More Than Friendship Material Pt. 03

"Woohoo!! " she yelled. "My own Pom poms!"

Liz sighed and did as she was told, kicking off her sensible shoes and then taking off her clothes only to replace them with the t-shirt that Mary gave her. "Seriously guys, is this some sort of cheerleaders amateur porno we're gonna make?" Liz teased and Hollie burst into giggles.

Mary eyed her and smiled, "You know, your mind sure is in the gutter missy."

Liz flushed and sat down next to Hollie, ripping open her own pom pom set. "So what's the plan here?"

"The plan, my dear Elizabeth, " Hollie laughed, "is threefold: 1) I'm going to whip you two into a lean, mean dance machine; 2) Halloween is coming up, and we're going to win our share of costume contests; and 3) we're going to thank those guys who did so much to protect our asses, by shaking said asses."

Mary added, "They didn't save mine, I just like to shake it." Hollie and Mary burst into laughter again. Liz just groaned and blushed.

"Calm yourself Sandra Dee. This'll be good for you," Hollie said. "Now, have either of you been cheerleaders or on dance team before."

"Sixth grade," Mary replied. " I didn't have much to shake back then."

"No,' Liz sighed, her head buried in her hands.

"Cheer up little camper. This'll be fun. I'll teach you." Hollie said.

"HAHAHA You just said CHEER up," Mary giggled. "Afterward, you'll really know how to handle a spirit stick. Who knows? The guys may want to make that amateur porn you wanted."

"Enough chit chat, girls, " Hollie barked. "Times a wasting"

"OK, OK," Liz said begrudgingly. "It's just one night."

Her two friends burst into another round of laughter.

"Um, Liz hun,, I'm a great teacher and all," Hollie said, " but not even I can teach that much in one night."

"Yep," Mary added. "Our debut is Saturday."

Liz groaned and for the next couple of hours was put through some grueling ass shaking, hip wiggling and moves that made her head spin. Despite her earlier complaints, she spent more time laughing and giggling than complaining. For a 'book nerd' Liz actually had some good moves and had an ear for the music.

In the end, exhausted and famished, the girls called it a night. "I can't believe you're making me do this, but, because it's for our boys, then I don't mind so much. Next time don't be so secretive." She grinned and the girls put on their best innocent looks.

Laughing, she said goodbye and headed back home for a much needed shower and some sleep.

***

Todd and Ben turned on the baseball games, since the playoffs were starting that night. They caught about half of the Phillies win over Cincinnati, which sucked for Reds fan Todd, but was exciting since the game was a no hitter. Both guys hated the Yankees and booed the New York team mercilessly as they played the Twins. Todd couldn't drink due to the medication he was on, so he stuck to root beer. Ben downed the real thing. Both chowed down on the mountain of snacks that Liz had left for Todd, and Todd finished off the leftover pizza from the day before.

"Cold pizza and sports," he said dreamily, "is there anything they can't fix? Even swollen balls aren't so bad right now"

"Speaking of swollen balls," Ben interjected, " I don't suppose you've used all this spare time to figure out your 'problem' of what to do with your surplus of hot chicks."

"Hardly," Todd answered. "I'm avoiding it like the plague. Liz is acting normal. Her and Hollie spend more time together than with me. Just a second...." Both guys closed their eyes and issued a simultaneous "mmmmmmmmm" before Todd continued. "I'm hoping the whole thing has blown over."

"Ah..ye olde 'avoid it and hope' gambit. Good luck with that buddy." Todd threw a pretzel at Ben who caught and ate it, and both groaned as the Yankees first baseman hit a towering home run. The sound of keys in the door indicated that Liz was back from whatever her "girl time" (mmmmmmm) session had been with Mary.

With her poms poms hidden behind her back Liz glanced around, making sure that the boys were nowhere to be seen. It was a bit risky trying to make a dash for her room, so she quickly slipped into the kitchen and stashed them in the cleaning cabinet where she was sure that Todd would never venture into. The girls had kept the t-shirt and she had returned in her own clothes, just a little more sweaty and worn down.

"You guys doing okay?!" she hollered, grabbing herself a soda.

"Yep yep!!" Ben shouted back and she smiled, poking her head into the bedroom. "Well I can see you've made yourselves comfortable. I'm going to shower and you're free to go when you want."

"Did you have fun?" Todd asked before she could vanish, watching with apt interest as her face turned a shade of crimson.

"Yeah, it was um, interesting. Anyway, off to shower! I'm all sweaty now!"

She stifled a giggle, knowing full well how that sounded.

Liz hurried off. Todd and Ben looked at each other as she left. They closed their eyes and again uttered a satisfied "MMMMMMMMMMM." Then they looked at each other again, and said, "Nah. Would never happen!"

***

Hollie and Mary were still giggling over the practice session.

"That was fun, and Liz even got into it. Hollie, you must have magic powers. Are you really one of Santa's elves?" Mary asked.

"You caught me, "Hollie replied. "Santa is really a big perv and has a thing for cheerleaders. So, he sent me undercover and under the covers." She giggled merrily. "Hey, what time is it?"

Mary looked at her phone. "Like a quarter of 11."

"Do you know what time Allen goes to work at the X-Mart?"

"I think 11:30, but I'm not sure. Why?"

"Because we have to invite him to our debut performance," Hollie said matter of factly.

"Allen? The big scary Army guy who never talks? That Allen?"

"Of course that Allen. He was there and things would have really gotten bad without him"

"Yeah, I know, but we barely know him. I thought this was just for Todd and Ben," Mary said cautiously.

"Don't tell me that brash, ballsy Lucy here is afraid of another guy seeing her strut her stuff.," Hollie laughed.

"Hell no. That's not it, but Allen is a little off. I've never even heard of him dating or socializing or anything. Todd says he never says more than five words at a time."

"He said more that that to me, Liz too. Maybe he's shy and you were the one who said we were flirting this morning."

"That was a joke," Mary answered, "and shy? The dude who looks like he could gargle paint thinner and carve the Star Spangled Banner in someone's ass with a knife?"

"Being shy with your feelings and being a tough guy is not that far a stretch. Plus, he really seems like a good guy. You should hear him talk about how he respects women."

"You think this will make him respect us?"

"I don't know," Hollie said. "He may not even show up, but I want to give him the chance. Plus, you didn't see him coming in to rescue us. Damn that was sexy."

"OK, now I get it," Mary said with a leer. "You're setting up a back-up guy. Clever, my friend."

"Quiet you," Hollie laughed, "and I'm out of wine."