He squeezed Avery's hand as she was sitting to his right. She squeezed Colby's and it went around the circle of friends, ending with Gavin. He smiled, eyes slightly teared.
"That was lovely," Avery said. She stood up and kissed his cheek.
Alice did the same. "We've got to find you a girl," she said. "Because you're so darn sweet."
"Men don't want to be sweet," the men intoned, as if they'd rehearsed it.
Alice's eyes grew large and she started laughing. A glance at Avery told her that this was a common response.
"I tell them that sometimes, just to get under their skin," Avery said. "Works like a charm."
"But sometimes guys are sweet. Isn't it manly enough?" Alice asked.
"We prefer to be called considerate, thoughtful or kind," Stan replied.
"We also like hot, sexy and studly," Gavin added with a wink.
"How about sneaky, sarcastic and stubborn?" Avery added, picking up the potato salad for seconds. "You leave those out every time we have this discussion. Now, it's Colby's turn to add that though you may be sneaky, sarcastic and stubborn, at least you aren't stupid. We have this discussion a lot."
"At least we aren't snarky, insensitive or sadistic," Colby added with a smirk.
"I can tell this bunch is going to keep me hopping," Alice declared.
"Does that mean they haven't convinced you they're totally crazy, and you'll go out with me again?" Stan asked hopefully.
Alice leaned over and kissed him. "Yes, it means I'll go out with you again. This is the most fun I've had in years."
The men cleaned up after the meal and turned on the dishwasher. They made another pot of coffee and pulled out Avery's treasured copy of Cards Against Humanity. She'd found it at a neighbor's yard sale for a dollar and talked the woman down to fifty cents. It was nearly brand new.
"They decided they didn't like it," Avery explained. "Uber religious. Why they bought it in the first place, who knows?"
"I love this game," Gavin said, dealing the cards. "It's so sick!"
"Gavin usually wins," Stan warned.
Alice's eyes twinkled. "He hasn't played me yet," she said, adding an evil laugh that ended in a giggle.
They played for nearly two hours. Though Gavin gave it a valiant effort, he tied with Alice rather than being the definitive winner. They cleared up the game. Colby made a huge bowl of popcorn while Alice and Avery went through her DVD collection and chose a movie.
"You've got The Big Lebowski? I totally love this movie!"
"Same yard sale," Avery said. "Again, why would super religious people even buy that movie?"
"I think it was gag gifts," Gavin added, dropping to the floor. He grabbed a pillow off the couch and lay on the carpet. "People like that would never buy this movie themselves."
"Could be right," Avery agreed.
They all found places to sit and the movie began. They laughed throughout, yelling their favorite lines at the screen. When the movie was over, they thought about dinner, but decided it would require a grocery store run. The women made a menu and grocery list, the men pooled their cash and did paper, rock, scissors to see who had to go to the store. None of them particularly liked shopping. Stan lost. Gavin agreed to go with him. They finally talked Colby into going too.
The women went to the kitchen to prepare what they could without the groceries.
When they were gone, Alice laughed. "Why do they go to the trouble of playing that silly game if they all go anyway?"
"Who knows? They do it every time. It's extremely rare that you get just one or two of them."
"Are they triplets separated at birth?"
"Sometimes, I wonder. They are closer than brothers. I know this because they all have brothers. They hardly see them. Only on major holidays, when under strict orders from their mothers. I'm always under orders to be at Colby's. His mom is pretty cool."
They talked a lot, getting to know one another as they bonded over cooking. Neither girl had ever had a close female friend. It was fun and exciting to find one another.
"We've got to do a sleep over sometime," Alice said.
"We could overdose on chocolate and junk food and play video games. We'd have a blast."
"Maybe next weekend? I don't have to work."
"Sounds great. The guys will want to do something."
"Then we'll play it by ear."
The men arrived a few minutes later with groceries in tow. They had, amazingly, bought everything on the list and improvised very little with impulse buys. They brought more root beer, but had also purchased a few other beverages, all non-alcoholic.
"Do you ever drink wine?" Alice asked as they put things away.
"My mom's an alcoholic," Avery said. "I don't drink."
"And we don't either—at least not around her," Stan said. "Out of respect."
©2021 Dellani Oakes
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