Just Good Friends?

Chapter 21 - On the mend

Harry

---HARRY--- Hey Bex, any chance you can help me please? I cant get my clothes on. No, this is not a ploy to get you staring at my hot body again, everybody else is ignoring me, and I really need coffee. X

---BEX--- LOL, I'll be with you in a minute. I've got to get my hot bod in to some clothes myself. XX

---HARRY--- Hey, don't dress on my account. I think I can cope with you naked 😉 XXX

"Only me, I'm coming in!" Bex opens the door and smiles at me. I've stayed in bed under the covers, as it feels a bit odd sitting on the edge of the bed naked, waiting for my mates sister, and my other mates girlfriend, to come and help me get dressed. You couldn't f*****g write this s**t. I got a right pasting at the game the other night, but I should be OK to dress myself by tomorrow. Right now though, I need help. I can't bend low enough or lift my arms high enough.

"Hey Bex, look, I'm really sorry about this. It's not just coffee I need, I could wait for that if it meant you'd be spared my nakedness for a second time, but I need painkillers badly, and I forgot to bring them up here" I bet I look really sheepish right now. I'm a cocky joker, a player, at heart, probably why me, Joe and Nate get on so well, so situations like this, I'd usually joke around, but I can't do that again with Bex, she deserves more.

"Don't get all f*****g serious on me now dickhead. Have you got clean clothes in here?" She looks around, and spots a folded pile on the chair.

"There, Nate put them there last night. I'll make it home tomorrow, but I'm wearing Nates stuff for now"

"Right, can you swing your legs over the side of the bed, or do you need me to help?" She grabs the clothes and comes over to me.

"Think I can manage that" I just about manage it, but I wince with the pain.

"OK, take it easy Lopez" she winks at me and holds me still for a minute whilst the pain eases. "Ready? OK, you're going commando today Harry, letting the boys swing free. It means I don't need to get up close and personal with you for a second time" she laughs but it puts me at ease.

"And I thought you cared. I think you're just worried you won't be able to pull yourself away from me a second time" winking, I lift my leg in to one of the jogger pants legs, and then the other. This wasn't too bad, it was the bending and stretching I had problems with. Bex pulled the joggers up so I could reach them, then I pulled them the rest of the way. My modesty was preserved.

"OK, that's better, t-shirt and you can carry me downstairs" grinning at her as she throws my t-shirt at my head. "Hey, injured hero here!"

"Right, arms as high as you can get them, then I'll do the rest hotshot" she smiles at me then, and I know she's OK with this, she's happy to help me.

"Hotshot eh? Don't let the others catch you calling me that. They'll think it's favoritism" I lift my arms as high as I can without it bringing pain, and she slips my t-shirt on for me. I wonder what Oscar would of thought if he'd still been here. I doubt he would of been happy about this. He had no issue with Nate, and that guy loved Bex to bits, although he didn't know that I knew that, but Oscar was threatened by me for some reason, and I was his best mate. Mike would be cool though, he was happy and secure in his relationship with Bex, and that was why I was comfortable asking her for help today.

"Done, right let's go" she pulls me up gently, and I pop my arm around her.

"You're the best Bex. Thank you. Love you" and I kiss her cheek, and we make our way downstairs.

.....

We've been sitting at the counter in the kitchen for 45mins before anyone surfaces.

The first person to come downstairs is Joe.

"Hey fuckers. Harry, dude, just saw your missed calls and messages. Sorry man, I'm a heavy sleeper. How'd you manage?" Joe pours a glass of orange juice snd downs it is one.

"Bex had to endure my gorgeous hunky bod again. This time we were alone" i wiggle eyebrows and Bex bursts out laughing, easy atmosphere, I love it.

"Dude, you got my sister to help you dress!? That's desperation at its lowest" Joe puts a hand to his head, but grins.

