More than Friends: Ch. 04

The times Yvonne did finish early she'd drop by Janice's apartment to hang out with her. Ever since her mother expressed her concerns about Janice, she felt the need to spend time with her friend to make there wasn't anything significant she was overlooking.

Since Edward was doing his best to avoid Janice he made it a point never to show up there unless he was dragged along by Yvonne. It was on one such occasion that the three friends found themselves eating dinner at Janice's apartment. The terrace would've made for a far more pleasant setting, especially now that the few surviving plants were in bloom, but Edward insisted, that they sit inside.

"I think you two need some couple friends." said Janice.

The last few times they visited she caught Edward staring at her but he looked away as soon as she made eye contact. She didn't know what she did to upset him but he looked pretty miserable any time he was around her. It became clear to her that he didn't want to be there.

"I hear that you and Dara are likely to be just that, soon enough."

Edward's ears perked up at Yvonne's response.

"That man talks more than what's good for him." said Janice.

"So, not true?" asked Yvonne.

"No. I just said that he talks too much for his own good."

"You two have been dating?" Edward asked a bit puzzled.

"Yes."

"Is it serious?"

Edward was surprised to hear about this development and even more surprised about how much the idea was upsetting him.

"Our boy seems to think it is." Yvonne chipped in.

"I don't know ... It's nice. He's a distraction from work. And, if I'm being honest, I have to say that it feels good to have someone pay attention to me."

"Sweetheart- I'm sure Eddie will agree with me on this- many men would be happy to pay attention to you if you just allowed them."

Edward nodded mutely.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence but I don't see any one lining up. Heck, apart from you two, I don't even really have any friends in this city! So spending time with Dara, is pret-ty nice."

"Plus, he's hot." added Yvonne.

"Yeah," said Janice blushing a little, "and, he's not pushy. He's been really patient with me so far."

"That's Janice speak for- they haven't done the nasty yet." Yvonne explained to Edward.

"No?" Edward asked, confused.

Janice blushed and grumbled under her breath.

"Please don't talk about S-E-X in front of the B-A-B-Y." Yvonne told Edward in a mocked whisper.

"Of course, you can talk about sex in front of me. Just don't talk about my sex life." Janice whined.

"No point in discussing non-existent things." Yvonne teased.

Edward watched in fascination, Janice's shy responses to Yvonne's teasing. It didn't line up with the image of the woman pleasuring herself with wild abandon. He wondered if he imagined the whole thing in some fevered state of mind.

"I'm excited about this weekend. My first weekend off in ages." said Yvonne.

"My weekends have been pretty relaxed since the Beast decided that I was actually worth my salt, but I'm excited just the same."

The Beast was how everyone at work referred to Janice's supervisor. Jacob- The Beast- Turner, was one of the named architects and he believed in making life a living hell for anyone who didn't meet with his standards. It took months of proving herself in every challenge tossed her way before she finally managed to win his confidence in her abilities.

"I know. I don't think we've gone together to the beach since we were kids."

Yvonne's comment drew Edward out of his reverie.

"Wait, what? I thought it was a weekend getaway for us." said Edward.

"It is a weekend getaway for us." explained Yvonne, moving her hands around to indicate everyone in the room."

"I thought it was s'posed to be just the two of us." Edward pointed to himself and Yvonne.

"No hun. It's you, me, Jan and Dara."

"What?!! Dara's also gonna be there now!"

"Look, we don't have to go together." Janice interrupted, feeling more than a little uncomfortable. "You guys should go alone; after all, you two haven't had any time together in a while."

Edward wasn't thrilled at the idea of sharing space with Janice and Dara for two days but he didn't want to cause her offence, either.

"That's not how I meant it Jan. I was just surprised as it wasn't something I was expecting."

"The house I've rented is huge with enough rooms to give us all privacy." Yvonne explained to Janice and then turned to Edward.

"I'm sorry baby. I thought you understood that I meant to include Jan. Are you really okay with this?"

Edward felt like an ass. He didn't want to ruin Yvonne's plans or upset Janice further so he simply took Yvonne into his arms and hugged her to let her know he was okay with it all.

