“We’ll get him laid tonight, it’ll help smooth it over.” He jolted to the left, hitting the button on his controller for more ammunition to blow on the television screen.
I shook my head. “So, sex solves everything?”
“For a minute it does.”
“A minute? That’s all you can hold out, Leo?” I shook my head again, smiling wide. I could see him looking at me through the corner of his eyes with amusement in his gaze.
This was how we were with each other. No one at our school understood our friendship. Everyone thought we were hooking up behind closed doors, but it wasn’t like that for us. We were neighbors and grew up together. Our moms were pregnant at the same time and bonded over that fact. Since then, we’d spent most of our time together. I didn’t know a life without Leo in it.
We were best friends.
“A minute is about the average time it takes for a male to think of something sexual, so yeah. That sounds about right.” He grinned at me and I rolled my eyes.
“I honestly don’t know who’s worse out of the four of you.”
“Well…” he hesitated, concentrating on his task at hand. Shooting three opponents in the face before he continued on, “It depends on who you ask. If you ask any female in this region of Tennessee? It’s definitely me.” He paused again, muttering under his breath, “Cocksucking bitches,” referring to his game. “Now if you ask guys from our opposing high school, then it’s Cain, because everyone knows he fucks anything that walks.”
“Bro,” Cain interrupted, walking into the cabin with Ashton and Sawyer right behind him. “I resent that. I don’t fuck freshman girls. They get too clingy for my liking.” He grabbed a soda from the fridge.
While Sawyer called him out, “What about that freshman Laura you screwed last month?”
Cain looked up at the ceiling, narrowing his eyes like he was thinking about something. “Laura… hmmm… Laura…” he accentuated, shaking his head. “Nope. Name doesn’t ring a bell. I don’t know a Laura.”
“And you just proved my point,” Leo chimed in, making me chuckle.
“Oh! Do me next, Mr. Know It All,” Ashton insisted, grabbing the other controller off the coffee table and hitting the button to request in the game.
Leo approved his request, adding, “A guy who’s still trying to find his dick.”
I choked on my drink.
“Mila.” Ashton glanced over at me. “Why don’t we go into the other room and you can tell Leo how easy it was to find my cock because it’s so fucking huge.”
“Uhhh…” I mocked. “I can think of a hundred other things I’d rather do than see your dick.”
“A hundred? Damn,” Ashton scoffed out. “My dick is offended. It might be hiding now.”
I laughed, I couldn’t help it. These guys were hilarious with their constant smartass banter. This was how they’d always treated me, like one of the guys. However, Ashton, Sawyer, and Cain weren’t my best friends, they were Leo’s, and they constantly questioned our friendship as well.
“Now I feel left out,” Sawyer stated, pulling himself up onto the kitchen island to sit down. “What am I?”
Leo killed two more enemies and smiled. “Yours is pretty obvious, dumb shit.”
“What’s that supposed to mean, jackass?”
“It means, anywhere we go, everyone knows you. Life of the party, Sawyer. Usually drunk, fucking shit up, and messing around with more than one girl in a night.”
Sawyer shrugged. “I can’t help I gravitate towards the center of attention. It’s natural for me. Plus, girls throw themselves at me. What the fuck am I supposed to do, say no? I’m not a pussy like you.”
“Sawyer!” Leo exclaimed. “I can’t even cross county lines toward Tullahoma to go hiking without worrying about my tires getting slashed because you thought it was a good idea to fuck around with twin sisters.”
“Hey! You said go for it!”
“Only if you were ready to deal with the consequences. Shit!” Leo threw his controller on the coffee table. “You assholes just made me lose.”
“You lost because I started playing and kicked your ass,” Ashton countered, leaning to the left, trying to take out his next opponent.
“The fact that you guys play video games like we’re still in middle school should be the bigger issue here.” I took another sip of my sweet tea.
“Playing a video game?” Cain questioned, side-eyeing me. “We’re saving the world one game at a time.”
“What?” I challenged. “That doesn’t even make sense.”
Ashton bumped my leg with his knee. “Makes perfect sense, Mila. We’re preparing for the zombie invasion.”
“Oh my God,” I murmured. I was over hearing about the zombie invasion. “Zombies are not invading. You know what?” I held my hand out in front of me. “The only one of you hoe bags I can stand is Sawyer.”
“I don’t know why,” Leo said. “Last year he slept with the only female friend you have or had…”
Cain defended Sawyer, “She was hot. Plus Mila, that was kinda your fault, we told you it was a bad idea to have a girlfriend. You started bringing her around and it was only a matter of time before one of us nailed her.”
“More like railed her,” Ashton added.
“I hate all of you,” I jokingly remarked. “I have no girlfriends because of your reputations. They don’t trust me.”
“Sorry not sorry,” Cain somewhat apologized.
I took a deep breath, changing the subject. “At least you look like you’re handling the split okay, Cain. I’m sorry about your parents.”
His demeanor immediately changed, and I regretted bringing it up.
Ashton nodded at me. “Way to kill the mood, Mila.”
“I’m sorry, Cain. I didn’t mean to—”
“I have a great idea,” Leo stated out of nowhere, bringing all our eyes over to him.
It was one of those moments where you knew something was about to go down. I just never imagined the next words out of his mouth would have such an impact on all of us.
Especially me.
—Leo—
I hated seeing my friend in pain. It was obvious he was hurting and trying to play it off like he wasn’t. I wanted to be there for him, be a good friend. Cain was more like my brother.
They all were.
“Why do I feel like whatever you’re about to say is going to be life-changing?” Mila recognized.
I glanced at her. “Because, my lovely Lala, you know I’m wise beyond my years.”
“You still think James Bond is a real person.”
“He’s not ready to talk about Sean Connery, Mila. None of us are,” Sawyer explained.
“It’s too soon,” Ashton added.
“Oh my God. I’m surrounded by idiots. How many times do I have to tell you Sean Connery is an actor? He’s not James Bond.”
Our eyes went wide.
“Don’t you ever say that again!” Cain ordered in an offended tone.