That's What friends are for

Chapter 5

"Why the hell do you care so much?" I yelled at her. "Jesus Christ, Mila, give it a fucking break and just be happy I'm happy!"

"I care because you're too good for that, Lauren, and there's better than her out there. If nothing else, girls like Lucy are a dime a dozen down the line, but you wanted the first time to be special."

"It will be."

"Then why not wait a little longer? Dump that bitch and—"

"I'm not waiting! Why the hell do you think I can do so much better? Never mind. I'm not starting over and wondering how long it would be with someone else."

"You can do better because you deserve better." Mila looked down at the ground and looked as if she were trying to decide what to say next. A first for her.

Raising her head, she said softly, "Lauren, on the outside, you're a hell of a good-looking girl, especially like this." She tousled my thick black hair. "I like your hair like this, not the way you put all that goop in it most of the time. And how many girls tell you how gorgeous those green eyes are?"

I grinned. "Quite a few."

"And you played baseball and football." She put her hand on my arm and squeezed. "You were a skinny little geek when we first met. Now look at you."

I laughed and made a show of flexing my arm. "I do work out."

"And it's pretty obvious, but—"

"You checking me out?"

I meant it as a joke, but Mila blurted out, "Of course not! I ... I don't look at you like that. I was just trying to ... make a point."

She looked away, but not before I noticed she was blushing, which was definitely a first.

"Are you blushing?"

"No! I'm hot!" She removed her hat and wiped her forehead.

"Nah, just cute, remember?" I joked.

"Trust me, Lauren, I know I'm not hot." She sounded irritable.

"Hey! I was kidding!"

"But Lucy is, and for what it's worth? I never thought you'd be the kind of girl to go for just that."

"I like her for other reasons."

"Yeah, the two big ones hanging out of her shirt. You're different around her, Lauren. When you're with me and Normani and the rest of our friends, you're you, and when you're with her, you're ... a conceited jerk."

"I am not!"

"Whatever." Mila stood up. "The point I was getting at was even though you're good-looking and popular, you're a sweet girl, and that's pretty rare at our age. That's the best part about you, and that's why you deserve better. Lucy is just a shallow bitch."

"You're more than that and deserve more. Now, I've told you how I feel and you don't really care, but at least I said it. Hope you have fun tomorrow." She grabbed the bag and turned away from me, ending the conversation.

I thought about defending myself, but why bother? Once Mila dug in, nothing changed her mind. She'd made a good point about how I really cared about Lucy, but I wasn't about to cancel tomorrow. By her own admission Mila hadn't been gung-ho over the guys she had been with. She was fine with it. Why shouldn't I be?

For the next half hour, we moved about the bushes and trees in silence except for the sounds of bottles and cans clinking together. I felt like an ass. Mila was helping me out and I had treated her like crap. Granted, she had been badgering me, but what else was new?

In my mind, I heard my mother's voice and one of her famous overused lines, 'If it bothers you, it's because the truth hurts.' Mentally telling my mother to shut up, I glanced up from the bushes, relieved to see we had almost reached the end of the small stand of trees that bordered one side of the playground.

"Hey," Mila called out, "looks like I earned that movie after all."

"I told you I was treating for you helping," I told her, glad she had spoken and still wanting to keep up our movie tradition.

"Doesn't matter, I'd win the gross-out anyway."

Turning around, I watched her pick up a stick and poke at something in the grass.

"What is it, something dead?"

"No, but not only pretty gross, but very fitting. Here!"

Mila flicked the stick towards me and something landed at my feet. I looked down to see a condom, an obviously used condom.

"That is nasty! Why is it ironic? Because I'll need some for tomorrow?"

"No, because it's just like you, used."

"Real nice, Mila." I forced myself to not raise my voice. "Why do you keep saying that?"

"Because it's obvious, Lauren, and I can see what's right in front of me."

Before I could respond, she released a long sigh. "Too bad you can't see what's right in front of you."

* * * * *

I lay on the couch dozing on and off while the Sox were getting their asses handed to them by the Blue Jays. It was only eight thirty, but after spending hours in the sun cleaning the parks, I was exhausted.

When Mila and I finished Carson's, she had asked where I was off to. Knowing I was going to hear about it, I told her Lucy had asked me to clean up the other playground. Mila gave me a 'what a sap' look, but to my surprise offered to help.

The park was pretty small. Because it was in the middle of a neighborhood, it wasn't the drinking, partying hangout Carson's was and only took us an hour. After that, I treated Mila to a sundae at Dairy Queen and then dropped her off at her house.

Her mother was on the porch and invited me in, but I told her I needed to go home and shower. Fact was, in addition to being hot and tired, Mila's older sister Sofia was there, and she rode me about Lucy even harder than Mila did. In fact, since I'd been with Lucy, Sofia, whom I'd always gotten along well with, had been downright rude to me most of the time.

I got home just before Bill picked Mom up and was happy to see how excited she was to be going away. She asked for the hundredth time if I was comfortable with her being with Bill and I told her I was thrilled for her.

That was no lie. My father was an asshole who my mother wasted way too many years with, and I was sure a lot of that time was for my sake. Bill was a good guy who seemed to go out of his way to do all the little things for Mom that Dad never did. For the most part he was the opposite of my prick father, which made him okay in my book.