Just Good Friends?

Chapter 7 - Party

Ben

"Hey Ben, how's it going man. You rang Tilly then, her and Jake will hit it off don't worry" Joe throws his arm around me as he sees me walking through the door. He grabs a beer off his mate that just got one out of a cooler, and passes it to me.

"Dude that was mine" the guy says in protest.

"Shut the f**k up and get another one for matey here" he points at Jase with his bottle "What was your name"?

"Jase, and you're Joe right, Bex's brother"?

"Yeah, always Bex's brother, never just awesome Joe" He gives a mock pout and we laugh.

"You could never be just Bex's brother mate, god help us if we ever put Joey in the corner" the guy introduces himself as Nate.

"Bex is out the back by the firepit with Mike, and some of your mates are around somewhere too. Just grab beers as and when you want them. Catch you dudes later" Joe spots his girlfriend and walks over to her claiming her as his when he sees some guys eyeing her up and down.

"s**t man, this party is bouncing! And there was us thinking we'd be too old, f**k!" Jase is like a kid in a sweet shop, he has the biggest grin I've ever seen on him.

"Yeah, just be careful and make sure you find out their age before taking anyone home ok" I shake my head at him but laugh.

"Let's look around then" we start heading in to the throngs of people everywhere. It really is a f*****g awesome party.

....

"This is a f*****g rich kids Palace mate" Jase is loving the party, and even has a couple of numbers.

"Yeah, but I get the feeling they don't take advantage of their money influence. Come on, Bex is over there, let's go and say Hi" I start walking towards her when Joe stops me.

"You got a woman in your life"? He asks

"No mate, not found one yet unfortunately" I tell him. "Why"?

"Because I have the perfect chicka for you my man"! And with that statement, Joe walked away and I knew I had to follow him. Jase just smiled and motioned me to go, he had his eye on some blonde bit.

Joe was heading towards a girl with long straight red hair. She was maybe 5"6, and I'd guess around 23... but we all know what my guessing is like with ages I thought.

"Bella, I want you to meet Ben. He's 28, single dad, just moved in around here. Ben, this is Bella, 22, i know that's what you were wary of, also single but no kid. Happy getting to know each other! Catch ya later"!

Joe Saunters off, bumping fists and shoulder hugging a few guys as he makes his way over to Nate.

I chat with Bella for a while, and it seems we get on really well. She's very easy to talk to, and funny too. She's just finished studying and has started a job in Child care.

We make our way down to the firepit where I can see Bex, Oscar, the guy called Harry that was also surfing, another boy that was with them earlier at the beach, and a few girls. I recognised a couple of them from earlier too. The guy that was hugging Bex is on the phone, Mike they said his name was, standing a little away from them, and Bex is looking at him with a strange look on her face.

"Hey Ben, Bella, you enjoying yourselves? Think you met Harry at the beach, and that's Cal at the end" Oscar moves up on one of the logs that is placed around the fire, so we can both sit down.

"Yeah, wasn't what I was expecting that's for sure" I say with a smile.

"Ha, nah, Bex and Joe's parties are never what people expect when here for the first time. Cooler is behind us when you want another beer"

"No Dee, it's not like that and you know it. I need to be here right now, I can't see why you don't understand that"? Mike raises his voice to the person called Dee on the phone, and Bex turns away with a sad look on her face.

"Hey, don't worry, he'll get it sorted ok" Oscar wraps his arms tighter around Bex shoulders and drawers her in to his chest.

"But he might go off on one tonight if he doesn't sort things out now. You know I'd have to be by his side, and I'm trying to stay away from that s**t" she looks really pissed off now. I wonder what kind of s**t she's trying to stay away from? Sounds like her and Mike used to get in trouble or something.

"Look, come and stay for the weekend in a few weeks. Get to know Bex and the rest of them. Please Dee"? Mike almost sounds defeated. He goes quiet for a minute, the other person, Dee, is obviously talking.

"OK, let me know the time, and I'll come get you. Speak to you tomorrow Dee" Mike hangs up and turns around to see us all staring at him.

"f**k me, I didnt realise I had an audience" he chuckles and heads over and sits next to Bex "I'm picking her up in a few weeks, she'll stay the weekend... providing I don't f**k up again" He's grinning, but there's something off with the smile, it doesn't quite reach.

"Thats awesome. I can't wait to meet the girl who's finally broke you" Bex nudges him with her shoulder and he laughs.

"You broke me Bex, but Oscar was the lucky Bastard in the end, eh dude" he turned to Oscar with a cheeky grin.

"Yep, the best man won Mikey boy" Oscar reaches around Bex and punches Mike in the arm.

"f**k boys, me and Cal here don't have a woman, stop rubbing it in our faces" Harry has a mock look of disgust on his face, but then Mike jumps up on the log and shoves his groin in Harry's face and he falls backwards off the log.

"Now that's shoving it in your face dude" Mike's gyrating his hips and Harry picks himself up.

"You f*****g i***t, be on your toes Mike, I'm coming for you" Harry winks at him and smirks, then catches the eye of a pretty brown haired girl and takes off after her.

"Ah Cal, looks like it's just you now mate, let's find you a woman" Mike grabs Cal and pulls him off the log and they head towards the house.

"Poor Cal, he's too quiet for us lot" Bex laughs.

I don't feel old around these people, but I'm sure I should. They just seem like they've been through a lot in life already.

"So wheres Mike been? I got the feeling he's been away a while?" I ask. I hope I'm not being nosy!

"He had to go and live with his Dad for a year. He's been my best mate since we were 3, we hadn't spent a day apart from the age of 9 as we both refused to go on holiday without the other, so our parents had to take us both" she laughs. I can imagine them being really stubborn too "I've missed him so much"

"So you haven't seen him at all in a year?" Wow, they must of been really bad together.

"No, but we've spoken on the phone every single day"

"5 times a day" Oscar laughs.

"Yeah, 5 times a day, and messages" she laughs again, and leans in to Oscar.

"They're worse than a pair of girls mate, honestly" Oscar shakes his head but he's smiling.

....

Mike

Me and Cal are drinking shots in the kitchen, just watching everyone around us. It's a typical Holden Twins party, booze everywhere, music blasting and drinking games.

Cal seems comfortable with me, and we're having a good laugh. I dragged him away from the firepit earlier, to find him a girl, but he didn't seem bothered, so that's why we are in the kitchen getting smashed. I had to get some space between me and Bex. It's f*****g exhausting holding myself back from crashing my lips down on to hers.

"Fill those mother f*****g glasses up again Mike"! Harry's just bounced in to the kitchen "I've been abandoned by the hot bit to take her pissed mate home" he puts on a pout, but then wiggles his eyebrows. I fill up the shot glasses and pass them over. That's how the rest of the night went.