"But Karl, he's an asshole. You know I think he's a prick! All he does is try to look down my top or stare at my ass..." Elizabeth Alexander replied to her sweet boyfriend of just over three years as she held the phone to her ear with her shoulder while unpacking the brown bags full of groceries -- if she put them away a little harshly...well, she was just taking out her frustration at the topic of conversation.
"You've got a great ass, Beth. A guy just can't help looking sometimes. It's harmless, you know that." Karl Tabbert replied...as he always did...and Elizabeth frowned as she pulled the fridge open and almost tossed the milk inside.
"You're too laid back." She said in reply, frustration turning to irritation as a memory popped all too vividly into her mind. "You remember that time I first met him and went to kiss him on the cheek and he turned his head so I accidentally kissed him on the lips?"
"Yeah..." Karl answered, the tone of his voice the same as always when she brought this up.
"Yeah...? He did that on purpose so I'd kiss him!" She muttered angrily, placing the fruit into the bowl on the table a little...less gentle...than normal.
"Come on Beth, he heard someone call his name, he told you that after." Her boyfriend replied, again, as he always did when she mentioned any of his friend's 'incidents'.
"Yeah, of course he did." She answered back sarcastically and muttered to herself under her breath.
This wasn't going to do any good, it never did. This was not the first time this exact same conversation had happened. It always did when Karl's 'best friend', Rhys, was going to be anywhere she was. The man was a total prick. A conceited, cocky, player-kind of a guy who always had his eye on her when he turned up...well, more than his eye at times, he had even tried hitting on her the night Karl had introduced them to each other, and that had been only a week or two after they had gotten together! And this was her sweet boyfriend's 'best friend' who he wanted to come over for a drink!? The fucking guy always wound her up!
Still, this whole conversation wouldn't do any good, it never did. Karl wouldn't believe his best friend was a creep until he saw him pulling her clothes off or something!! Not that Rhys had ever done that, or would ever be that stupid...for a self-assured prick her boyfriend's 'best friend' wasn't stupid at least. No, he would never do something that would reveal what he was! Fucking arrogant, creepy bastard...
That thought made Beth far more irritated than she already had been.
"Do you have to come here though? Can't you guys just meet at the bar or something?" She asked, trying to calm herself.
"Come on babe, as soon as you get to know him you'll love him." Her boyfriend replied, his voice taking on that sound he had when he was playing peacemaker...which in her opinion he did all too often with Rhys fucking Jenson.
Taking a deep breath, Elizabeth sighed before she spoke again. Damn him, and damn his perpetually laid-back trust in his friend, and fuck, damn the fact she loved him too!
"Fine" She answered resignedly. "You guys won't be here long anyway so I won't have to put up with him for long."
"That's my girl." Karl replied sounding pleased and Elizabeth grunted in reply as she screwed up the brown bags and threw them into the bin in the corner, frowning irritably as she did it. "Right, I'm gonna have to get going, gotta get back to work but I'll see you when I get back. Thanks babe."
Elizabeth replied that he had better thank her before telling him that she loved him and hanging up the phone.
Running a hand through her light-brunette hair, she sighed heavily, thinking of the intolerable evening to come, before she placed the phone back on its stand and looked forlornly around the kitchen for a moment.
After a moment, Elizabeth Alexander, the beautiful brunette girlfriend, shook her head and relaxed the frown that had slowly crept onto her face...she was just going to have to deal with Rhys fucking Jenson, fucking Karl...before she glanced up at the clock on the wall. Four hours till Karl finished work and maybe half an hour on that till he was back. Four and a half hours of peace...four and a half hours to prepare herself for an hour or two of dealing with Rhys in the house. Oh, for some reason that just didn't feel like enough time.
Deciding to put her boyfriend's 'best friend' out of her mind -- he would have enough time to piss her off when he was there, she had no intention of letting him get to her when he wasn't - the 24-year-old brunette headed over to the refrigerator and taking some ice and lemonade out made herself a nice cool drink to take the edge off the gorgeous day before making her way into the lounge, grabbing a magazine she had intended to read that day, at least before Karl had ruined the day with his news, and sat on the couch, curling her legs underneath her as she held the drink in one hand and the magazine in the other.
And oh, how blissful that peace was. Sipping her cool drink and flicking through her magazine with nothing but the sounds of summer outside and the warm caress of the afternoon air. Followed, of course, by flicking through the television channels to watch her favourite shows, grabbing something to eat, phoning one or two of her friends to see if any of them wanted to come over seeing as Karl was heading out tonight (which none did unfortunately, but still). Oh, it was beautiful and time did fly.
At least, it flew for three hours...and then there came a knock at the door.
Placing her not-long-poured lemonade on the table beside the couch, Elizabeth dropped the remote on the seat as she got up, feeling quite content, and headed through into the hallway and to the etched glass-panelled front door.
Opening it sprightly, the beautiful girlfriend's positive mood quickly drained as her eyes fell on the attractive but self-assured face of her boyfriend's best friend -- everything about him was cocky! From his short, dark lightly-gelled hair, his fit but not overly muscular body in his jeans and fitting t-shirt, to his large brown eyes and that arrogant, smug smile he always had that got her back right up!
Fuck but her mood changed instantly. One moment she was on top of the world and now...now she was rigid and had a knot of irritation already tight in her stomach. What in the hell was he doing here two hours before Karl got home!?
