The Friend Zone (The Relationship Quo Series Book 2)

by Nicole Strycharz

  I stopped to lean over the counter and flipped through it when she handed the slim book over, “my best friend has a copy, and she’s re-read it at least fifty times. C. Dougherty writes to the soul.”

  She leaned with me so we were close, “I skimmed it and came across the poem, Am I a Murder… I think the author was writing about my relationship.” She reached over and turned to the page.

  Hmm, the words on the page are as beautiful as Chloe claims but sad. “If you want it, I’ll give it to you for…twenty percent off.”

  Jenzy brought her eyes up, “really?”

  “Yeah, she has a new book coming out and these sell fast. I can’t keep them on the shelf, so if you hesitate you may lose out.”

  Her smile killed me, “thanks! I’m so picky about poetry but, I almost read the whole thing on the floor back there.”

  I rang it up.

  “What do you think?” She held up the crystal she had as well.

  “Hmm, a Nephrite Jade… so to promote emotional balance, protection…love.”

  She handed it to me, “like the energy?” she asked.

  I turned it in my hand and did feel a great deal of positive vibes. “It’s loaded with it. You want it?”

  She narrowed her eyes at the stone in indecision. “Yeah…I think I do. All these book sales. It’s crazy, you guys have a sale every other day it seems.”

  “There’s a reason,” I couldn’t help the smile, “I have a surprise for my best friend. It’s expensive, though. So the sales are like a secret fundraiser.”

  The small talk commenced from there but then I had to ask. “How’s your husband?”

  She turned the wedding band on her finger. “He’s, well…” she kept her eyes on the books I was bagging. “We’re separating.”

  It’s hard not to show excitement when it’s not appropriate. I don’t wish this couple ill will, but Jenzy is the most amazing woman I’ve met and if another guy is willing to give her up…

  “I’m sorry.” I handed her the bag, “That’s rough.”

  “What’s rough is I haven’t told him yet. I’ve been moving my stuff out for a week and he hasn’t even noticed.”

  “That’s bazaar. Is he blind?”

  She laughed, “preoccupied but blind too maybe. I don’t dislike him, we’ve been together for years, I don’t want this to be it for us but, I think he’ll see it’s pretty over.”

  I saw a flicker of sadness in those sky blue eyes but then I saw a will to start over. I wrapped her crystal, “I wouldn’t expect him to take it so well. You’re,” I smiled at my work and shook my head, “you’re too beautiful and kind to let go of so easy.”

  When I did chance looking up she was looking back at me. She never holds my eyes longer than a second or two; she’s loyal. I admire that. She’s not a Katie. Her husband would never find her with a Chad while their commitment was strong. However, she’s looking at me now and she’s keeping my stare.

  “Were you ever married?” she asked.

  I pulled the jute string we use to tie off wrapped items and gave a short laugh, “no, engaged once but I never made it any further.”

  “Then you know a little of what I’m going through.”

  I groaned, “sure. It’s difficult to let go. Even if you have all the good reasons.”

  She took her crystal after I was done and put it in her bag. She watched me an extra second, “thank you, Moses. I know it sounds cliché but I feel like I can talk to you and I appreciate that. You’re a good friend.”

  Eww, that word. Friend. It’s a fugly word. It’s like saying ‘die alone with your kindness.’ Still, I like Jenzy for more than the opportunity of having her in my bed. I like that I can talk to her too. I like her.

  “Anytime,” I straightened and pulled my tool box from under the counter, “now I’m going to go and anchor more of the back shelves before I have pancake shaped customers and a lawsuit.”

  She laughed and waved before heading out the door. I saw her look back at me but she kept going and I’m glad. I don’t really trust myself with her.

  Her appearance is enchanting. The long waist length auburn hair, the ocean eyes, the pouty lips…

  I went to the back wall where the top half of the shelves were empty and down on the floor. I got on a ladder and used a measuring tape and pencil to mark the spot when I felt a tug on my pant leg. I looked down into blues. Jenzy had come back, and the air left my lungs in a whoosh.

  “Long time no see,” I teased.

