It was a much quieter week. I hadn't had to work two jobs this time, although I had had to pick up some extra hours at the store to make up for my time spent in VDO's.

On Friday night, Cedric had invited both Sigrid and me to chill at the frat house. There was no party but some of the boys were watching a movie and having beer and pizza. That was a welcome change of scene. I was beat and not necessarily in the mood for a party.

Sigrid was dressed to impress when she came over to pick me up. I gave her a pointed look. Was she trying to get with someone?

"I don't need to want to impress a guy to dress well. I'm just tired of wearing suits all the time at work, and then leggings at home."

I mentally slapped myself for even suggesting that she was dressing for a man.

She looked too gorgeous for it to be destined to a man. She was wearing a sheer black bodysuit, the patterns of its lace strategically covering her nipple, paired with red leather pants and black pointy stilettos.

I was wearing a pastel yellow hoodie and shorts ensemble with baby pink Air Force 1s.

She drove us to the Sigma house, the plan was for us to eat, get drunk, get high, and sleep over. Cedric opened the door for us and hugged us both. It was the first time I had seen him since our last encounter and it felt very awkward. None of us made a comment about it, though.

The situation became weirder when we had to decide where to sit. I would usually sit between Cedric and Sigrid and we would all cuddle on the couch, platonically, like friends do. But it felt like I couldn't really do that anymore.

As always, Sig was here to save the day and she dragged me to the couch where only Spencer was sitting, thus saving me from making the decision myself. I sat between her and him, and Ced had to sit on another couch, with the rest of the boys. He did not comment but I didn't miss the disappointment on his face. Should I have sat next to him? Wouldn't it have been cruel of me to do so if, and that's a big 'if', Sigrid was right and he was in love with me?

Once we agreed on what movie to watch – X-men: First Class – Spencer took his phone out and started taking pizza orders. In the meantime, one of the frat boys took out a full crate of beer from the fridge and put it in the middle of us. By the time the food arrived, almost an hour later, we all had a slight buzz going and the tension I had felt earlier was slightly dwindling.

Eating and drinking was distracting, so I didn't have to think about how to sit, who I was touching, where I was looking. But when I finished my pizza and my third beer and I reclined back on the couch, all those questions resurfaced and frustrated me. Honestly, I just wanted to not have to question everything and just cuddle with Spencer, like I would have done on any other day.

"Stop overthinking this," Sigrid whispered. "Live your life as you normally would, Cedric is a big boy."

So I tried to do just that.

I let Spencer wrap his arm around my shoulder and I balled up against his side. Sigrid balled up behind me, wrapped her arms around my waist and rested her head against my upper back.

I could feel Cedric's eyes on us, but I did my best to ignore it and focus on the movie instead. After all, he was the one who had broken things off. And it's not like I was purposely being too promiscuous in front of him, I was just acting as normal, like we had agreed we would.

When the movie was over, we put some music on and someone took out some weed. We rolled three joints, one for each couch, and we passed them around. Even Sigrid, who didn't smoke cigarettes at all and only did pot very occasionally, took a couple hits. She must have been really stressed at work.

I took another beer and then suggested that we play a game. The responses were not as enthusiastic as I was expecting, but when somebody else said that we should play beer pong, everybody suddenly agreed.

We set up the table and decided to make it a tournament. I teamed up with Sigrid, as always, Cedric teamed up with Spencer, as always, and the ten other boys paired up as well. One of them looked very familiar, and when he ended up being in the first team we had to play against, I recognized him.

"It sure feels like a déjà-vu, doesn't it?" Said the guy that had been our opponent at beer pong a few weeks earlier, when he was still a pledge. Sigrid had almost hooked up with him then but had ended up getting cold feet. I, on the other hand, had very much slept with his friend, Luke I believe, who had been kicked out of the frat since then for insulting me.

Sigrid was slower than me but, ultimately, she also recognized him.

"Oh," she said. "That's awkward. Nice to see you again, Jeremy."

So his name was Jeremy. Good to know, I suppose.

"Nice to see you too, Sigrid."

