around and were murmuring. Jaelyn ran up to him. He didn't know if she was going to hug him or smack him, and for a moment it didn't look like she knew either. Then she hugged him hard and pulled a tissue out of her hand and carefully wiped the blood from his face.

Everything quieted, and then Bryan heard someone yell, "Now, who called campus security?" there was nervous laughter. Bryan would have laughed as well at the authoritative way that the campus security officers walked in on the scene if he wasn't so pissed off, and if he hadn't been so torn up about the fact that he could have killed Keith only moments ago. This scene would have been a lot different. He looked at Jaelyn who had tears in her eyes. He wanted to kiss her, hug her; he wanted to tell her that everything would be okay. But he couldn't.