  She stood on her toes. “Question.”

  I smiled, “Answer!”

  She playfully hit my calf. “If I give you my number…that’s not cheating right?”

  “The guy that flirts with you daily isn’t the best judge of that question.”

  She wrung her hands, “I’m leaving my husband and I’m moving out. I was going to do that long before I met you. He and I don’t even talk anymore and I’m pretty sure he thinks I’m a troll, so giving you my number isn’t a moral question right? It’s just a personal preference.”

  How do I tell her the idea of her even wanting me to have her number is making me almost hard? “I think, you shouldn’t do anything that makes you uncomfortable or anything that makes you feel rushed.”

  She looked down and away like she was thinking and I crossed my arms over the top part of the ladder to watch her. Her husband should win the Idiot award.

  Jenzy looked back up, “you run a New Age store. Doesn’t that make you like a shaman?”

  “If it does, I’m a corrupt one and this is still not a matter to trust me with.”

  “We could do tarot cards or ask for a sign.”

  I nodded. “I like signs, let’s go with that.”

  She set her back to the wall and looked around the store. “So what should be our sign?”

  I looked around and came up with a thought. “This is the slow hour and it’s a slow day, that’s why we close in an hour. So if three customers come in within the next minute, you give me your number, as a friend. That’s our sign. If not, then it’s a sign I should remain your buddy in passing from the bookstore?”

  She winced. “That’s risky, isn’t it? I’ve been here thirty minutes and only one other person came in.”

  I came down and she pushed from the wall to stand next to me. “It’s the only way I can’t be accused of manipulating.”

  She smiled that adorable smile and lifted my wrist between us. “You’re in charge of timing.”

  We hadn’t ever touched a lot so her hand on my skin was making my heart a rocket. I looked down at the face of my watch and waited, then said, “we start the minute in, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.”

  She looked at the door but I looked at her. Alrighty Universe. You toppled the bookcase I saved her from if you want this to mean something toss me, three customers.

  I dragged my eyes from hers when I heard the bell above the door. There’s one. Jenzy checked my watch but I kept watching her. There’ an innocence about her that makes me want to protect her. I haven’t met a woman that seemed so mature but innocent.

  About forty seconds in a guy made his way through the door and I started to hold my breath. Now at fifty seconds it’s not looking good and I so badly want the open door that would follow getting her number.

  At fifty-five she looked up at me with disappointment but surrender and I opened my mouth to beg her for it anyway when the bell rang. A little girl came running in just at fifty-eight seconds and her mother followed with a stroller right at sixty.

  Air rushed into my lungs and we looked at each other at the same time. I smiled at the giddy look on her face. “Let me guess Jenzy,” I said as I pulled my cell phone. “867-5309?”

  She laughed so hard it turned contagious and yeah, I played that song on my phone the rest of the day.

  Days later I pull up to the gym I teach at on my bike. I’ve wavered on the road and had my eyes half closed the whole time because talking to Jenzy day and night is my new life.

  Chl
oe doesn’t notice the change because I’m subtle about it but it’s worth losing the sleep. Jenzy is becoming more than what I think is the girl for me, now I’m fairly sure.

  I go to the locker rooms where my buddy Chris is sitting and getting dressed. “Hey Chris,” I say as I unzip my bag on the bench down from him.

  “Hey Moses, how’s life?”

  Chris is like a body builder type but he doesn’t go so overboard that he looks like a compact brick house. He’s just seriously built whereas I’m fit, toned, and wired hard. He’s also got way more tattoos; sleeves, more across his chest. We started at this place the same day and became fast gym friends.

  “Good,” I said around a yawn as I pulled off my Earth Day t-shirt.

  He smirked, “up late texting your girlfriend?”

  I laughed, “she’s not my girlfriend yet man. We just talk, but yeah.”

  “Better make a move or you’ll end up in friend zone. My little brother was king of the zone until he met his wife.”

  I took off my prayer beads and dropped them in my bag, “Well, she’s going through a lot right now; I don’t want to rush her.”

  He didn’t look convinced, “hey, if she’s talking to you into the wee hours of daylight, she’s as ready as she’ll ever be.”

