But I didn’t laugh anymore.
Well, I tried not to laugh and it was slowly becoming my first reaction to speak up not to snigger.
As Charley was fond of saying, I wasn’t perfect but I was trying. And Charley made me want to be the very best human I could.
I’d thought I’d lost her, but she was better to me than I deserved. She’d always been better to me than I deserved. And I was going to try to deserve it a little more.
The school adjusted to us dating. Most people were surprised, having no reason to know our history. They had questions. A lot of questions.
“How did you guys get together?”
“How do you even know each other that well?”
“Was she tutoring you?”
“How long have you known you’re in love?”
“Are you all going to be, like, friends now?”
It was a minefield. I didn’t much care. I was used to people constantly talking to me, asking me questions, being interested in my life.
Charley, though?
I could tell it was frustrating her and I didn’t know what I could do about it. I tried telling people it wasn’t really their business, but that got a less than favourable response more often than not.
It didn’t last long, though. A couple of weeks later and the next new couple had come along and distracted everyone.
Jett was slowly warming up to me. And by that, I mean he didn’t look at me with quite so obvious contempt in his eyes. I felt a little less nervous around him as he seemed to get less and less intimidating. I was pretty happy to bond with him when I could.
Although, I put my foot down after he first got me to try rugby. From the moment we stepped out from under the cover of the verandah, it all went badly for me. But it did its job.
“Never again!” I laughed, spluttering mud.
As I tried to stand up, I slipped and ended up on my arse again half on top of Jett. Not that it mattered, because I was already covered head to toe in mud.
Jett laughed as I fell again.
“How do you do this?” I whined.
“Cleats,” he answered, standing up easily and holding his hands out to me.
I took them and he hauled me effortless to my feet.
“Can we go inside now?” I puffed.
Jett clapped me on the chest. “Not yet.”
“When?”
“We don’t stop until there’s mud in your arse crack.” He clapped me on the chest again and jogged off.
Damn him and his easy athleticism.
“I am not made for this!” I called. “Also, I’m pretty sure there’s mud in my arse crack!”
But that hadn’t got me out of that scrimmage.
Luckily, my sportsmanship did get me out of any further ones. Plus, Jett didn’t have any more time for me to dick about at their practice because they had a season to concentrate. And yes, his whole team had had a great time hazing the captain’s friend’s new boyfriend.
Penny was more easily won over. As soon as I told her Sam was my favourite Winchester, she was on Team Zane.
“There aren’t teams,” Charley insisted.
Penny and I nodded.
“You’re either Team Sam or Team Dean. Rules,” Penny said.
“Stupid rules,” Charley said.
“You only say that because it’s two against one,” I told her.
“Dean is clearly the better Winchester,” Charley said like it was matter of fact.
“You just think he’s the hot one,” Penny accused.
Charley nodded. “Yeah. What else are we supposed to judge them on?”
Penny was very passionate about her love of Sam Winchester and I thoroughly enjoyed ganging up on Charley with her. I personally didn’t really have a favourite, but it was worth saying I did to disagree with Charley. Naturally, Charley knew what game I was playing, but she didn’t say anything to Penny.
And, we spent a lot of our alone time in the treehouse.
Sometimes we relived our childhood, playing pirates or astronauts for a very short-lived run. Sometimes we were very adult and talked about grown-up things like getting part-time jobs after school and moving out one day.
We’d lie on our beanbag, our fingers laced and just coexisted. And, I had to wonder, if there really was safety in the friendzone. After all, my girlfriend was and always would be my best friend.
Safety in the Friendzone