He didn't comment on the fact that, the last, and only, time they'd seen each other, she'd ditched him in the middle of the night and slept in the bathtub instead. He didn't seem to mind, to be fair. At that instant, the only thing he seemed to care about was the way Sigrid's body looked in her bad bitch attire. How could I blame him? She did look stunning. She hadn't dressed to attract men, but she sure got their attention anyway.

The guy he had teamed up with was another one of the pledges who had been initiated at the same time as him. One of the few people I had not slept with in this house.

We won against them easily, minus a couple cups that we had to down each time they scored a point. We won the other rounds too, until we reached the final. Unsurprisingly, our opponents for the final were Cedric and Spencer. They were the only seniors present that night, they were the most experienced players.

We all took a cigarette break, outside in the fresh air, to try and give us all a chance to sober up a bit. We were just getting back inside for the final round when the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it," Spencer, who was the closest to the door, announced.

"Don't bother," Cedric said as he practically ran past him to get to the door before him.

Ced opened the door on no-one else than hot Angie, who he'd been fucking when I'd gone to his house to fix our friendship. She was wearing a very tight white dress that didn't reach much lower than her ass, and her boobs were almost spilling out of it. The color contrasted beautifully with her skin and I could see her nipples through the thin fabric. I forced myself to look away from her breasts but landed on her legs instead. The size and shape of her toned quads did something funny to my lower belly. I eventually looked away.

Cedric planted a sloppy kiss on her lips and invited her in.

"Hi guys!" She said cheerfully. "I heard there's a party here tonight!"

We all looked at each other without knowing what to say. There was no party, just a casual group of friends hanging out.

"Hey! I thought we had said no girlfriends tonight!" Carter, a big beefy junior I had had the chance to share a bed with a few months earlier, complained. "I would have brought mine!"

Cedric gave him a mean look.

"When you preside over this fraternity, you'll get to choose who comes and who doesn't."

Poor Carter didn't peep and didn't say another word. I was still in shock, and so was Sigrid. What the hell was Cedric doing? Was he intentionally trying to hurt me? For what reason?

"Actually, Ced," Spencer intervened, "last time I checked, I'm the one presiding, not you. And we did say no girlfriends."

"Come on, Spence! You're really going to make me kick her out?"

"I won't. For her sake, not for yours. What the hell, dude?"

"Spencer, don't," Sigrid said. "I'll take care of it. You!" She jabbed an angry finger into Cedric's sternum. "With me. Now!"

She didn't give him a chance to agree or not and dragged him outside by the collar of his shirt. She was so furious and so loud that everybody could hear her, even though the conversation was private. Her accent was always more pronounced when she was angry, and her voice an octave louder. She sounded like a genuine Viking, and was truly terrifying.

Her diatribe to Cedric was a combination of "what the fuck are you thinking?", "stop thinking with your dick", "you're a moron", "you're hurting her", and a lot of other things in the same vibe. Basically, she was mad at him for inviting Angie to the frat house, and I agreed with her. It's not like he had invited her from the beginning, which would have sucked too but would have been more forgivable. He had texted her while we were all already there, having fun. His move was deliberate. Actually, I wasn't even mad about it, I was hurt. It was clearly a move pointed at me, and for what? For cozying up next to Spence while watching a movie?

We couldn't hear Cedric's response to Sig's accusation, but it clearly wasn't good enough because she kept yelling at him. The living room was dead silent, nobody really knowing what to do. I had a lot of pity for hot Angie, whose only mistake had been to say yes to an invitation.

"Hi there," I went to her, my arm extended. "You're Angie, right? We briefly met the other day. I'm Abby."

"Hi," she said while shaking my hand. "Yeah, I remember. Listen, I'm sorry for intruding, he told me there was a party going on and he asked me if I wanted to join. I didn't realize it was just a small gathering."

"Yeah, I'm not sure why he did that. I think he wanted to piss me off."

"Oh. You and him? Are you...?"

"No, no, there's nothing. Well, we slept together for a while, but that's it. He's just a friend, now."

This was harder to admit than I would have imagined. Cedric was just a platonic friend, now. And not a good one, so far.

"Come with me, I'll get you a drink," I added.

