Love and Friendship

Hi all, back with another! I had a go at writing from two different POVs this time around, I thought it would be interesting for readers to see the story from more than one viewpoint.

It's a simple story centred around two lifelong best friends. Nothing crazy or groundbreaking, but hopefully a nice tale to relax and enjoy!

I also want to thank you all for the wonderful comments on my other stories. I am glad that people have found small happy escapes in them! JJJ

Chapter 1 - Jake

The vibration from my phone roused me from the depths of my slumber. I rolled over with a groan and fumbled on the bedside table until I found the cause of my misery. It took a few seconds for my brain to catch up with my body. I blinked at the dazzling light of my phone screen and groaned again.

I pressed the answer button. "Where are you this time, Dani?" I croaked into the phone tiredly.

An upset girl's voice answered, slurring slightly. "I-I'm at O'Brian's! There's a guy, he's a dick! Please be quick, I'm outside and it's cold!"

I sat up and rubbed my eyes. "Alright, stay where you are. I'll be there in five."

"Thanks, Jake!" she sniffed.

I hung up and pulled on a pair of jeans, a T-shirt, and a hoody. I considered a jacket but decided against it. If there was a problem, a hoody was easier to fight in. I checked the time and cursed. It was two-thirty in the morning and I had work in a matter of hours.

I grabbed a packet of crisps and a bottle of water from the fridge and headed out of my house. The biting cold stung my eyes and stole the air from my lungs. "That's one way to wake up," I grumbled to myself as I jumped in my car and turned the heating up to full.

The streets were quiet and empty, lit by rows of dull yellow streetlights that illuminated the frost-covered tarmac. The city was a different world in the early hours of the morning. Discarded bits of litter floated across the road, chased by scuttling leaves. Here and there, the muted glow from a window cast light over darkened and dirty alleys.

I'd never liked the city. It was too bleak and uniform, like all the uniqueness had been sucked from the world. Even the sparse areas of greenery were strictly controlled, often ruined by graffiti, litter, and the trampling of thousands of footsteps.

There were only two reasons I stayed. One was my job. I was a doctor, working all hours of the day and night. The last thing I needed was to add a thirty-minute commute to and from the hospital each day.

The second reason was waiting for me on the curb outside O'Brian's. She was hugging herself, dancing from spot to spot and shivering uncontrollably. Her make-up was smeared and her eyes were red. As I pulled up next to her, a huge guy lumbered out of the bar.

I sighed and got out, wincing as the bitter air hit me. "Get in the car, Dani," I ordered.

The huge guy spotted her and strolled forward. "Hey!"

Dani jumped and spun around. "Greg! Leave me alone!" she shouted.

"Get back here you little cock teasing slut!" he growled.

I swiftly stepped between them. "Dani, get in the car, now!" I said sharply. It was very rare that I raised my voice to her, so she knew I was serious. I heard the car door open and close.

The big guy - Greg, apparently - stopped a yard away from me, uncertain. I was a touch over six feet and worked out enough that I would give anyone pause before considering a fight, but that wasn't what stopped him. It was the livid, unbridled anger in my eyes.

"Who're you?" he asked.

"Her friend. She's coming home with me and you are going to leave her alone." I let some of my rage seep into my voice.

His tone turned belligerent. "She was the drunk slut that was coming onto me. It's not my fault she's a cock tease. Fucking wasted piece of ass, you can have her. She might have the looks but she's psycho."

Another stab of anger. "Well, she's none of your concern now. Enjoy your night, Greg."

I turned and climbed back into my car. I'd left the engine running so we were away within seconds. Dani had taken her heels off, pulled her legs up onto the seat and was hugging them. She wasn't what people would deem conventionally attractive, but she was undeniably beautiful. She had short, dark hair that flicked up at the ends, complimenting her elfin features. With big blue eyes, a delicate pointed nose, and high cheekbones, her nickname in school had been 'Elf' - not the most creative of nicknames, but not many were.

I took a deep breath to calm myself. "Did he hurt you?" I asked.

Dani shook her head and sniffed. "No, but he and his friends called me lots of names."

I grunted and we drove in silence for a while. I pointed to the crisps and water. "Eat and drink something. Why were you there, Dani? That place is an absolute dive and it's a Wednesday, for fuck's sake."

