Page 13 of F Buddy

I sighed and said, “I don’t need you to tell me that.”

Still, she told it to me often, and most of the time I couldn’t decide whether to be annoyed or grateful for her interference.

When I was reasoning, I was grateful. In our group, Olivia was the one person I would call my best friend. Not that I cared for the others any less, but out of all of them, she didn’t coddle me. When I went to her after a breakup, she comforted me. But most of the time, she told me I needed to move on and make better, smarter choices if I wanted to be happy in my relationships. The first time it happened, I wasn’t exactly happy with her.

When I finally pulled my head out of my ass, I realized it was just her way of being a supportive friend. And most of the time, she had pretty good advice, even though her dating history was nothing compared to mine. The last guy… she’d told me he was a mistake long before I realized it myself, and if it hadn't been for her, he and I wouldn’t have had the confrontation that led to him breaking up with me.

He was attractive, so I’d been drawn to him. I didn’t realize until way after that we didn’t have all that much in common. Everything went downhill from there.

Olivia must have caught my sour look and guessed what I was thinking about. The look she gave me was one full of sympathy. Thankfully, she didn’t broach the subject.

“But that’s not what I came here to talk about,” she said, crossing her arms and legs. “You texted me first, so you better spill. What happened last night?”

I bit my lip. It had been an impulsive move to text her. I could have done without the commentary I knew she was going to make. But I wanted to talk to someone about it, so why not someone I trusted who understood me?

“I left with Zach,” I said quietly, but loud enough so I knew she heard me.

Silence met my blunt declaration.

“Wait,” she said slowly. “Zach, as in…”

“Oh, come on,” I muttered with a roll of my eyes. “We only know the one Zach, Olivia, unless you know another you’d like to introduce me to.”

Her mouth opened, but no words came out. Then she closed her mouth and opened and closed again, and my lip twitched. She looked so dumbfounded; it was amusing, though I couldn’t help the edge of anxiety in the back of my mind.

“You actually spent the night with Zach?”

I nodded my head slowly and braced myself for her reaction.

“Fuck, Scarlett, I kind of envy you!”

It wasn’t the response I had expected. I gaped back at her.

She laughed. “No, seriously! I’ve only heard stories, mind you, but he’s supposed to be really good in bed. Part of me wishes I could have taken your place.”

A small smile curved my lips because two could play at that game.

“I think someone might have objections to that,” I teased.

She rolled her eyes. “Don’t worry, it’s not like I’m cheating or anything. And it’s not like I picture myself having sex with Zach, I just heard some… interesting stories.”

“And who exactly is telling you these stories?”

I was genuinely curious about this since I didn’t know all that much about Zach myself. He wasn’t exactly secretive, but he wasn’t always open about his life either. Then again, we all liked to meet in a big group, and all we did was have fun, not heart to hearts. Still, I didn’t know his view on relationships until he told me yesterday. I thought he just had worse luck than I did in that department.

“So, how was it?” Olivia asked, smirking.

My face flushed as my mind immediately jumped back to last night, and she laughed at me again.

“I guess that answers my question, doesn’t it? You had a fun night, didn’t you?”

“Very,” I said immediately, seeing no need to deny it. “It was mind-blowing, Olivia. I don’t think I’ve ever felt that way with any of my previous boyfriends.”

Thinking back on it, it was a pleasant surprise. Zach was sexy and passionate, not to say that none of my previous boyfriends had been, but they paled in comparison. I couldn’t compare him to anyone; he was that good. And, if I were honest with myself, I wanted more.

“So,” Olivia prompted.

I frowned. “So, what?”