Friends First

Say what you would about Jed, he was a perfect gentleman with the customers.

WIth his short hair and broad shoulders and raspy deep voice and biceps that looked all set to burst out of his white oxford shirt, Robbie couldn't help but envision him among the clique of jocks he'd loved to hate in high school. Judging by the stories Jed had shared over the endless rounds of gin rummy in the staff lounge, he probably really had been among that crowd.

But if he couldn't avoid looking the part, he knew how to keep it under wraps for the guests who were enjoying an early spring breakfast at their remote resort that morning. Robbie, who'd kept his prejudices under wraps well enough to get along fine with Jed, was once again impressed as he watched his colleague flit about effortlessly between tables. Always with a smile and keeping his voice just loud enough for the right guests to hear him, he charmed women and men alike with his service. On the other side of the vast dining room, Robbie - who had himself inspired no complaints in the two months and change - did his best to look as confident as he was sure Jed felt.

Approaching a newly seated party of four, Robbie remembered to smile. "Good morning," he said. "Would you like some coffee to start?"

"Yes, please, with a lot of milk," said the older of the two women, in an unmistakable French accent.

"And we have a question about the menu," added the younger of the men - her son? - in the same accent. "We are French, and I see 'French toast' here. What is that? Is it what we just call toast?"

Now Robbie's smile was genuine. "French toast?" he asked. "Okay, please don't laugh," he said, having elicited that response with his French in the past. "French toast, c'est le pain perdu. Et c'est très bien ici."

The guests didn't laugh, although Robbie did find himself promptly bombarded with more questions he could barely understand. Fortunately, he was unaware of Mary Beth approaching the table from behind with the latest coffee pot. So he wasn't aware of the show he was putting on for his crush as he stumbled through his answers to their questions. And then he was delightfully aware that his beautiful colleague had heard him when she arrived to pour the coffee. "Coffee for everyone?" she asked.

"Yes please," they responded in unison, and one by one they gave Robbie their orders in French. Robbie repeated them once he had everything written down, and was greeted with a chorus of "D'accord" while Mary Beth, looking resplendent as ever in the prairie dress all the female staffers had to wear, flashed Robbie that smile he'd been fighting so hard to resist for two months now.

That had already been a losing battle, never more than last night when they'd been the only two of the gang who hadn't wanted to go out for a drink, and had talked like best friends for hours. Robbie had been reminding himself constantly all morning, that kind of bonding was perfectly normal for women and he shouldn't fool himself thinking it was anything special for Mary Beth, who seemed able to carry on a pleasant conversation with anyone. But there'd been no mistaking the thrill he'd felt when she'd touched his hand as they were saying good night, and there was no denying he'd felt it again now. Trying to fight it felt downright quixotic as he remembered the look in her eyes for the remaining hour of his shift. Did her chestnut curls look even more adorable than usual, or was that just his imagination? Didn't she make everyone, men and women alike, feel wonderful? Hadn't he moved all the way out here for a reason? And it went without saying that Mary Beth must have a boyfriend back in Chicago.

Then again, she'd never said anything about wanting to go back to Chicago anytime soon. But then there was Jed, not to mention Chad and Barry.

Robbie just about had his guard back up by the end of his shift. Almost, but there was that adoring grin again when he stepped into the kitchen. "Robbie, I didn't know you spoke French!" Mary Beth exclaimed. "And you do it beautifully!"

"Didn't know that either, man," Jed said.

"He majored in it!" said Dawn, who with her boyfriend Geoff had been on duty setting up the ballroom. "Isn't that right, Robbie?"

"That's right," Robbie said, plopping down next to Dawn. "I thought I'd mentioned that at least once."

"Couldn't find a teaching job, was it?" asked Chad, who had staked out the seat next to Mary Beth. Barry, never far from Chad, was on her other side.

"No, man, he wanted to come out here to wait on all these rich bastards," Barry said. "Just like the rest of us, eh, Robbie?"

Robbie laughed but didn't answer. None of his colleagues needed to know the truth of why he'd come out here; he figured they all had their own secret reasons, too. It was just the sort of place one would come to in order to escape a traumatic recent past.

"The quiet one is always full of surprises!" Mary Beth remarked. "You know, Robbie and I talked for ages last night while the rest of you were off at the pub, and he never mentioned this?"