"I don't know," she said quietly. She opened the crisps and followed my instructions to eat. "I've been messaging him for a while and he seemed so nice."

"We're not kids anymore, we twenty-eight! You can't keep doing things like that, what if I hadn't come for you or answered my phone?"

"You will always come for me," Dani replied drowsily, her head dropping to the side.

"Hey!" I said, poking her awake. "I'm not carrying you unconscious into my house again, remember what happened last time? Your vomit stank."

"I cleaned it up!" she protested.

"Yeah, the next day. I can't keep doing this, Dani. I've got to be at work in a few hours."

"Please don't be angry at me!" she pleaded, sounding small. "I hate it when I make you angry. I promise, I'll clean your place for a week and do your cooking."

I snorted. "You're just looking for free meals."

Dani slapped my arm. "The only meals you have are rice, chicken, and cereal. At least when I cook you eat properly."

We pulled up at my house and Dani ran barefoot to the door, using the key I'd given her when I bought the house to let herself in. Her dress was short enough that I got several flashes of her pert and very bare bum when she jumped inside. Like her looks, the rest of Dani's body could be described as elfin. She'd always had a slim, lithe figure. The only exception was the two generous breasts she had been blessed with, which made her a walking target for any male within a ten-mile radius.

I closed the door and kicked off my shoes. It was half-three, meaning I had two hours before I needed to wake up for work.

Dani hugged me and pecked my cheek, her mood shifting. She was always happier in my house. "Thanks, Jake. I promise I'll make it up to you, OK?"

"Mmm, beans on toast," I said sarcastically.

She punched my shoulder. "Shut up, dick. I'll make your favourite for when you get back from work tomorrow."

"Oh, so you'll be staying here for the day, will you?"

Dani followed me upstairs. "Well, duh! What time you home?"

We stopped outside my bedroom door. "About seven, depending on my patients."

Dani hugged me again. "OK, I'll see you then. I'm going to crash big time. Night, Jakey-boy." She yawned and stretched, lifting her dress enough that I got a glimpse of a smooth, shaven pussy. It disappeared in a flash as Dani turned and walked into the spare bedroom that she had taken for her own.

Shaking my head, I collapsed back onto my bed and tried to get a few hours of sleep before my dreaded alarm.

*

Dani and I had been best friends for as long as either of us could remember, quite literally. Our parents lived and still live next door to each other. They were best friends, so when Dani and I came along within two months of each other, they were thrilled. The first photo we have is of me at a few months old lying next to a newborn Dani. Since that moment, we spent pretty much all our time together.

We sat together in primary school, secondary school, and even when I went to university, we saw each other two or three times per week. When we were eighteen, we lost our virginities to each other. We'd made a pact that it would always be with each other. First times could be nerve-wracking and potentially terrible experiences, so we decided to do ours together, feeling safe in our trust and friendship. We'd seen each other naked over the years plenty enough, so that wasn't new. Losing our virginities just seemed like the next natural step.

It was a fumbling experience for us initially, but we found our rhythm and after the first embarrassingly short bout, we ended up having a thirty-minute lovemaking experience that left us both satisfied and breathless.

It set me up for a wonderful time at college, where poor decisions met alcohol to produce a great deal of fun. I suppose I was a non-traditional geek-type. Tall with scruffy brown hair and green eyes, I drew more than my fair share of attention. In the early days, I was quite reserved around people I didn't know. At a party, I'd be the guy nursing a beer in the corner of the room rather than the one doing topless beer bongs in the middle. I didn't approach girls because I was much too shy, not that it made a difference to my sex life. I very rarely went home from a party alone. I think it was because if faced with choosing between a loud guy with beer dripping down his front and a quiet guy happy to make conversation, girls would always pick the latter.

Dani was another matter. Where I was quiet, she was loud. Any parties we attended together, she'd be the one in the middle doing the beer bong. Every male apart from me tried to get her topless to do them, but I quickly rescued her before she did something she'd regret. She never went to university. Instead, she bounced from job to job, never settling or finding one that quite suited her.