"Thank you, baby. We're going to have so much fun." she whispered seductively in his ears.

"Jan, we need to leave now." she said loudly as she left pulling a dazed looking Edward by the hand behind her. "See you Saturday morning. Bye."

*****

Saturday morning, Edward and Yvonne picked up Dara and Janice at her apartment. The property they were headed to was less than a two hour drive away. As it was still early summer Yvonne had managed to convince one of clients to rent their summer home to her for just this weekend as a personal favor.

"We need to have a barbeque tonight." Dara said at some point during the drive.

The beach house Yvonne rented was a charming beachfront property. But since no one lived there, they would need to carry any supplies, they would have need for, with them. Between the drive and the stop for supplies it was past noon when they finally reached the place.

When Janice first heard Yvonne's plan for a weekend away for the four of them she knew immediately that this was yet another attempt on her friend's part to control her love life, more specifically, her sex life.

"I want separate rooms." Janice had insisted. "If I end up having sex with a man, it'll be when I'm ready and not because I've been forced to share his bed."

She agreed to go along only after Yvonne assured her that she would respect her wishes on the matter and not try to manipulate her actions in any manner. So she couldn't contain her anger when she noticed that the house had only two bedrooms.

"I had no idea, Jan."

"You had no idea? Seriously? Bull-shit!"

The men were outside, unloading their bags from the car and didn't hear the women arguing. Edward was the first to arrive at the scene. He noticed an upset Janice standing in a confrontational pose before a sheepish looking Yvonne.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

"Ask your girlfriend." Janice replied, tersely.

Edward looked at Yvonne. "She's angry because the place has only two bedrooms." Edward continued to stare at her failing to spot the significance.

"It means, your girlfriend expects me to fuck Dara while we're here."

"Come on Jan. You don't need to be crude."

"Why is it crude? Isn't that what you were hoping for- that I finally let him fuck me?"

"I just thought it would be nice- romantic. That's all."

Edward sensed Janice's frustration with Yvonne and jumped in before she said something regrettable.

"I don't really understand what's going on here. But if you don't want to share a room with Dara, you can room with Yvonne. I'll sleep out here on the couch."

Janice was still upset with Yvonne but she didn't want to make a further issue out of it. She nodded and took her bag up to one of the bedrooms with a contrite looking Yvonne following closely behind.

*****

"I really meant no harm. It's just that sometimes you need a push where these things are concerned. Please don't be mad at me." Yvonne pleaded with Janice.

Janice continued to give Yvonne the cold shoulder the rest of the afternoon. She didn't want to ruin their weekend but she couldn't help the way she was feeling. She usually put up with Yvonne's intrusive manner but this was one issue where she expected her oldest friend to understand why she couldn't just jump into bed with anybody.

"I don't need a push, Yves. I need to feel comfortable around the guy to share myself like that."

"Have you ever thought that maybe you'd be more comfortable with a guy if you were intimate with them?"

"Yves, I never told you this before but when I was in France I tried to ... I was going through a rough patch and decided to go all the way with this guy from work. We'd gone before and he was smart and sexy and I didn't see why he wouldn't do.

"So I found myself standing before my first naked man in his hotel room. He kept kissing me, running his hands up and down my arms, saying these really sweet things trying to help me feel better.

"I drank, thinking it would help... thinking it was just nerves- like you're always telling me. It didn't help. None of it helped. He slid his hand under my dress and I felt his hand creep up my thigh- I felt so disgusted for some reason, I ended up puking on him."

"No!" cried Yvonne, clasping her hands over her mouth.

"Yes." said Janice, smiling wryly. "I did. And it wasn't the alcohol because I didn't drink more than a glass of champagne. My body was just not ready to go there with him. I'm not ready for Dara either, but I think, in time, I could get there. Just don't force me into a corner."

"Oh come here and give me hug you runt. Lord, what a drama queen! Gave me a scare with how angry you got at me."

Janice let Yvonne hug her.

"Did you really puke on the guy in the middle of sexy time?"

"I wish I was joking. Fortunately this happened just before I left so I didn't have to hide from him for too many days."

"Jan, I just realized something." Yvonne said suddenly serious.

