no strings attached - j.b

don't you worry

Sam was with me. He knows, long story, but he found out. Seemed pretty upset about it. I'm sure he'll still want to talk to you. Wasn't my intention, sorry

Joe read Phoebe's message only a few seconds before Sam suddenly stood next to him and cleared his throat. "Hey, man" Joe greeted him and put his phone in one of the shelves at his spot before looking at Sam.

"Hey, uhh, can we talk?" Sam asked, looking around. A few of the players were at the ping pong tables, others were standing together in a circle talking. No one was within their earshot or seemed to be watching Sam and Joe.

Joe nodded and pointed to the table with the two chairs that held his chessboard. Sam pulled a chair forward and flopped down on it while Joe took a seat across from him. The chess pieces had not yet been reset from a previous game Joe had won against DJ.

"I think you want to talk to me about Phoebe, don't you?" Joe asked as he began to move the black pieces in front of him back to their proper positions. "How do you know?" Sam asked, surprised.

"She texted me before to let me know you knew. How did you guess it this time?" Joe asked, still paying attention to the figures instead of looking at Sam. Moving them just distracted him from any other thought processes he had. It calmed him down.

"I was actually just joking about you guys being in bed together, claiming that you told me you slept together to mess with Phoebe and pretend that you were claiming all over the place that you hooked up with her again. Didn't expect to find out it was real in the process" Sam explained and started putting back the white figures.

"Oh, yeah. Phoebe said you didn't like it so much that it happened again?" Joe meanwhile had put all the figures back in place, leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"You could say that" Sam confirmed. "Why, Sam?" Joe inquired. Sighing, Sam leaned back. "Because this kind of thing never ends well, and I don't want it not to end well, okay? I don't feel like losing my best friends just because they can't manage to keep their clothes on once they're alone" Sam explained.

Joe looked at him in surprise. "Ok, I can understand you. I really do. But Sam, neither Phoebe nor I cared about the sex, not at all. It's meaningless. No feelings or anything about it. No strings attached" he assured his friend.

"That's exactly what Phoebe said. But who's to say it's going to stay that way? Who's to say one of you won't fall in love with the other?" Sam asked, sighing. Joe laughed out loud. "Believe me, neither of us will fall in love with the other".

"What makes you so sure?" Sam looked at him confused. Joe shrugged his shoulders. "I'm pretty sure I'm not going to fall in love with Phoebe. She's cool and I mean, very attractive, but well, not exactly a person I'd fall in love with and Phoebe...I don't rate her as a person who would develop feelings for me now either"

"And your guess is supposed to reassure me now?" Sam mumbled. "Yes, Sam. You can take my guess. But honestly now, why did you beg me to go with Phoebe in the first place if you now have such a problem with the fact that we slept together?" Joe asked.

"Why are you both acting like I had to take that as a risk when I asked you?" Sam asked indignantly. Joe shrugged his shoulders. "Well, to be honest, the possibility did exist"

"Did you think then that it might happen when you decided to go to New York with Phoebe?" Sam looked at him questioningly. Joe shrugged his shoulders again. "I mean, it was definitely in my thoughts, but I didn't expect it to actually happen. Especially not three times."

"Three...three times? You did it three times?" Sam's mouth dropped open in bewilderment. Joe looked at him in surprise. "Yeah, I...thought you knew?" he blinked in confusion. "That you guys slept together, yeah. Not that it was three times" Sam sighed.

"Oh my god. How could that have happened? You guys were gone for three days. You were at a wedding all day Saturday. How did you have time to fuck so many times?" Sam asked, stunned. "You really want to know?" Joe asked uncertainly, his face scrunched up.

Sam's mouth dropped open even wider. "You guys fucked at the fucking wedding? What's wrong with you guys? What if you'd been caught?" he shook his head.

"First of all, we didn't fuck at the wedding, Phoebe just..." Joe pointed to his crotch with his hands. "Jerked you off?" Sam asked, confused. "Well, yeah. Her mouth was involved too" Joe mumbled and ran his hand over the back of his head.

"She gave you a blowjob?! At the wedding? Don't tell me she was under the table or something" Sam sounded exasperated. "What, no, of course not. We moved... away from all the guests specifically, and honestly, I think the opinion Phoebe's family has of her is so bad anyway, that it wouldn't have made any difference if we'd gotten caught" Joe shrugged.

Sam was still shaking his head. "I don't believe it. And the other two times, on the plane?" Joe looked at him, confused. "no, what makes you think that?" Sam shrugged. "I'm beginning to trust you guys to do anything" he mumbled.

"Don't worry, it was at the hotel. Both times. In our room" Joe explained to him. "I'm comforted by that" Sam scoffed wryly before shaking his head. "Joe, where are you going with this?"

"To be honest Sam, I don't know. I can't tell you, but we've decided that we're going back to where we were before..." Joe started, but was interrupted by Sam. "Okay, but no friends, I know. Phoebe told me too"

"See, you don't have to worry, Sam. We're two grown people who can make rational and logical decisions. Trust us" Joe grinned at Sam, who laughed out loud.

"I don't know if I can really do that. Phoebe isn't exactly known for making good decisions. You of all people should know that..." Sam looked at Joe, who nodded with a laugh.

"...And with you, I'm starting to get the feeling that your dick thinks more than your brain when you see Phoebe" Sam finished his sentence. Joe laughed. "Point taken" he grinned.

"But you're right, Joe. I should trust you guys, you need to know for yourself what you're doing or who you're doing. You're both adults and it's none of my business. Although I still hope you'll have a little consideration for me and maybe hold back a bit" Sam sighed.

Joe nodded before holding out his hand to Sam. "so we're good?" he grinned at his friend. "Of course we're good" Sam acknowledged, and shook hands with Joe.

"Good, then I can finally ask you if you were invited to the Brown housewarming party by Tris too" Joe grinned. "Wait, you were invited?" Sam asked, surprised. Joe nodded. "Ja'Marr, too. We ran into him this morning and that's when he asked us. Why? Didn't you get an invitation yet?"

"Yes I did, Phoebe invited me before, she...just didn't mention that you...you were invited too" Sam clarified in surprise. Joe shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe Tris invited us without her knowing. Do you think he knows about what happened between us over the weekend?" Joe asked thoughtfully.

Sam shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe. I could imagine it and if he really does know, then he invited you both, well you for sure just to piss Phoebe off" Joe laughed out. "Yeah, I could see that happening with Tris too. Wasn't planning on going anyway" he shrugged.

"What, why not? The Brown grandkids' parties are legendary. Really. It's going to be the party of the year, you can't miss it" Sam clarified. Joe grinned. "You know I don't like going to parties, and besides, you're the one who said a few minutes ago that Phoebe and I should hold back."

"Holding back doesn't mean you shouldn't be in the same room anymore. It just means you don't have to end up back in bed the minute you see each other. You're coming to the party, Joe" Sam pointed his finger warningly at him. "Well, looks like I have no choice" Joe mumbled.

WHOOOOOO DEEEYYYYY ITS VICTORY MONDAY!!!! DAMN WHAT A GAME BUT WE WON WUHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

Thank you so much for all the reads and likes!!!!

WHO-DEY 🧡