"True," Robbie confessed. "It just didn't come up."

"Wait a minute," Jed said, silencing the rest of the table the way he always seemed to do so effortlessly. "That blonde gal in the blue dress with the wild hat on your side of the room, she's French?"

"Yes," Robbie said. "From Lille, and I guess the whole family are driving across the country. They're just here for three days. They told me all about it when I brought their food."

"Man, you've got to teach me, how do I tell her, 'You have beautiful eyes' in French?" Jed asked, pulling his phone out of his pocket. "Let me record it so I can practice it before lunch."

"Here we go again," said Geoff. "Jed, women don't like that sort of thing. At all."

"That's right," Dawn added. She looked at Mary Beth for confirmation, but Mary Beth just chuckled, as frustratingly diplomatic as ever.

"Just 'cause you don't like it doesn't mean she won't," Jed said. "And Geoff, the French aren't politically correct like you, all right?" He held out his phone. "Robbie, please?"

"Jed, they're right, women don't like that kind of come-on," Robbie protested.

"They do when the guy looks like Jed," grumbled Barry, who with Chad had long since resigned themselves to also-ran status with any woman Jed took a shine to.

"Even if you're right, it's no skin off your nose, man," Jed said. "Besides, Mary Beth knows I'm right, doesn't the right line from the right guy get you a little wet?"

"Jed!" Dawn jumped up and turned to leave - an all too common occurrence when Jed, Barry and Chad got rolling.

"Guys, that was out of line!" said Geoff, but he didn't get up and tried unsuccessfully to pull Dawn back to the table. "I think you owe Dawn and Mary Beth an apology."

"And I think you ought to give this nice guy shit a rest," Jed retorted. "They know when we're just joking!"

"The joke wasn't funny," Dawn seethed. Wrenching her hand free of Geoff's, she stormed out into the empty dining room.

Jed ignored her. "Robbie?" he nodded at the phone.

"Don't do it, Robbie," Geoff ordered.

"Who are you, my dad?" Robbie asked.

"Well, I am your team leader," Geoff reminded him.

"Says who?" Chad demanded.

"Says Pam," Geoff sniffed. Pam, the assistant manager, had in fact ignored his request to be team leader; but she had never actually said no to it.

"Funny she didn't tell any of us," Barry said. "Robbie, if the man wants to make a fool of himself, why stand in his way?"

"Well said," Mary Beth agreed. "Can't save everyone from themselves, Robbie."

"All right, all right." Robbie wracked his brain for any mention from any of the others that they had ever studied French. Failing to recall any, he managed to keep a straight face as he spoke into the phone.

"Ma marie a ses règles."

Jed jammed his thick finger down on the stop button. "Thanks, Robbie. This is gold! You'll see, all of you." He stood up and thwacked Barry and Chad on the back in turn. "Come on, guys, let's hit the gym while we can."

His ruse apparently having gone undetected, Robbie took a long drink of his coffee to avoid the wicked grin he couldn't hope to keep off his face.

As soon as the trio had gone, Geoff turned hard on Robbie. "You shouldn't have done that, you know," he said.

"You don't speak French," Robbie said.

"I don't need to speak French, to know it's inappropriate to treat women that way. You should've told him to forget it."

"Geoff, come on," Mary Beth said. "Maybe Jed'll learn his lesson. Either way, it's not Robbie's job to save him from himself."

"Oh, he'll learn a lesson all right," Robbie said. Now that the coast was clear, he dissolved into laughter.

It took but a moment for Mary Beth to put two and two together. "You didn't really say 'you have beautiful eyes,' did you?"

"Not even close." Robbie set down his coffee cup with a triumphant flair.

"What did you say?" she asked.

"You don't want to know."

Mary Beth nodded and stood up. "I definitely do want to see him try the line on her, though. Well, I've got to go see Pam before next shift. See you guys later?" Once again she touched Robbie's hand, and once again he felt the jolt of joy that he was just about done trying to fight.

As wonderful as he was feeling, Robbie had no desire to sit through another of Geoff's lectures, so he waited just long enough for the door to swing shut behind Mary Beth before he pushed back from the table and made to stand up. "I should probably go get cleaned up," he said in the absence of any better excuse.

"You could clean up the mess in the staff lounge," Geoff's said with his usual smirk. "Wouldn't want to have to report you to Pam, you know."