She pushed Janice away at arm's length and looked into her eyes.

"You kept a secret from me. What else have you been hiding?"

"I wanted to tell you. I wanted to call you when it happened but I was thoroughly mortified and I just knew you'd tease me about this for the rest of my life." Janice replied honestly while carefully segueing away from Yvonne's questing.

"Now, let's go marinate the meat if we want to barbeque later."

*****

Since Dara was absent during the argument between Yvonne and Janice he was disappointed by the sleeping arrangement. He had come on this trip fully expecting to finally take his relationship with Janice to a new level.

If being stuck with blue balls even constitutes a relationship, he said to himself.

After their last few dates she had finally let him kiss her and the experience had left him feeling so heady he decided she was well worth the wait. The more time he spend with Janice, the more he believed that she was resisting him only due to her inexperience and not because she was playing hard to get. Since sex wasn't on the table, it gave him a chance to spend his time getting to know her as a person rather than just studying her body's responses to different sexual positions.

Dara realized that Janice was special to him when late one night he got a message from one of his 'fuck buddies'. It was the image of the woman posed on all fours wearing nothing but a pair of strappy sandals. She had used her hands to pull apart her ass cheeks to show her pink pussy as well as her asshole. The message read:

This was the kind of offer he would usually jump at, no matter his situation. Instead, he found himself deleting the text as well as the image. He ended up jerking off, imagining it was Janice who had clicked a picture of herself and invited him over. The next time he jerked off imagining Janice waiting for him at home every day, in that position; that's when he knew he was in deeper than he'd planned.

He finished changing and ran out to help Edward with the barbeque grill. Dara enquired about the sleeping arrangements.

"The girls just wanted to share a bed like they did when they were kids." was all he got as a response.

"Ed, I've wanted to ask you something for a long time."

"Yeah?"

"Those two are really close, right?"

"Yeah, so?"

"So do you think they ever ...?"

"They ever ... what?"

"You know."

Dara waggled his brows suggestively.

"No! They're practically sisters."

"So?"

"So, they're not close in that way."

"Shame! That would've been incredibly hot."

"You realize this is real life and not porn, right?"

"Hey, I've known real sisters who were into each other. Anyway, these days all the women I meet claim to be bi at some point."

"They're not incestuous lesbians or bi or anything from some cheap porno you watched. They're just cousins who were raised like sisters, who've been best friends all their lives and one of them is my girlfriend while the other is a dear friend. I care about both those women and I don't appreciate you talking like this about either one of them."

"What the fuck, Ed! Lighten up. It was just a dumb comment. I didn't really mean anything by it. Come on, let's finish with the grill."

Edward had not intended to lose it at Dara, but he was tired of hearing him objectify Janice. He really cared about her and believed that for the kind of person she was, she deserved something better than whatever Dara was offering her. He hoped she would figure that out for herself sooner, rather than later.

*****

The group decided to go for a swim finally in the evening once they were done getting everything ready for their barbeque later.

Yvonne wore a blue and purple bikini with her flowing curls bouncing freely in the air. She looked like a mermaid stepping out of the water. The summer crowd had yet to arrive so there were only a handful of people at that hour, yet all eyes appeared to be glued to Yvonne, all except Edward's.

Throughout the day Dara kept flirting with Yvonne and ignoring Janice. Or so it appeared to Edward. He chose to swim till he was sore to work off his annoyance with Dara for hurting Janice by neglecting her. Or so, he thought.

Janice wore a dull grey swimsuit which didn't flatter but didn't in any way hide her curves as much as she would've liked. There were several moments where she found herself the object of Dara's heated gaze. It made her want to go hide under a bed. Instead, she chose the middle ground- sitting by herself on a beach mat. Not being privy to either Dara or Janice's thoughts, Edward misunderstood the situation.

*****

The group headed back to the house after sunset. The rest of the evening was spent pleasantly enjoying the sea air and barbeque.

The sleeping arrangements ensured no one could have sex, so they got drunk instead. Knowing she was a lightweight, Janice cut herself off after a couple of glasses. So everyone, except Janice, staggered to their beds drunk, late in the night.