  I shrugged, “she’s with someone.” I thought of Chad’s ass. “I don’t want to be that guy, ya know? They’re breaking up but…”

  He started to tie his shoe but looked up at me, “then it’s all good. Wait too long you might miss out.”

  “That’s true…” I kicked off my shoes and thought about Jenzy, “she is really hot. Like I don’t get how the guy she’s with is even letting her go. Not to mention we have so much in common it’s crazy. Even the way we met feels like fate or something.”

  Chris smiled, “yeah a falling bookcase is pretty epic. You were like Batman or something.”

  I frowned then grimaced. “Superman.”

  “Let’s not go here again.”

  We laughed because Chris and I have long standing Marvel disagreements that end in hot debates or a wrestling match in the ring.

  He grabbed the last of his stuff but as I put mine up I noticed he looked a little stressed. His mind was somewhere else but I’m not going to ask about it because if he wanted to talk he would.

  On the way out though I paused in the doorway and he stopped. I wrinkled my nose then asked. “Did you know when you met your wife? Like… was it different or was it obvious she was it?” At the risk of sounding like a girl I had to ask because on many levels, I’m jealous of Chris.

  When he first came here he talked all the time about his hot wife and the relationship they had. They were like friends, with sex. I want that. I’ve wanted that since before Katie but sometime after I gave up a little.

  I’m just not bachelor material, I want a woman that feels like home but lights me up like fire.

  Chris looks weirdly thoughtful, almost depressed, “when you meet someone new it always feels the same I think. You hope it’s forever but it only feels different if you make it that way.”

  Hmm, I agree. When I met Katie I felt the same way I do now. The only thing that would make this last or be better is if I crafted it to be.

  Now here I am after the gym in my living room with Chloe playing twister, and yes I realize how that sounds…we’re children still. Then my phone buzzes and I try to get a look from over my shoulder but my legs are about to do a split and she’s under me so I have to wait and it’s killing me. I know it’s Jenzy. We talk every day and night.

  “Left foot blue,” Chloe pants.

  Her foster sister Brianna is sitting on the floor beside us and spinning the wheel but she’s blind and so Jenzy has to call out the placements.

  Brianna’s unseeing eyes widen, “Ewww, I knew instinctively that it was blue. Isn’t that weird?” she asked.

  I inch my socked foot closer to blue, “I feel like you’re cheating for Chloe’s sake.” I wheezed. “I’m in a really awkward position thanks to your spinning.”

  Brianna snorts, “sure, blame the sexy blind girl.”

  Chloe reaches back to smack my ass; impressive considering she’ all twisted up under me, “getting old Moses?” she jabs.

  “Thirty isn’t old.” I huff.

  She holds her place almost without straining. “That’s true. The real Moses lived to be what? 1,000?”

  “Ha, ha. You should know this since you’re Jewish.”

  She rolled her eyes, “my mother was Israeli, but you know I don’t know squat about my heritage on either side. Spin Brie.”

  Brianna felt around then spun the arrow. “You guys sound like an old couple.” She put in.

  Chloe grunts and twists around to look, then announced, “Right-hand red.”

  Moving my hand to red means really caging Chloe in with my arms and makes her move easier. Now my chin is almost on her shoulder and my chest feels her back when I breathe.

  Brianna laughs. “This would be more fun for me if you guys were drinking.” She suggests.

  I groan, “nope or Cabana Man could surface over this stupid game.”

  Chloe cracks up and yells, “spin!” to Brianna.

  Brianna spins hard then sits up, “you guys always say that. What is Cabana Man? Why do you call Moses that? What’s the story?”

  The arrow stops and Chloe peeks. “Right-foot Yellow.” She says.

  “Fuck!” I moan. Both girls laugh harder. I attempt to push my foot further out but then slide and collapse into Chloe; crushing her.

  She’s hysterical with giggles but I’m screeching in a high voice, “what the fuck! No! No! I want a rematch! I was foiled.”

  Chloe rolls on her back under me and pinches my cheek like I’m a baby. “That’s what you get for wearing socks.”