That very much summarised Dani. She was happy to float through life from one adventure to the next without much thought about the future. Me, I was a planner. I had to know when my next payday was, how much I was getting, and where that money was going. Dani always said I thought too much with my head, but I disagreed. It got me a nice, four-bedroom house while she was living in a small rented apartment.

The years flew past and before I knew it, I was in my late twenties, a doctor, a homeowner, and still Dani's closest friend. She was working as a waitress at an upscale restaurant and doing amazing. People loved Dani. Her looks combined with her personality to draw people to her. I kept trying to tell her that she should apply for a management position but she only laughed and told me that she wasn't even sure how long she'd be working there.

It was strange how two people so close could be so different. We were opposites in many things but bonded by a shared life. My friends at the hospital who had met Dani all loved her but told me they couldn't understand how we'd been friends for so long. I didn't tell them, but the reason was that beneath our differences was a bond of love and friendship that had grown and solidified over the course of our lives. Neither of us could ever imagine life without the other person.

It did lead to some complications with relationships. I'd had two serious relationships and they'd both broken down because of my friendship with Dani. The first was Jessica, who couldn't bring herself to accept that my time was shared between her and another female. I pointed out that if Dani had been a guy, it wouldn't have worried her but she refused to see it. The second was Paige, to whom Dani took an instant dislike from the moment they met. I couldn't understand it. Paige was a kind and caring person but there was just something that really put Dani off her. I tried asking Dani but she refused to talk to me about it. Paige was just as bad. I assumed something had happened between them in the past because they just didn't get along. In the end, Paige left me. It was an amicable split, but I was left confused as to why it happened.

Since then, I've had the occasional date but nothing beyond that. I was too busy with work to think about relationships. Dani had never had a serious boyfriend. Like her jobs, she flitted from person to person, apparently content for casual experiences and nothing more. All too often, I would receive phone calls from her in the early hours of the morning asking me to rescue her from various situations. I tried talking to her but no matter what I said, sooner or later my phone would buzz once again.

Work the day after picking Dani up was busy. I was rushed off my feet from the moment I stepped through the hospital doors. By the end of the day, my mind was sluggish in responding and I had the beginnings of a killer headache.

The rich smell of freshly baked lasagne struck me as soon as I opened the door to my house. My stomach lurched painfully and I skipped my shower in favour of eating. Dani was in the kitchen, wearing one of my hoodies and a pair of my boxer shorts.

"Don't you have your own clothes?" I asked, slumping onto one of the stools at my kitchen island.

"Well, aren't you in a good mood?" Dani replied, bustling around the kitchen and pulling plates from the cupboards. "For your information, your clothes have always been more comfortable than mine. If you want to wear some of my clothes, feel free."

"I'll pass, thanks. And for your information, I was woken up at an ungodly hour and made to pick up a drunken mess from a run-down pub filled with idiots."

Dani smiled impishly. "This drunken mess is very sorry and hopes her lasagne will make up for it." She pulled the lasagne out of the oven and cut me out a huge portion. She pushed it across the table and fluttered her eyelashes. "Am I forgiven, bestest friend?"

"A little bit," I grumbled, digging into my meal. It was scolding hot but I was too hungry to care. "Have you heard from Greg?"

Dani climbed onto the chair next to me and started on her much smaller portion. "Nope. I blocked his number after his and his friend's performance."

"How about next time you don't meet anyone at all and spend the night at home?"

"Where's the excitement in that?"

I took another big bite that burned my throat on the way down. "There isn't any, which is the point. Your exciting evenings usually ruin my peaceful ones. You have an apartment, yet for some reason, you always end up here."

"That's because your place is so beautiful and needs to be used and enjoyed! It's wasted with just you rattling around here!"

"I barely have time to cook, let alone a girlfriend."

Dani elbowed my arm. "Then it's pretty lucky you've got little old me then, isn't it?"

I laughed. "You and I have a different definition of the word lucky."

I loaded the dishwasher while Dani went to put on a film. She was working the day shift the following morning so couldn't afford to have a late night. She was sitting on my sofa with the latest horror movie ready to go. "Can't we watch a nice relaxing movie for once?" I asked her.

Dani raised her legs as I sat and then rested her feet in my lap. "Fuck no! Blood, guts, and gore all the way, baby!" She wiggled her toes. "Foot rub? I have been on my feet working away for you all day."