Yvonne passed out for the night while Janice felt restless. She lay in bed staring at the ceiling but couldn't fall asleep. She tried reading some news articles on her phone but it made only left her feeling more alert. It didn't help that Yvonne kept trying to cuddle Janice in her sleep. She finally got off the bed and gave up on sleep when she found herself smothered by Yvonne for the umpteenth time.

Standing in front of the open window, she saw the deserted beach spread out before her eyes. The moonlight danced on the water, inviting her to test its depths. She longed to go for a swim but wasn't sure how safe it was for her to go out by herself that late in an unfamiliar place. She smiled thinking about how Yvonne would've simply taken off, treating it as yet another adventure. The least she could do was go out and enjoy the night air on the porch swing.

*****

The couch had proven to be far more uncomfortable than it looked as it didn't accommodate Edward's long frame. His tossing and turning to try and get comfortable only hurt his already aching body. He cursed himself for having overdone it with the swimming earlier as he felt his muscles throb. He went out for a walk, hoping that the night air followed by a night cap would render him too sleepy to care about the discomfort of the couch.

A short while later as he returned to the house he immediately noticed the small figure of Janice on the porch. She sat huddled on the swing with her eyes closed and looked like she was asleep. It was colder in the night and even if there was no one around, she wasn't dressed warm enough to spend the night outside. He walked to her with the intention of carrying her up to her bed.

"What the-"

Janice jumped with a start when she felt someone touch her.

"You scared me!"

Edward watched her take the earphones out of her ears, and reach into her pocket to switch the music player off. It became clear that she had been listening to music with her eyes closed, which was why she didn't hear him approach her.

"I'm sorry. You looked like you'd fallen asleep outside; I only meant to take you in."

"Oh. I couldn't sleep and it looked so lovely outside I thought I'd sit here a while till I got sleepy. How come you're out?"

"Similar reasons." he said, sitting beside her on the swing.

Janice shivered a little as she forgot to bring her sweater. She hugged her knees to draw some warmth. Edward felt like putting his arms around her or hugging her so that she wouldn't shiver but he was afraid of what it could lead to if he touched her.

He planted his feet firmly on the floor and pushed off, setting the swing in motion.

"I'm sorry about what happened with the bedrooms."

He finally spoke when the swing was set into a rhythmic motion.

"It wasn't your fault. I need to thank you in fact for stepping in."

"Well, you looked like you were ready to say something you might have ended up regretting."

Her shoulders stooped as she thought about what she had meant to say to Yvonne just before he intervened. "You're right. It's just frustrating when someone treats me like a kid incapable of living my own life. I expect better from my best friend."

"You know in her own way she's just looking out for you. It's just that her idea of what's good for you isn't the same as yours."

"I know she means well. That's what makes it so hard for me most times."

Edward could empathize with the sentiment. In that respect his relationship with Yvonne was not that dissimilar.

"I'm cold. I'll go in."

"You go on. I need a few more minutes."

As Janice got up and walked back inside Edward wished he could ask her to stay; he'd missed his conversations with her. He wanted to tell her about work, about his annoyance with Dara, about his relationship issues, even his attraction to her. He wanted to share his thoughts with her because he had come to trust that she would get it, that somehow she would know exactly what he meant and would have the perfect response ready for him. And then they could just sit and laugh about how silly he'd been all this time.

BULLSHIT! You're just another asshole trying to get into her pants. His conscience yelled at him.

*****

Everyone finished with breakfast early in the morning and headed to the water. Yvonne was even more stunning wearing a white string bikini with gold ties that looked brilliant against her tan skin. In the daylight her long and athletic body looked sculpted to perfection. As Yvonne ran ahead of her, Janice sighed and looked down at her own modest suit, unaware of the stares she was getting from the few people on the beach that morning.

Edward woke up feeling stiff and sluggish. After breakfast he didn't join the other for a swim. He rolled out a mat on the sand and relaxed with his shades covering his eyes. He watched the rest of their party swim and splash in the water and before joining some people for a game of volley ball taking place further down the beach. As he watched Janice walk towards him, he grew mad at Dara for once again paying too much attention to Yvonne and forgetting about her.