  I tickled her side and she curled and turned bright red trying to avoid my hand and laughing like a demon. “I dare you to say another word.” I test.

  She holds my arms like that would stop me, “Why? Will you go Cabana Man?”

  “That’s it,” I let loose and attack her with tickles in all the right places and Brianna is crying from laughing so hard.

  She manages a few words between laughs, “I’m blind but I swear you two never fail to entertain.”

  In the midst of our tickle war, something weird happens. Chloe pushed her chest up to get away and when her breasts pressed into my body followed by her stomach, my dick stiffened. I know I’m a guy and no matter who I’m toying with it could happen. I view Chloe as a sister but my body knows she isn’t; still, I’ve never done that before. I’ve even walked in on her naked.

  This was different and it made me uncomfortable so I stopped and sat up on the floor. Still smiling to not give myself away, I pulled my legs up and set my elbows over my knees.

  She gathered herself still laughing and sat up behind me. We have no touch barrier unless I’m dating, so she laid up against my back and wrapped her arms around my neck. She’s comforting me but the blood flow southward isn’t getting any better with her boobs against my back or her chin on my head.

  I’m glad she’s here, though, in my hippie cabin. I’m so green about life that I’d rather make the ride into the city than live there. I’m on the outskirts, surrounded by the trees I love and a very distant sound of traffic.

  The inside of my place is simple. Living room has a wood stove in the corner with an old sofa and one bookshelf above it. My bedroom is in the loft to our left, where I can see my mattress and a ladder staircase leads the way. My kitchen is white washed with plants everywhere and most my windows stay open to nature. It’s very small but I like tight spaces and I’m only me.

  “So,” Chloe slows her laughing, “Brianna, you asked why we call Moses Cabana Man. Here’s why.”

  “Ugh,” I close my eyes and groan, “do we have to tell this story?”

  Brianna is full on with her attention now, “uh, yeah, and right now please.”

  My phone buzzes again and I
look discretely as Chloe starts but I can’t see it from here and she’ll get suspicious if I look and not say who it is.

  I haven’t told her I’m talking to Jenzy because I don’t want her to think I’m a home wrecker and what if Jenzy changes her mind?

  Chloe snaps her fingers and Goliath jumps from my couch to sit with her as she crawls away to sit next to Brianna. “So we were at the beach, this was like six years ago…? We went to visit the East Coast.”

  Brianna nods, “I remember that.”

  Chloe scratches her dog’s ears and goes on, “so let’s start by saying people on the east coast are way less friendly. We got to the beach around five-fifty, but the sun was strong, so Moses suggested we rent a cabana. A girl comes up that works the stand and he asked her for one, so she brings it over.”

  I cut in, “mind you, I had to put it up myself.”

  Brianna shushes me.

  Chloe continues. “So just after he gets it up the girl comes back and says, ‘hi sir, can you return your cabana to the stand? Thanks!’ Side note, it’s been literally ten minutes. They take them in at six.” Chloe is already laughing.

  Brianna makes a big ‘o’ with her lips then covers them. “Oh snap!” she says.

  Chloe laughs, “he tells her he wouldn’t have paid for it if it was only going to be up for ten minutes. She’s like, ‘uh, I don’t understand you. Can you stop yelling?’”

  I raised my brows, “I wasn’t even yelling! I was telling her, calmly, that I should have been told. So she pulls the, ‘oh, help, this man is crazy.’ So I demanded she get her friggin boss.”

  Chloe is holding back so much she’s crying with laughs, “so the boss comes over and tells him ‘too bad

  Mr. Moses, times up.’ They go back and forth and while they argue, Moses is seriously making a circle around the cabana, like daring this guy to take it down and trying to reason that if the cabana has to get taken he should get a refund. The guy blows up in Moses’ face, and calls him cheap mother fucker.”

  Brianna gasps and goes, “nooooo…what did you do?” she asked me.

  I’m still not proud of myself so Chloe pulls herself together long enough to finish. “Moses, breaks down the cabana, slings it over his shoulder, walks out to shore and swings it, into the ocean-.”