"Is that what you call lying on my sofa, eating my food, and using my bath?" I tickled her feet and her toes curled.

"Stop! You know I hate that! How did you know I had a bath?"

"I don't, but I know you and I bet you anything that you have."

Dani's lack of response was enough to confirm that I'd been right. She distracted me by pressing play on the remote and wiggling her toes again. Sighing, I took her foot and began kneading her arch, pushing my fingers between her toes. "Ah, that's perfect," she said with a satisfied sigh. She shuffled her body down further, so she was lying down completely with her head turned to the TV.

The film followed the same format as all modern horrors, with a few jump scares. Toward the end, I noticed that Dani had fallen asleep. Her legs had fallen apart, and the loose boxers she was wearing provided a very clear view of her pussy. It was shaven, with two big lips that appeared slightly wet.

I took my eyes off them with great difficulty. Dani and I had agreed years ago that a relationship between us would be disastrous, mostly at her insistence. We valued our friendship too much to mess it up with casual sex and a relationship. Apart from losing our virginities, we'd not had any sexual contact with each other, although Dani was a very physically affectionate person. She would quite happily cuddle me during a movie, kiss me, or hold my hand when we were out in town.

But... I hadn't had sex in over a month and Dani's pussy was incredibly sexy, so I couldn't help my cock stiffening beneath her feet. I carefully picked up her legs and removed her feet from my lap. Dani grumbled in her sleep and moved, causing the boxers to open further. Her pussy was on full display and I could see it in exquisite detail. From her delicate folds to the smooth, unblemished skin surrounding it.

I turned off the TV and adjusted myself to make my state less obvious. Dani groaned and opened her eyes. "W-what time is it?" she yawned.

"Not even ten, you lightweight," I said. She stretched her legs out straight and pointed her toes. Her foot brushed against my cock and I quickly moved it away. Dani frowned at me. "What's got you so jumpy?"

"Your smelly feet," I said, trying to deflect the attention.

She wiggled them in my face, accidentally flashing her pussy again in the process. "They are not! I had a bath today!" She put them back down. "When are you working tomorrow?"

"Early again, so I expect a full night's sleep." I had deflated enough that I was in the clear. I stood up and kissed Dani on the forehead. "Goodnight. Lock up when you leave and don't touch any of my lasagne."

*

I was eating my lunch the following day in the staff room when I was interrupted by the two witches, as I affectionately called them. They were two of the senior nurses who I'd become friends with over the years. The first was Robyn, a big, loud woman patients feared more than the doctors. She was in her forties and an absolute force to be reckoned with. The second was Liz, a married woman in her early thirties. Unlike Robyn, Liz was relatively slim, although three children had filled her out in very desirable ways.

"Hello Doctor Hunk," Robyn said, sitting opposite me. "Got time for two beautiful ladies?"

I put down my sandwich and clapped my hands together. "Always! Where are they?"

"Careful," Liz warned with a smile. "We came to do you a favour but we might decide against it if you're rude like that."

I offered my apologies and told them how beautiful they were until they were mollified. Liz got straight to the point. "How would you like a date with a friend of mine on Saturday?"

I groaned. "Another one? How many single friends do you have?"

"Too many, and they are all dying for a date with my hunky doctor friend. I fend most of them off but I think you might like this one. She's a nurse over at St. Augustine's, twenty-five, lovely personality, and stunning."

I finished my sandwich before replying. "What's the catch? Someone that perfect wouldn't be single for long... so I'm guessing she's just been dumped or has split up from a shitty ex-partner?"

Liz's eyes dropped and I knew I had hit the nail on the head. "The second one," Robyn admitted. "She caught him cheating with another nurse at the hospital so she gave him the boot."

I shook my head. "This sounds far too messy. If he was with another nurse, I'm assuming the ex is a doctor? The last thing I need is to rub the folks over at St. Augustine up the wrong way."

Liz recovered. "No! It would just be a bit of fun to get her out of the house again. She's been feeling so worthless we just wanted to show her that there is life after the dickhead and she is attractive!" Robyn and Liz turned the full charm on. "What better way than a date with the most wonderful, handsome man in Redhill Hospital?"