Love with strings detached

Chapter 23

This small coffee restaurant that we came to for lunch is buzzing with people. The lovely all-wood interior with lots of plants and flowers as decor and polite employees clearly won peoples hearts. The food is nice as well and it came out promptly.

I pierce a piece of chicken and lettuce with my fork and bring it up to my mouth, slowly chewing it. Out of all my friends, I'm always the one finishing last cause I eat small portions and slowly like a pigeon.

The loud rain hitting and gliding down the windows bring a very cosy feeling inside this warm place as well as the laughter of my friends, which brings this calmness.

"So, sorry to be a mood breaker but I'm dying to know what happened between you and Sophia," sweet Emma says, placing down her glass of water after taking a sip.

"Nothing happened between us apart from that first semi fall out we had," I say, placing my knife and fork down on the plate, looking at Emma's eyes.

"Then what was that at the party?" Julian asks hesitantly.

"Wish I knew, or on another thought no, actually I don't care," I say shrugging. 

"I don't think it was anything specific, she just probably wanted to be a bitch to her because of that first fight that didn't go how Sophia wanted," Caleb that sits next to me says.

"Yeah, I guess she did it to be nasty," I say, lifting my glass of water to my lips, taking a sip.

"Have you talked to her at all ever since the party?" Abi asks, putting up her hair in a high ponytail.

"No, I haven't and I don't think I will," I say.

"What's that mean?" She asks, leaning back on her chair.

"It means that I don't want to be friends with her anymore. Before the party, I was thinking of ways for us to reconcile but after that, with her unprovoked nastiness I don't want anything with her," I say, straightening down my black long sleeve top before placing my elbows on the table.

"Are you sure?" Emma asks, looking at the desserts menu.

"Definitely, look you guys can still stay friends with her, what happened is between me and her. We're just not going to be all hanging out together anymore," I say, shifting my gaze around to everyone.

"Yeah, but still it's kind of sad," Emma says, putting the menu down.

"You guys are acting as if someone died. Friendships fall apart all the time due to people drifting away from each other. You can still see both girls whenever you want, just not at the same time," Caleb says, smiling at them.

"Yeah, you're right," Abi says, pushing back a couple of hair that stick out.

I don't have any problem with the others staying friends with her. I hate it when mutual friends get dragged down into an argument between two people and then be pushed to pick a side unless, of course, someone did something awful.

The friendship between us was becoming more of a chore lately so, I don't really feel sad about us not being friends anymore. As you grow older you change and so do the people around you, you can't be getting along with everyone.

Caleb's previous words also stick around in my head, reminding me of a burning question I have.

"Let's change up the mood a bit, what do you guys think of friends with benefits? Do you think it can work out?" I ask, clapping my hands together to gain everyone's attention.

I want to hear everyone's different opinions on this. I take another sip of my water noticing how all of them are silently looking at me, some with furrowed eyebrows and some with straight faces.

"Why are you asking that?" Abi asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, I'm reading this romance novel where the main characters become friends with benefits and I haven't read too far into it to know what happens between them so, I wanted to get your guy's opinion on this," I say, crossing my arms on the table whilst leaning a bit forward, getting a better look at every one. 

"Well, In my opinion, I don't think it can work on a long term basis, like for a couple of months maybe but that's it. I find sex too intimate and vulnerable for two friends to be doing it on the regular and not catch any feelings for each other. Like I think is inevitable for that to happen at some point," Caleb says, swirling the wine in the glass that he's holding.

"Well, I think it might work out. It all depends on the people involved in it and how they are, how they view sex and intimacy and stuff," Abi says while Emma is nodding along in agreement. 

"Yeah, I agree. If the people involved just enjoy sex and casually hook up with people why would it not work out hooking up with a friend? Besides even if they do catch feelings maybe they'll just end up together. The key is to be honest with each other," Emma adds to Abi's point, shrugging.

"I actually think it can work. If they enjoy giving and receiving pleasure and their friend is attractive why not have sex with them. As long as no one is getting hurt and both parties are pleased then it should work for as long as the people involved want it to go. And yes, sex is intimate but there're a lot of people that have sex just to satisfy their needs and nothing more," Julian says, leaning back on his chair and running a hand through his hair.

"Exactly! Like some people just want to get and receive sexual pleasure without having to meet the expectations of a romantic relationship," Emma says nodding.

"It's nice to see different views on this matter, so do you think the characters will end up together?" I say, playing with my necklace.

"Yes," Julian says swiftly.

"Maybe," Abi says shrugging.

"Why not," Emma says.

"Absolutely not," Caleb says, shaking his head.

"Good to hear that," I say, nodding my head whilst looking down on my lap.

Despise everyone having different things to say, their words actually helped me with my decision. Being able to see things from different points of view help me understand and see things more clearly.

I have been contemplating with myself what is the right thing to do first for me and then for the both of us. I have had a disturbed sleep ever since he first talked to me about it and I think finally after the past two weeks I'm going to get a peaceful sleep.

Now, if the decision I made is the wrong one, I'll find out eventually in the future, but I hope it's not.

A/N

Do you think friends with benefits work?

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and stay tuned for the next one on Sunday as Daisy makes a decision that might change things forever...👀😏

Please don't forget to comment & vote ❤️

I hope you have a great day/night! Xx

All the love - M ❤️