"You'd have to get your nose out of her ass to do that anyway, wouldn't you?"

"Oho, I'd watch my mouth if I were you, Rob," Geoff said. "My respect is a good thing to have, you know."

"Whatever," Robbie said. "Anyway, what mess? It was just Mary Beth and me who were off last night, and all we did was talk. Like she said."

"My point exactly," Geoff said with a grin. "You must have drooled all over the place. Did you clean it up?"

"Don't quit your day job."

"Eh, good for you, not taking the bait this time," Geoff said. "But look, everyone knows you've got the hots for Mary Beth, everyone except her anyway. So you'd better be careful."

"You think she really doesn't know?" Robbie had never been any good at keeping that sort of thing to himself, though he had tried.

"Women never know with a guy like you, Rob," Geoff said. "I should know, Dawn friendzoned me for a good two years and never even knew I was after more. It's what nice guys like us have to do."

Now Robbie did take the bait. "For Pete's sake, Geoff! That's disgusting. I'm not that kind of guy."

"Yes you are. That's why you were staring at Jed this morning and wondering how he turns the charm on and off the way he does. 'Cause you know we can't compete with guys like that. That's why we've got to be friends first. Show the girl you respect her and care about her."

"But if I do respect her, I'd never make friends with her just to get more, now would I?"

Geoff shook his head and chuckled. "Yeah, and that's why you're single, Rob. And if you're gonna aim for a sweetheart like Mary Beth, you're gonna stay that way. Look at me and look at Dawn!" At this, Robbie admitted to himself that Geoff was right, Dawn's beauty and effortless grace were nothing like Geoff's own self-satisfied awkwardness. "You think I got Dawn to fall in love with me by being charming?"

"You've got me there," Robbie admitted.

"Right! Guys like us, they think of us as their old standby, the one they know they can turn to and cry on our shoulders when the Jeds of the world get bored with them. You've just got to wait until they get worn down, and sooner or later there'll be a weak moment when they'll fall into your arms. I'm telling you, that's your only chance with Mary Beth, kiddo!"

"Geoff, you really are something else, man." Robbie stood up and made sure his uniform shirt was tucked in; Pam had called him out on that a couple of times now.

"Can't argue with success, is all I'm saying," Geoff said. "Took two years, but I got Dawn, didn't I?"

Robbie shook his head and headed for the door.

"It's for your own good," Geoff called after him.

Mary Beth didn't really need to talk to Pam. Between the memory of the wonderful conversation with Robbie the night before and hearing his French this morning and the inside knowledge that he'd put one over on egotistical Jed, there certainly was something Mary Beth needed to do. But it didn't involve Pam. Indeed, their agreeable but prim boss was the last thing on her mind as she took the elevator downstairs to the servants' quarters (the stairs were too much trouble in such a long skirt), swishing her legs in anticipation once the doors had shut.

The women's uniform, composed of seemingly endless yardage of fabric, had initially been Mary Beth's least favorite part of the job by far. But she had long since taken note of the way Robbie looked at her when her infinitely full skirt swished as she walked, and lately she'd come to welcome his furtive glances. She was glad he hadn't noticed her this morning with the French family - what if he'd been too shy to use their language if he'd known she was there?

It didn't really matter. Now she knew, and all the way down the basement hallway, she was feeling a delicious tickle inside that wouldn't let go. With one precious hour free before the restaurant reopened for lunch, Mary Beth knew exactly how she wanted to spend it as she drew out her key card and opened her room.

She hadn't felt that tickle in far too long, at least not this strongly - but then, that was why she'd come out here in the first place. Hadn't they all come out here for some sort of fresh start? As the butterfly of the group, Mary Beth knew everyone's official story, and she'd picked up a few clues as to some of the real stories - enough to guess they were all running from something. For example, Dawn and Geoff claimed to be scouting out rural areas to move do as soon as one of them got a job they could do remotely; but Mary Beth knew (and she suspected Geoff didn't) that it was really a last-ditch attempt to salvage their relationship.

Mary Beth's own official story was that she was thinking of going to grad school for hotel management. That at least could be true, as she had always loved hotels and her BA in English didn't have recruiters banging down her door. But none of the others needed to know about about her ex-fiance, or about the errant SMS message she'd received from him last summer, expressing in steamy detail what he planned to do to someone named Linda.

