Page 70 of Friends with Benefits

I spent a day showing her in every way how much I wanted her. Doing everything short of saying the three words I feel with every beat of my heart. She would have been scared enough. Then I acted like a jackass and really blew it.

‘Jake?’

I dart my head to Kit. ‘Ah, yeah, give me five.’

Upstairs, I change into my sweats and check my cell one last time. Still nothing.

All I know is, she can’t have gone far because our flight is Sunday. I’d bank on her still taking that same flight home.

I fire another message:

Jess, please. Stop running. Talk to me. I’m sorry.

I meet Brooks, Drew and Kit on the driveway.

‘Do you want to talk about it?’ Drew asks.

I crack my neck and bend my foot up to my butt to stretch my quads. ‘How about you guys make me run until I’m only thinking about my next breath?’

‘Hell, yeah, I can do that,’ Brooks says. ‘Let’s go, Jakey.’

For the first four clicks, all I think about is Jess. About yesterday. About every amazing day since I’ve met her. Wondering whether she’s in love with me.

If she didn’t feel something, she wouldn’t have cared whether I fought over Emily, would she?

I thank the running gods when Brooks picks up his pace and we drive forward, pounding the streets harder, until my ability to think clearly is gone.

You can always rely on Brooks to take you out of your head when you need him.

We finish the run along the beach, the sand putting the final nail in the coffin for our dead thighs. Kit keeps up relatively well, either because he’s getting in shape, or because a week of indulgent food and booze mean Brooks, Drew and I are slower than usual, though he’s still breathing like he smoked sixty cigars this morning. Brooks, Drew and I are breathing hard too, and I’m sweating from places I never knew I could sweat from.

Cold water and all, we take off our sneakers and caps and throw ourselves into the ocean.

I dunk my head under the water and flick my wet hair from my eyes after I surface.

‘So, are we going to talk about why Jess left last night?’ Kit asks. ‘Am I the only one who can see the huge, enormous, fat elephant in the room?’

‘Ah, that was ripe for a fat Kit joke,’ Brooks says, rubbing his hands over his face. ‘It’s a shame we got you thin.’

For the first time this morning, something amuses me.

‘It seems pretty obvious why she left. I crossed the line with her, made us something more than we agreed we would be, then she assumed I struck out at Brandon because I’m still into Emily. She thinks I played her and it fucking kills me.’

‘Is she right?’ Drew asks.

‘She couldn’t be more wrong. I just needed to… Brandon and I had unfinished business, that’s all last night was. And, by the way, I’m sorry for messing up your night like that. I’ll apologize to the girls when they’re up.’

‘Hey, don’t worry about it. People pay good money to watch fights like that and we had free ringside seats,’ Kit says, making me chuckle.

‘Yeah, well, it’s not exactly what you want on a night away with your friends, so I am sorry.’ Then a thought occurs to me. ‘Shit, Drew, last night wasn’t the big night, was it?’

‘Big night?’ Kit asks as Drew raises a brow at me.

‘Aaaand that’s the real fat elephant in the room. Sorry two times, bro.’ Drew smashes water at me.

‘Oh, is this the part where you tell me the purpose of this week is for you to propose to Becky?’ Kit asks.

‘What the…?’ Drew lifts his hands from the water as if he’s raising the roof.

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