“But what fun is that?” He laughed. “We can’t talk if we watch a movie we haven’t seen before, because we’ll have to pay attention.”
“Well, that’s the point, Harry. You’re supposed to pay attention in movies.”
“But I don’t want to pay attention.” He grinned. “I want to talk with you.”
“Harry.”
“Come on, Sarah.” He started tickling me and I giggled, falling against him.
“Stop it, Harry. Stop it.” I laughed as his hands went underneath my arms and he tickled me some more.
“Come on, Sarah. Let’s watch Die Hard, and then we can chat and eat pizza, and you can fill me in on everything that’s been going on in your life. And...”
“And what, Harry?”
“Maybe you can even convince me to go and see that one-man show next week.”
“You’re not going to go and see that show. You don’t have to lie to me.”
“Well maybe, if you get the girls really good presents that they love, then I’ll go.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
“Okay, Harry.”
Chapter 3
Sarah
“Sarah, where are you?”
“I’m in the bedroom, come on in,” I called out to Harry as he walked in with a beer in his hand. “Oh, and feel free to help yourself to any of the beers in my fridge.”
“Well, Sarah, I’m the one that bought these beers last time I was here and you haven’t had any of them, so I think it’s okay, right?”
“You just assume everything, Harry.”
“I don’t think I assume anything, Sarah.” He sat down on the bed next to me.
“Okay, so what are we going to watch, and are we watching in here, or are we watching in the living room?”
“I don’t know. What do you prefer?”
“I love your bed, it’s so comfortable, so I don’t mind watching in here. But, if I watch in here, we’re most probably going to end up falling asleep, which means I have to stay the night, which means I have to get up by seven o’clock tomorrow morning so I can get to my meeting on time.”
“Okay. Well then you can just go home, you don’t have to spend the night, Harry.”
“But what’s the fun in that? I love our movie nights.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I said. Though, secretly, I wish he meant more than that. It wasn’t that Harry and I were friends with benefits and I wanted more, it was just that we had always just been friends. Even though he was a few years older than me, our friendship had always just jelled and well, we’d been sleeping in the same bed and watching movies forever. It didn’t even seem abnormal, but then maybe it was because I’d never had sex before, so I didn’t know what it meant to sleep with a guy in a bed after something romantic. I’d only ever slept in the same bed as Harry. Well, Harry didn’t seem to mind either.
“Earth to Sarah, earth to Sarah. Are you there?”
“Yes, Harry. What?”
“I’ve just been asking you what movies there are to watch and you didn’t say anything.”
“Oh, sorry. Okay. So this is what’s available on Netflix or what’s new right now, okay?”
“Okay. Hit me.”
“We have a movie called Holly Date.”
“Nope!”
“We have a movie called A New York Christmas Wedding.”
“Hell no!”
“A movie called Midnight at the Magnolia.”
“Nope.”
“Jumping the broom.”
“Jumping the what?”
“Dash and Lily?”
“Is that about reindeers?”
“Oh my god, Harry. Really?”
“Sarah, are you freaking joking me right now? Do those sound like any movies that I would want to watch?”
“You said we’d compromise.”
“Yeah. I said we’d compromise from Love Actually and Die Hard. I didn’t say I was going to watch some teeny-bopper movie.”
“I’m not asking you to watch a teeny-bopper movie.”
“What’s that?”
“What’s what?” I said, frustrated.
“That show. What’s that guy with the wings?”
“Let me look. It’s Lucifer.” I paused my scanning and clicked on the show description.
“Want to watch that?”
“Harry, you know I don’t want to watch a movie about the devil.”
“It doesn’t actually look like a movie, Sarah, it looks like a TV show.”
“Dude, it’s got several seasons. If we watch that, we’ll be up all night.”
“Well, I like to be up at night.”
“No, you don’t, you’ll call me tomorrow from your office in the middle of your meeting and you’ll blame me for being tired.”
“I always blame you for being tired, Sarah, what’s wrong with that?”
“Nothing. I don’t want to watch a show called Lucifer though. You know I don’t like scary movies.”
“If you get scared, just put your head on my shoulder, that’s what you’ve always done.”
“I don’t know,” I whined and then stood up. I watched as Harry started undoing his shirt and I could feel my skin getting warm. I’m starting to get a bit too old for this. At twenty-five years of age, I was officially ready to be doing more than just giggling and watching movies in bed with my best friend. “Harry, I want to ask you something,” I said.
“Yeah.” He pulled off his shirt and I stared at his tanned chest. I turned away because I didn’t want him to see how much I admired his gorgeous six-pack. “What is it, Sarah? Tell me.”
“So I was thinking about going to the hairdresser and getting my hair cut and maybe colored, what do you think?” I turned around and looked at him. He had a confused expression on his face.
“Why do you want to go and do that?” He frowned. “You look fine as you are.” He walked over to me and then tugged on my ponytail. “Right, you’re cute.”
“No, I’m not cute. I don’t want to be cute. I want to be beautiful.”
“You’re fine as you are, Sarah.” He grinned at me and pulled me in for a hug. “You know that.” I put my arms around his chest and I ran my fingers down his back. I couldn’t stop myself. His skin felt warm and silky and I wondered if he could feel my heartbeat racing fast next to him.
“Sarah, look at me.” He pulled back slightly and looked down into my face. “You’re a beautiful girl. You do not need to cut your hair and you do not need to color it.”
“Yeah, you would say that. You’re like my best friend, you have to tell me I look good.”
“But you do look good.”
“Then why don’t I have a boyfriend and why don’t I have a man telling me that I’m beautiful, and why am I here with you in bed? Why aren’t I here with someone else?”
“Do you not want to be here with me?” He looked affronted and laughed. “I mean, there are plenty of women that would be very happy to have me spending the night right now.”