As Mary Beth locked her door and turned the light on, she remembered how she had almost told Robbie all about it the night before. The conversation had, she had decided, been too pleasant to steer in such a sad direction. But she'd been delighted to realize she felt comfortable talking about it, and that was just one of several hints of an awakening she'd felt with Robbie though the lovely quiet evening. When she'd finally retired last night, the whole thing had felt too pure - like a schoolgirl crush - for her to want to do anything about it.

Now, after a good night's sleep and the events of the morning, those inhibitions were history.

With the heater providing a pleasant warm breeze, Mary Beth undressed, helping herself to a deep breath as soon as she was free of the ridiculous dress. She rubbed her belly, which was still a little larger than she'd have liked, and found she didn't mind the size so much when she imagined they were Robbie's hands instead of her own. Though she hadn't understood a word he'd said to the French family, she welcomed the memory of every word as she imagined him whispering them in her ear as he pulled her panties gently down.

When she did pull them down a moment later, she wasn't at all surprised to find they were quite damp.

With no bedframe in the way, the corner of the mattress was made for the use. Mary Beth had noticed that on the day she'd arrived; now at last the flesh was willing. Keeping her bra on to spare herself the frustration of having to put it back on shortly, she knelt just over the corner and closed her eyes.

She didn't try to tamp down the moan of delight that erupted from her throat as she humped the mattress. Robbie's imaginary hands felt wonderful on her breasts, his thumbs teasing her nipples just right, his warm breath on her neck as she welcomed him inside her...Mary Beth shut her eyes tightly and bore down harder on the mattress, hard and fast strokes that she wished Robbie could see so he'd know just how hungry she was for him.

In her imagination, each thrust into her was hard and hot. In reality, she felt an orgasm building up all too soon, but she welcomed it anyway. If she had to settle for imagining his embrace as she came, at least her imagination didn't have long to work overtime. Once it was over, Mary Beth flipped onto her back and spread her legs wide in triumph, imagining she was giving Robbie his first look at her pussy. Didn't guys always love that!.

She only allowed herself a few minutes to bask in the erotic joy, otherwise it would just be too easy to fall asleep. With the lunch rush on the way, Mary Beth got up and bent over to retrieve her panties from the floor.

Then she thought better of it, and put her dress back on but left her panties right where they were. They were, after all, rather wet anyway.

As much as he could have done without Geoff's unsolicited advice, lately Robbie welcomed any distraction from thinking too much about Mary Beth. As he did his best to enjoy the dewy early spring weather on his solitary stroll through the empty lower grounds, he reminded himself again and again that for once, Geoff was right. She was out of his league. Deep down he'd known it from that first time she'd caught his eye with that smile on their first week on the job back in January, and he'd done his best not to fall in love with her.

He'd known the score within the first hour on the grounds of the remote resort. For that matter, he'd known before shipping out here that it was the kind of place where a certain type of people always found love - and he'd known he was not that type. And wasn't that why he'd come out here in the first place, because he was in no shape for love these days?

Meeting the other young men on the team - Jed most of all, but Chad and Barry were nearly as chiseled and handsome - had only reinforced that brutal certainty. Geoff, wiry and nerdy looking, had looked like a more likely comrade in empty arms at first. Then two things had happened: first, Geoff had opened his mouth to make it clear he was the leader, in his own mind at least. Second, Robbie had learned that Dawn, the statuesque blonde with the cheerleader's grin, was Geoff's girlfriend.

At least Dawn wasn't Robbie's type.

After Martine, no woman was.

Or so Robbie told himself again and again. Deep down he knew it wasn't so. But Dawn really wasn't, and he had to wonder what kind of woman would fall in love with a jerk like Geoff in the first place. In any event, he'd hit it off fine with Dawn, utterly secure in his certainty that he'd never fall for her.

That had left only Mary Beth, the quiet but friendly brunette who had a good word for them all from that first awkward moment in the lobby before Pam had arrived to get them settled. "I feel like we're all waiting for the teacher on the first day of kindergarten!" she'd said before they'd all even memorized one another's name, drawing good natured laughs all around. Fortunately, Robbie hadn't felt anything special on that first morning anyway, though he did wonder which of the three other guys would inevitably win her heart. Having settled all that before they even sat down to dinner for the first time that night, he'd figured his heart was safe for the season.