She followed me to the kitchen and I got her a beer from the fridge.

"Girl," she said, "I don't want to cause any problem. If you're still into him, I'll leave him to you."

Gosh, not only was she hot, she was also nice. She was taking the 'chicks before dicks' saying to a whole other level.

"Oh please, don't worry about it. This has nothing to do with you. He's all yours."

"You sure? I'd be happy to ditch him for somebody else," she said with a wink before taking a long swig of her beer.

"Oh yeah?" I challenged her with a raised eyebrow.

She silently nodded while drinking some more then made her way back to the main room. I couldn't keep my eyes off her perky butt until she was out of my sight.

When I rejoined everyone, Cedric and Sigrid were back. They both still looked mad yet less agitated than a few minutes before. Good. We needed the animosity for our final round of beer pong.

The final was a shitshow, to say the least. Sigrid was too busy watching Cedric's every move, Cedric was too busy trying to flirt with Angie, I was too busy drooling over Angie who seemed to always angle herself in a way that her ass was in my sight, and Spencer was too busy trying to bring all our attention back to the game. In the end, Cedric and Spencer won the final by merely one cup. There was no glory in this win.

Once the game was over, Ced tried to come talk to me, the alcohol in his blood making him slur. It sounded like an apology, more or less, surely prompted by Sigrid's intervention.

"Cedric," I cut him off. "If you have something important to say to me, you can do it tomorrow. Sober."

He whined but let go nonetheless, joining Angie on the couch. I went for a smoke outside, my feet dipping in the water of the swimming pool, like I always liked to do. Spencer joined me and sat next to me. He said nothing but put his arm around me and let me rest my head on his shoulder.

"He's a jerk," he eventually said after a long moment of silence.

I sighed. "Yes, he is."

He really was. But he also was drunk and, if Sigrid was right, hurt and in love. I could cut him some slack, especially when I was the reason he was hurt.

"You never told me what happened when you and he had a chat, the other day."

"Didn't he tell you?" I did not believe for a second that Cedric had not blabbed to Spencer.

"Oh, he did, to an extent. But he's been a bit touchy with anything related to you, lately. And I'd rather hear your version anyway."

"Well, long story short, he and I are just friends now. No more sex."

"Why?"

"Because he was afraid he'd catch feelings for me if we kept going the way we were going."

"I see."

"Does that match what he said?"

"Yeah, plus or minus a few details."

"Is one of those details that he's in love with me?"

"What?" He choked.

I should not have said that. Of course he wasn't, Sigrid was romanticizing everything and I was entertaining her craziness, like a dumbass.

"Forget about it," I backpedaled. "It's some silly theory of Sig's, I don't even know why I said that."

"No, Abs. She's right. He told me. But he also told me that you had absolutely no idea about it."

"Well, I didn't. Sigrid told me, but I don't really see it."

"Go get your eyes checked, then, because it's quite obvious."

I still couldn't see it, but if Spencer was saying so, then it was true. Those two guys had been best buddies since high school, if I remembered correctly.

"Do you think I should keep my distance? To make things easier for him?"

"No."

"What if my presence hurts him?"

"He's a big boy. He'll be fine."

"If you say so..."

"Abs, what happened to you?" He laughed. "The dude invited another girl just to spite you. Normal you would have murdered him on the spot. Are you going soft on me?"

"Hey! I'm just trying to be compassionate here. He's my friend."

"Still, sounds like somebody is not as tough as she pretends she is."

I punched his shoulder as hard as I could. He winced.

"Yeah, that's more like it."

He laughed and got back to his feet, giving me his hands to help me up too. The opportunity was too great not to take it. Instead of hoisting myself up, I pulled on his hands and made him lose his balance until he fell into the pool. The bastard saw it coming and dragged me in his fall.

We both landed in the surprisingly warm water. I should have been annoyed by it, and well, I was, but I just laughed and laughed at this typical case of 'prankster being pranked' and whatnot.

We laughed together for a solid two minutes before the cold air night started to make staying in that pool unbearable. We got out of the water and ran back inside. Spencer grabbed us both a towel from the downstairs bathroom.

