"You have something I want," I smiled warmly, knowing this was the hardest thing I would ever say to my best friend. I loved her though; enough to know that I could ask this of her- and though she might shriek and say no- she would never shun me. Ever.
Her brilliant cat green eyes beamed. Her nickname's sake. Cat. We called her cat. "What's that?" she said, and her look was almost a seductive leer. She wanted something too.
"Promise me something first," I offered, grinning back and taunting her with our conversation. Seductive isn't normally how one might describe a conversation between female friends, sure, but we had our moments. We flirted. Probably because we'd been living together for the past five years, in this tiny apartment, and for the majority of that time, boyless. Not anymore, I smirked to myself and licked my lips.
Cat gawked. "I promise you anything. Everything. You know I would never tell you no, Ever." Ever, that's my name. My parents were fairy tale buffs, and I was the lucky byproduct of their prince and princessy ways. Lucky me.
"Can I borrow something of yours?" I grinned deceptively. "Something very precious."
"Only if I can borrow something of yours," she taunted back. My immediate thought being what? What could I possibly have that she would want. Of course, there were so few things we didn't already share that...
"Tracy," Cat interrupted. "May I borrow Tracy?"
At that moment, I could have squeeled, jumped up and down, and humped Cat right on the wooden floor. I would have too, had it not been for my dumb ass blurting out, "Done! I want Benjamin!"
Cat looked sad at first, then her frown slowly faded to a look of protectiveness. "I dunno, Ever," she sighed. "I mean, I...I don't know if that's...."
"You want Tracy," I offered, and it was true, she did. I had said yes.
"That's different?" Cat questioned more than she stated. "Tracy flirts with me and you know I miss being with girls."
I shrugged. Of all the things in the world someone could ask Cat, asking for time with Benjamin was like asking for her heart on a silver platter. Right then and there. Cat cherished her boyfriend, and held him on a pedestal. Since the day she had met him, July 2000, I had heard nothing but Benjamin. Benjamin, Benjamin, Benjamin. He was a gorgeous guy: jet black hair that he brushed forward to a slight point on this pale forehead; dark, soulful chocolate brown eyes; facial piercings that accentuated his sculpted good looks. His only downfall, in my eyes, had been his height; but Cat thought he was heaven sent even if he lacked a couple inches. She swore he made up for it elsewhere, and she always winked when she told me this.
"I don't know, Ever," she sighed and readjusted her ponytail nervously. "I love Benjamin. I worry that he'll...."
She had been worried, it was true. Since day number one, it seemed. She'd ask me if I liked him, if I found him attractive. I couldn't lie; afterall, she was my best friend. She would know. I admitted I found him attractive, admitted I liked the little guy's sense of humor and easygoing personality. It had never set her at ease, instead, she'd ask if I would give up our friendship to be with him. Ask what I would do if he hit on me and not her on any particular, given night. I had always answered her honestly, assuring her that Benjamin was not worth our friendship. True. He wasn't.
"But one night is only one night," I spoke aloud my thought.
