Blurring the Lines

“There. Got rid of him,” Ben said. “Can we go now?”

Neither of us said a word as we walked back to the office. We didn’t even so much as look at each other until we were in the office parking lot. Ben started for his car, and I started for mine. He stopped.

“Addy.”

I turned. “Yea?”

“Maybe you should ride with me.”

What was going on here? Did Ben have a thing for me? He couldn’t. We had been friends forever. He had a girlfriend who he lived with. A girlfriend who I was friends with. But why then did he kiss me? I didn’t have time to give it much though. Ben had grabbed me by the arm and was hurrying me to his car.

“Come on. Let’s go. I’m not going to let you drive.”

“But my car…” I stumbled over the yellow line. I guess maybe I should be driving. “How will I get to work tomorrow?”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll come get you.”

We were silent the rest of the way to my place. When he pulled in front of my house, Ben started to say something but stopped. I reached for the door handle and looked back.

“Ben…”

“See you tomorrow, Addy.” Before I knew what was happening, Ben leaned over planted another big kiss on my lips, reached across me, flung open the door, pushed me out and spun off as I was left standing in the drive my mouth hung open in shock swaying a little from one too many pitchers.

“What the hell is going on here?”

I flung around and came face-to-face with Brad.

“I, uh, what…” I started. “What are you doing here?”
“What am I doing here? I guess I should ask you the same question.”

“How long have you been here?”
“Long enough to see what I just saw. Ben? Really? How long has this been going on?”

I started to tell him nothing was going on and that it was nothing. But I wasn’t so sure about that. It sure felt like something. But I couldn’t say how Ben felt. After all, he had a girlfriend who he seemed very much in love with and had never shown me one ounce of interest before tonight. I wasn’t so sure he was even showing interest tonight or just trying to get me home. I wasn’t going to let Brad know that though.

“Well, to tell you the truth, that’s absolutely none of your business.”

“You little bitch,” he said so hatefully I almost recoiled. “You were cheating all along, weren’t you? When were you planning on telling me? Or were you just going to let me take the fall for everything?”

“Oh give me a break, Brad. I don’t know why we’re even having this conversation. I tried to push by him but he stopped me.”

“Look me in the eye and tell me you weren’t cheating, Addy.”

I stared him straight in the eyes desperately trying to make him disappear. “I wasn’t cheating. This is the first time it’s ever happened.”
Relief flooded through Brad’s eyes. He pulled me toward him and wrapped his arms around me in a huge, stifling hug. He kissed my neck, kissed my cheek and moved toward my lips.