When we joined our friends back, Sigrid was enthusiastically chatting with Jeremy, Cedric was passed out on the couch, the other frat boys were half asleep, half having a conversation, and Angie was sitting on her own, next to a comatose Cedric. It was time to go to bed.

I tried to attract Sigrid's attention and, when her eyes met mine, she gave me the universal look of someone who's enjoying their company and does not want to be interrupted. Very well. I guess she was ready to finally go full-out with Jeremy. Thankfully he didn't seem to hold a grudge.

I tried shaking Cedric awake but there was no point. He'd spend the night on the couch, which made my life easier anyway. I'd just crash on his bed.

"There's always a free spot in my bed, Abs," Spencer said while wiggling his eyebrows.

"Nice try, Spence. But nope, I'll sleep in Ced's bed."

"One day I'll make you come back to me. You know you love my dick, you won't be able to stay away for that long."

I did love his dick.

"Careful, I love it so much that I might chop it off and frame it above my bed."

"Good one," he laughed. "Well, have a good night. You know where my room is if you change your mind." Then he disappeared upstairs.

It wasn't long until I went upstairs too, both because I was tired and because I wanted to give Sig some privacy with Jeremy. Angie followed me there. I didn't mind.

"So you're screwing both Cedric and Spencer?" She asked while I entered Ced's room. "Impressive."

I stripped off my wet clothes and underwear and threw on a tee-shirt and a pair of boxers that I had dug out from Cedric's dresser. Angie watched me during the whole process from the doorframe. I didn't care. If anything, I enjoyed it. She could watch all she wanted.

"Not really," I replied to her. "Those men are horny as dogs, they're not hard to bag."

"Are you?"

"Am I what?"

"Horny as a dog?"

"Oh babe, I'm the horniest of them all."

"Good."

She entered the room and closed the door behind her.

Before we knew what was happening, we were both totally naked and we made good use out of Cedric's bed.

* * *

I was woken up by a hysterical laugh. Spencer's.

"What the hell, Lovett?" I grumbled like a nice lady, my voice full of sleep and my eyes barely opening.

I pulled the sheet up on my chest and sat up on the bed. Angie whined a bit next to me but went back to sleep easily.

"No need to last name me! I just want a high five."

I raised my hand and let him slap his fingers in mine. In many instances, it was much easier to just go along with what Spencer wanted rather than argue.

"To what do I owe the honor of getting a high five from you this early in the morning?"

"Well, it's not that early."

I glared at him. I was not a morning person.

"Get to the point!"

"Girl, you're savage! Forget what I said about you getting soft, that was insane!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Your sleeping with Cedric's girl. In Cedric's bed. This is the Mount Everest of comebacks. The word has started to spread downstairs, you've become our new hero."

As he was saying that, a bunch of frat boys started to gather at the door, trying to sneak a peek inside. "It's true!" Some of them were saying to others and a small wave of cheers and laughter erupted. "Hickey is going to be so mad!" Another one said.

"Guys!" I chastised them. "There are naked ladies in here, get the fuck out!"

I asked Spencer to hand me over my clothes from yesterday, that had dried since then, and got dressed in the bed, making sure Angie's body was covered while Spencer was not blinking watching me.

"Look all you want, Spence, you're not getting any."

"I know, I know. Can't blame me for enjoying the show, though."

I rolled my eyes and eventually got out of bed, Angie still asleep.

When I entered the kitchen, I was welcomed by loud cheers and applause. Cedric, sitting at the kitchen island, his eyes lost in his bowl of cereal, suddenly looked up. He was furious. Which in turn made me furious. I was done feeling guilty. I accepted the congratulations from the dumb frat boys and scavenged the cupboards for something that I could eat as breakfast.

With a small gesture of his hand, Cedric instructed everyone to leave the room and leave us alone. And they did. He started to say something, then stopped himself before any sound came out of his mouth. He then shook his head, apparently shaking the anger off him at the same time, and extended his hand to me and started talking.

"You know what? Well done," he said while I shook his hand. Saying that I was surprised was an understatement.

"Huh?"

