Chapter One: Just Friends
"Wow finally!" I said as they passed into Florida. My co-worker smiled back at me. We had just been out of town for her birthday. She wanted to go to a massive concert in Atlanta.
"Just another five hours to go." she said a bit too loud.
"Shhh!" I shouted back at her. She looked into the back seat of my SUV.
Henry, her boyfriend, was passed out in the second back seat. My SUV had two independent seats right behind the driver and passenger, then a bench seat behind those.
This was Henry's first time at an outdoor concert, between the sun, loud techno/dance music, and the beers. It was too much for him.
"He is still knocked out." she laughed.
"Light weight." I laughed.
"No shit." she laughed with me.
Gillian and I had worked together for over eight years. Even though we were in our early thirties, we still partied as much as possible.
Gillian was only five foot two but always wore boots with heels, which were now sitting on my dashboard. She always wore short skirts that came down just above her knees.
Gillian was highly busty for her height and weight, which she used to her full advantage. Even when we worked on the night shift doing stock at a large retail outlet, she would show off her massive cleavage. I did not mind because it always got her what she wanted, well, what we wanted.
Gillian was constantly changing her hair color. Today it was jet black with some strands of blue in between.
I stood at a tall six foot four inches, always towering over her. She always called me her big black protector. Or BBP, as she had nicknamed me. I was even saved in her contact with those words. I always wore black jeans and a shirt.
"Surprised he hasn't woke yet." I said, looking in the rearview mirror. I could see his feet as he had curled himself into a ball.
"Oh well," Gillian shrugged. My phone alerted me to a text. "No texting and driving." she said, grabbing my phone. She looked at it and threw it back into the middle console.
"Who was it? I asked.
"Just one of your sluts," Gillian said in a sarcastic voice.
"They were not sluts. Just lightly dressed?" I said, trying not to sound like I was making it up.
"You could see everything!" Gillian said, laughing at my feeble attempt.
"Well, not everything but yeah, close to it," I said.
"The blonde had her hand down your pants after just an hour of talking to you!" Gillian said, now sitting upright.
"Yeah, I can see how that. Can be seen as slutty behavior," I laughed. It was true. But I was sure both girls I had met were on some kind of happy drug.
"Did you fuck them?" Gillian asked.
"Whoa!" I said, looking at her. "Absolutely not." I said in an honest voice.
"Well, you three disappeared for a while so I thought," Gillian said before I interrupted her.
"I am not that easy," I laughed. "Just made out and well.." I said with a smile.
"They sucked your dick," Gillian said, shaking her head.
"Yeah," I laughed. "Without question, just went for it after we were out of sight."
Gillian sat back and put her feet back up on the dashboard.
"At least you got some action," Gillian said in another sarcastic voice.
"But you guys had your own room last night," I said.
"Mr. lightweight. Spent most of the night sleeping," Gillian said in a scolding voice.
"But all we did yesterday was drive up there and go to the bar?" I said, trying to make sense of the whole thing.
"I know!" Gillian said.
I could see she was getting mad. Under that dark black hair was a redhead. I was probably one of the few people who knew her natural hair color. And she was on the verge of getting really mad.
"Change of subject..." I began to say.
"The thing about it is. This whole thing was his idea!" Gillian said aloud. "He wanted to go to the music fest, he wanted to get out of town for a while. And he said he wanted to stay the night up there so we could fuck each other's brains out!" Gillian yelled.
She turned and threw something from the middle console back there. I looked to see what was missing. It was just a pair of sunglasses. That was the thing with Gillian. When she got mad, she threw things.
"Feeling better?" I smiled.
She looked back at me.
"Yeah, a bit," Gillian smiled. "Just been a while since, well, you know."
They both were living with his parents. Our work did not pay well, and he was in between jobs.
"Told you that you guys could move in with me." I shrugged. I had my own house. Well, it was given to me after my parents passed. "Could do with the help to pay bills." I smiled.
"Nah," Gillian shook her head. "He is jealous of our friendship and living together would just push that into over the top."
"Us?" I laughed.
"What's so funny?" Gillian asked.
"We are like best buds, brother and sister. How can he be jealous?" I said.
Gillian sat further back, crossing her arms under her chest. "I don't know," she said, looking out the window.
"You did tell him that right?" I asked.
Gillian nodded without saying a word. There was silence as I thought about what Henry could be thinking. Then I realized that if roles were reversed, I could see where he could get that idea.
We did talk a lot on the phone, texting, and over video chats. Hell, I couldn't remember the last time a single day went by without talking to each other it had been years. Even when we went on separate vacations, we would call each first thing in the morning and last thing at night.
"Shit." I said out loud.
"What?" Gillian asked.
"We are in a relationship?" I said.
It came down on me like a ton of bricks. Yeah, we had seen other people in those eight years, but we still seemed to be with each other more than the person we were dating.
"No!" Gillian said. I could see her face start thinking. "Can't be," she was really thinking now as she put her feet back down. She shook her head. "But you were with Kathy. Just two months ago."