"Well if nobody apart from Bex answers their phone, what's a hotshot like me meant to do. She just had to see my fit naked body yet again. Not my fault dude" I wink at Bex and she smiles. I'm lucky I have such good friends. I couldn't have let my mum see me like this. She knows I was hurt, but if she'd seen how bad I was, she would of had another breakdown probably. I just told her that me and the guys had a lot to sort for college, and that I'd be staying at Joe and Bex's house for a few days. Stepdad told her I had some cuts and bruises, and that she wasn't to be alarmed when she saw me, as I was fine. The guys all knew about my mum, but nobody said anything, they all just accepted that things were a bit different at my house, and that sometimes I just needed a place to crash for a bit.

"What's this about my girl seeing your naked body"? Mike walks in to the kitchen and plants a kiss on Bex lips. He was smiling though, so I knew he was cool.

"It's going to be really hard to control myself around Harry after seeing that buff bod of his, but nothing beats you handsome" Bex wraps her arms around Mike's waist and looks up in to his eyes smiling. I'm really happy those two got it together, they're perfect.

"You're killing me here Bex. I thought we were good together. My dreams are shattered" I kill the dramatics and the three of them laugh. This is my happy place, right here with my friends making them laugh.

....

Joe

"Hey sweetcheeks, any chance of a hand out of my t-shirt" Harry winks cheekily at me as I see him struggle to lift his arms high enough.

"Of course, anything for you cupcake" I smirk at him. I like Harry, he's a good guy, and almost as funny as me. I'm glad me and Nate took him under our wing when Oscar left. He doesn't have it easy at home, there was no questions about him staying here after that s**t show of a game against Trayton. They'd pay for what they did to him, I'd make sure of that. We needed to concentrate on getting Harry fit again first though. I help him pull his t-shirt off, and he leans back against the sun lounger again. "You need more painkillers" I ask, looking at his face scrunched up.

"Ah Yeah, cheers Joe. I must be getting better as I haven't needed any since this morning, but it's aching like s**t now" I nip in to the kitchen and grab the bottle of pills, shake out a couple, and pour a glass of water. I take them back out to him and hand them over. Half an hour later, Harry's moving a little easier, so they must be starting to kick in.

"Who fancies pizza?" Bex pulls herself out of the pool and heads over to us. She leans down and kisses Harry's cheek before grabbing her towel. "You feeling OK?" She asks him.

"Yeah, my sweetcheeks by here is looking after me and plying me with pills" he winks, grabbing her hand and pulling her down next to him. He can't lift his arm fully to put if over her shoulders, so just drapes it around her back.

"You just love all this attention. Also the fact you can get away with flirting with Bex and showing her your body" I laugh shaking my head.

"Well when else am I going to get away with it? You and Mike would punch me for it of I wasn't covered in cuts" he laughs, but we know he doesn't have feelings for Bex, he's just messing around.

"Maybe I should get myself beat up like a pansy, then I could get some of this attention too" Nate comes up behind us. He's been for a run, and by the looks of him, it was a tough one. Him and Bex are the runners out of us all, he's by no means on her level, but next to me, he's the best runner on our team. I don't like it though, he does. I'm glad he can make jokes, I can't even begin to imagine how he feels seeing Bex with someone else every day, and loving her so much. And he does, love her. I don't think he'll ever love anyone else as much as he loves Bex.

"d**k. How was the run?" I ask when he sits down.

"I reckon I could give Bex a challenge" he laughs. He knows he'd never be a challenge gor her.

"Why not come with me tomorrow before school? We haven't run together for ages" Bex looks over at him, I'm not sure if he would take her up on that or not, but he surprises me.

"Yeah, cool. You're right, we haven't run together in a long time... I'm better than I used to be so you better watch out" he winks. Mike jumps out of the pool then and heads over to us.

"Did someone say pizza" he grabs a towel "You hogging my girl Harry?" He smiles at him

"Hey, I'm her patient. The rest of you would make pretty s**t nurses to be fair, Bex is the best" he hugs her to him as much as he can.

"I'll go order the pizza, wouldn't want Harry to let go of my girl or anything" Mike laughs as he walks over to his phone. I'm pretty sure that all my mates are in love with my sister in one way or another.