"It was so bad of me to get Angie here. That you slept with her is fair retribution. I'm proud of you."

I laughed.

"It's not like I premeditated it, you know? You were passed out and it just... happened. I didn't do it to spite you."

"Yeah, whatever. I stand defeated either way. Was it good?"

"It was. It's been a long time since I haven't been with a woman. I missed the boobs."

"Tell me about it. And she's got a pretty nice pair, doesn't she?"

We both laughed at this atrociously objectifying comment. Oh well, I couldn't be a perfect feminist every day. And she did have a mouth-watering pair of tits. Not to mention an ass I could eat all day.

"Why did you invite her, though?"

"Please, don't make me answer that."

That answer said a lot. 'To hurt you' is what he would have replied. And the reason he wanted to hurt me was that I was hurting him by not reciprocating his feelings. Something that neither I nor him could change. Life is a bitch.

"I know," I said.

"You know what?"

"That you love me."

"Of course I do, it's no news."

"No I mean, I know that you're in love with me, Ced."

"Oh..."

He didn't try to deny it, and I was grateful for that.

"I've always been so sure that you had never realized that."

"I didn't. Sigrid told me."

"How does she know?"

"It turns out you're not as subtle as you think you are."

He giggled, and then silence. What does one say to their best friend whose feelings they don't reciprocate? How does one make everything better when everything has changed?

"I'll stay away from your life for a while, so it's easier for you."

One removes themselves from the situation.

Cedric looked at me with eyes wide as saucers, like I had suggested I wanted to sell my kidney, or something.

"Don't you dare do that," he ordered categorically.

"Why not? You need time away from me to move on."

"Babes, I didn't just fall in love with you yesterday, it's been going on for a while, and I've been just fine."

"If it's not new, then why the sudden need to cut it all off right now?"

"Like I said last time, I don't want to be the collateral damage when you inevitably fall in love with your Ginger Dude."

I rolled my eyes.

"I won't fall in love with him."

"Like hell you won't."

"Whatever... So what should I do, then? What can I do to make this less awkward?

"Nothing. Just do nothing. Be with me like you've always been."

"But I can't do that. I always tell you about who I've been sleeping with and this kind of stuff. I can't possibly keep telling you that now that I know how you feel about me."

"Abby, please. Just like before, that's what I want. You feel free to tell me who you're fucking in as many details as you want. And please no more wondering where to sit on the couch. You sit with me like you always have."

"You saw that, didn't you?"

"Of course," he snorted.

"Okay, well in that case, no more being ridiculously pissy when I'm cuddling with Spencer, I've always done that too. And, for the love of God, no more inviting girls in the middle of the night just to fuck with me."

"Deal."

"What if I'm at a party with you and I hook up with someone?"

"What have you always done?"

"I've never given two shits about what you'd think about it."

He grinned. "Then keep doing so."

"Okay. But then I don't want to see you being mad about it."

"I'll do my best. I won't stand in your way, though, that's for sure."

"Good."

This arrangement seemed like a good idea on paper, but impossible to accomplish in real life. Then again, so was a friends with benefits situation and we had made it work for a long time. And I was not ready to let go of Cedric just yet anyway.

He invited me to sit on his lap for a hug. There had been a time in life where the idea of sitting on a guy's lap would have crippled me with insecurities. Not anymore. I proudly sat my fat ass on his thighs and he embraced me. It felt good to truly have my friend back.

"Aw, look at you, you guys made up!" Sigrid cooed when she entered the room.

She was not wearing her hot outfit from the day before, but a long tee-shirt that did not belong to her.

"So?" I asked. "Did you let Jeremy score this time?"

"She sure did," aforementioned Jeremy replied for her, entering the kitchen too. "Hi," he said to us with the happy smile of somebody who had just gotten laid. "I've heard all about your nightly adventures, Abby."

"And I'm about to hear all about yours," I retorted, which made Sigrid laugh and Jeremy's face go white.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

A/N: This 'fuck with me and I'll fuck your girl' attitude from Abril is a vibe and I'm living for it.

Next chapter on Wednesday, please vote and comment.

Love,
Charlie.