Mary Magdalene.

Could friends have benefits?

Tristan brushed a hand down the length of my ponytail and walked backward to the lane. Of course, he got a gutter ball on the first turn while Leo managed to knock down four.

"Don't blow it!" I screamed before laughing at him.

He gave me another crooked smile when he went for his ball again, while James threw his ball, managing to only knock down three pins. I was squirming from foot to foot like the outcome of the game decided the fate of humanity, but I really, really didn't want Josh to walk around talking about how he'd won every game for the next month.

Tristan then did the unthinkable by somehow knocking down nine pins.

By the way we both screamed it was like we'd won the World Series. My tall, new friend, who wore a tight, soft, blue shirt that accented the perfectly flat abs and pillow-like pecs underneath, beelined toward me with his arms stretched out in front of him. I didn't even think twice about jumping into them and wrapping my own around his neck. He was warm and hard against me. His chest was like a solid wall of muscle and it was... ugh. Amazing.

At some point, I became aware that my feet weren't touching the floor anymore, but two more sets of arms wrapped around me about the same time.

Tristan stiffened before I felt his chest, which my face was pressed against, start rumbling in laughter.

"Which one of you just grabbed my ass?"

It was Josh, of course.

After saying goodbye to each other in the parking lot, we headed in separate directions toward our cars. Tristan followed me to my car, laughing and retelling me his favorite moments in the game; like when Leo stepped over the line, and then slid five feet across the lane. He had to crawl back to avoid busting his ass.

"Thanks for inviting me," he said with a big smile, when we were standing right in front of my car door. Covered in a thin layer of sweat, his face glistened just a little by his temples. "I don't think I've had that much fun since high school," he said, and I could tell he was being truthful.

His words made me burst at the seams. A majority of what he told me hinted at a lonely life, and I felt good that if that was the truth, my loved ones and I could change that for him even if it was only for a few hours. "I'll remind you when we play next month," spilled out of me.

Tristan nodded as he stepped toward me, wrapping a single arm around my shoulder to pull me in close for a hug. I wasn't sure where his other arm was, because I was so distracted by the fact that I was eye level with where his nipple should be, I felt his other hand rest on the small of my back. He was warm and smelled so good, my brain shut down for the ten seconds I was wrapped up in his hug, completely aware of the fact that his entire frame casually brushed against mine.

Was this how Josh hugged me? No, it was not.

He pulled away from me a second later. "I'll call you tomorrow!" he said, before turning around to walk where he'd parked.

"Drive safe!" I hollered at him in a squeaky voice.

Those green eyes looked back at me one last time. "You too, gold digger!"

Once in my car, I let out a huge sigh. This friend thing was going to be a lot harder than it seemed.

Chapter 16

I'd been sitting on my couch eating pita chips and staring at my computer screen for an hour. As if they had a mind of their own, my fingers had typed Robby Lingus into Google, and then erased it at least three times. Both my brain and heart were having a debate on whether or not I should go through with the search. Did I want to see videos of him?

I tended to weigh the pros and cons of everything, especially when I needed to make a decision, and right then, I just couldn't. Luckily, my phone started ringing when I typed in the R again.