***All characters are over 18 and are fictional. Any resemblance to any real-life persons or situations is purely coincidental.
...
"Fuck it, let's have sex," said Nora.
It took Steve a couple of seconds to realize what he had just heard.
"What was that?" he asked.
"Let's have sex."
Steve just looked at Nora, contemplating what was happing right now. One moment they were just relaxing in front of the TV, watching a movie while eating pizza and drinking beer, the next moment she abruptly suggests they just have sex. It's not that he didn't want to have sex with her, it's just that no woman, especially a female friend, has ever randomly suggested this to him. It was such an unusual and random situation. He had no idea how to react.
ONE DAY EARLIER
Steve was tired of feeling depressed. Brooke, his longtime girlfriend of over a year, broke up with him a few weeks ago, and he had spent that time feeling sorry for himself. He tried to show a brave face to his friends, to show that he was alright. But when they weren't looking, his smile disappeared and he wanted to just stay at home on the couch doing absolutely nothing. He couldn't even bring himself to smoke weed.
His mood had improved in the last few days. He was still upset about the breakup, but was finally getting out of the house. He went to the gym for the first time in weeks, and he felt better after finally getting some exercise. But he still felt compelled to do something to help himself get over Brooke and move on with his life.
Then he got the best advice he had gotten in a while from one of his closest friends, Nora. He was having coffee and a pastry for breakfast with her at a local café. They sometimes met there before they both had to go to work. She worked as a paralegal for a law firm, while Steve worked in human resources for a software company.
She was asking how he had been doing since his breakup, and he let her know that he had been doing much better but still needed to do something to pick himself up. That's when she said the two words that got him very excited.
"Guys night," she blurted out.
"What was that?" he asked.
"You need a guy's night out," she said. "Just a bunch of dudes drinking and having fun being themselves without any women around. My girlfriends did that for me two weeks ago when things ended badly with Trent. Remember?
Steve remembered. She was with Trent, an alpha male firefighter, for about a little longer than he was with Brooke. He was a major asshole, but he was also super handsome and muscular, and being a firefighter was an attractive job for some women. Things ended between them when Nora was trying to get more of a commitment from him and he couldn't do it.
When they finally broke it off, Nora was very upset by it all, much like how Steve was when things ended between him and Brooke. Her friends took her out for a girl's night out, where she partied all night and got wasted.
"Afterwards, I felt much better because I had had so much fun the night before," she continued. "I mean, after the hangover went away, of course."
Steve remembered how relaxed and happy she was after that girl's night, and realized she was right.
"That's brilliant. I can't believe I haven't thought of that," he said, enthusiastically. "I haven't been out with just the guys in a long time. It would be fun to go out with them to just let loose."
"Exactly. By the end of the night, you would have completely forgotten about some dumb trashy bitch with bleach blonde hair."
Steve laughed a little when he saw how much she enjoyed saying that about his ex-girlfriend.
"I always knew you hated her," he said.
"Yes, and now I can freely talk shit about her in front of you without feeling guilty about it."
"If I text the guys now, I can probably get the guys to go out with me to a sports bar tonight," said Steve.
He was really going to suggest that they go to a strip club with him, but he wasn't going to say that to one of his female friends. Nora has always been cool, and she's not naïve enough to think he doesn't go to those places, but it still didn't feel right to admit it out loud.
"Make it tomorrow night," Nora suggested. "Your friends have girlfriends that I'm also friends with, and I know they have date night plans with them tonight. Tomorrow night gives them extra time to be ready and available."
Steve smiled at her. "See, this is why every guy needs one good female friend. They know things like this that could help us out."
"We are the best," she said smugly.
They finished their breakfast and went their separate ways. As Nora walked away, Steve couldn't help but check her out. She was his age, a couple of inches shorter than him when she wasn't wearing heels. Long black hair, amazing blue eyes, and a body any man would die to get their hands on. He could tell she had a good size C-cups and a nice ass. He felt mildly guilty for checking out one of his closest female friends like that, but he hadn't been with a woman in a while, so she was looking very appealing to him right now.
He had asked her out in the past; of course, he had. He told his friends he had asked out only a few times in the last ten years since they first met in high school. The truth was, he asked her out about six times. That was an embarrassingly high number to admit too; it was especially embarrassing when she kept turning him down, making the same general excuses, mostly about not wanting to ruin their friendship.
He hadn't asked her out in more than five years at this point. He was grown up enough to learn his lesson and not continue being shot down. He was still alright with it though; it wasn't like he was in love with her or had any strong feelings like that. But she turned out to be a great friend, so he was happy with that.
Over the next several hours, he texted his friends about a guy's night out tomorrow night at a strip club, and they were all excited by the idea. They had girlfriends who would never be cool with them going to those places, so they all agreed their alibi would be that they were going to a local sports bar they enjoyed.
A few of them were worried that their girlfriends wouldn't like the idea of them going out all night getting hammered. But Steve gave them the idea of using his breakup as a reason for going out. He told them to say that he was very depressed and that they wanted to take him out for a guy's night to make him feel better. They all thought it was a genius idea. Sure, it would make Steve look pathetic in their girlfriends' eyes, but it was worth it to hang out with friends at the strip club.
SIX HOURS EARLIER
"Assholes!" Steve cried out, alone in his own apartment.
One by one, each of his friends had to cancel their plans with him. Apparently, they all claimed that they had forgotten that they had prior commitments with their girlfriends that they couldn't get out of.
This was surprising because since yesterday, they've all been texting back and forth about tonight. They were sharing jokes and memes, even sending out breast emoticons as if they were in high school. They texted about the naked women they'd be seeing and how many lap dances they'd be getting, and asked about how much they should bring from the ATM beforehand.
His friends were getting him very excited for tonight with all that talk. Then they crushed his spirits when they all suddenly had to suddenly cancel.
Steve suspected their girlfriends got wind of their plans to go to a strip club tonight and made them cancel. He wanted to say something about that to them, but he wasn't going to call them out on that and possibly get them in trouble with their women, so he just played along with their excuses. Just because he didn't have anyone right now didn't mean he was going to do anything to jeopardize their relationships.
He thought about going on his own, but it was no fun to go to those places without someone to hang out with. So, instead, he was going to stay at home and watch TV. They all said they could go all hang out next weekend and do something. That was fine by him, but he was sure by then they had suggested something other than a strip club, which would make their girlfriends happy.
He was searching for something to watch when he got a call on his cell phone from Nora. It was a surprise to get a call from her since she mostly just texts. He answered the call, and they both greeted each other.
"Is this an emergency?" Steve asked sarcastically. "I don't think I ever got a direct call from you in years."
"No, I just thought it would be easier to talk this way because of the situation," said Nora. "Word on the grapevine is that you're alone tonight."
