That's What Friends Are For

Based on a true story. Standalone story. There will not be a sequel. Please leave feedback.

*****

Phillip and David had been friends for a long time, over ten years. They'd known each other through high school, college and now remained friends in their adult life. David got married to Liz four years ago. Phillip remained single. He'd had a few girlfriends, some serious, some not so serious, but they hadn't worked out.

Much of Phillip and David's day to day friendship revolved around NFL football and especially fantasy football. For the uninitiated, fantasy football is a game a group of friends play. Before the NFL season starts, a group of 10 or more friends get together and have "draft". They take turns picking real players they want on their fantasy football team. So, you pick one quarterback, a few receivers, a few running backs and a defense. When the real games are played, if your player achieves certain in game statistics (like getting a touchdown) your team gets points. So you try to build a good team so that you can score throughout the year.

Because the NFL season only plays games once per week, this makes each week of fantasy football kinda like an episode of a television show. When the week is over, Phillip and David talk about their players who did good or bad, or players on other teams that did good or bad, and they get ready for the next week by trying to reform everything.

Of course, Phillip and David talk about regular occurrences of day to day life, like work and such. But, during the season, the main driver of their conversation is the NFL and fantasy football. They also make bets about certain players and games, for relatively small amounts of money.

While instant messaging each other one day at work about football, David suggested Philip come over to watch the games on Sunday afternoon. "We'll have a good time." Phillip had been over to David's house many times.

"Will Liz be there?" Phillip asked.

"Yea, but she won't get in the way," David said. "She knows not to bother me while I'm watching football."

Phillip thought that was kind of a strange thing to say. He hadn't been suggesting Liz would get in the way, he was just curious if she'd be out or not. Phillip decided it would be best to maybe bring a little food and some wine over, and be on his best behavior. Maybe Liz and David were going through a little rocky period. Now that he thought about it, David had said a few times recently that he was "annoyed" with Liz for one reason or another. But it all seemed so trivial that Phillip just chalked it up to what happens when you live with someone.

Sunday arrived and Phillip arrived just before the 1 pm games got started. He brought over some pizza, beer and wine. Liz answered the door, smiling happily. "Hey! I'm so glad you could come over! Oh you brought pizza, that's so nice. I think we were just about to order some."

Phillip put the food and drinks down and gave Liz a hug. Phillip, being 6 foot 2, tended to be taller than most people he met, but he always felt gigantic around Liz. She seemed especially short right now as she wasn't wearing any shoes. Liz liked to joke that her drivers license said "5 foot 3" so that's what she gave out as her height, but she was really more like five feet even.

Phillip could hear the pre-game shows blaring from the living room and walked in to find David engrossed in the coverage, with his laptop open in front of him. Phillip only participated in one fantasy football league and did it mostly for fun. David played in half a dozen or more, and also bet money on certain aspects of the game. So, he tended to watch the games while also checking stats around the league on his computer to see how everyone was doing.

Phillip approached him and made a show of getting his attention, "Hey buddy, whats up? Games haven't even started yet and you look like you're completely stressed."

David fake laughed and stood up, "Well, you know I take this seriously. How's it going? You want to eat?" David finished the beer he had in his hand and opened another one. Phillip noticed a small group of three empty beer bottles that had already formed on the table.

"Shall we eat in the dining room?" Liz asked, setting a few places for them.

David stayed put on the couch, "hey uh, I think I'm gonna stay here. The games are starting."

Liz glared at David for a second and then said, "Yes, and you can see the TV from the dining room, and nothing about the games will change just because you're in here. C'mon. There's nowhere for us to put food down in there."

David rolled his eyes and said "OK" and sat down at the table, bringing his laptop with him. Liz and Phillip talked while David stayed glued to the TV and laptop. When someone scored a touchdown, Phillip looked at David to see his reaction. It was surprisingly mixed.

"Do you have that guy on any of your teams?" Phillip asked.

"Yes, I do. But I'm also facing him in several," David said.

Liz laughed and said, "See, you can't even be happy. Phillip, you're not obsessed with this stuff are you?"

"Well... I am. But I only have one team to worry about. So, fantasy keeps me interested in many more games than I would be otherwise, but I'm not affected by every single play because I'm not in multiple leagues like this guy," Phillip said. "Why do you do this to yourself? Who are you even rooting for, you've got different guys on your team, and at the same time those guys are owned in other leagues you're in by other players."

"I know, its a wreck. I'll cut down next year," David said, finishing off another beer. "But when you have a guy from work ask you to play, its hard to say no. Or a friend. Or a cousin."

"... or some guy on the internet," Liz finished.

"Yea that too. I am definitely in too many. Its very stressful. Like being in multiple Monopoly games at the same time," David said, smiling for once this afternoon. Liz rolled her eyes again.

As another player score, David banged his fist on the counter. "Its just a game honey, remember that. Its just a game."

David got up from the table, grabbed his lap top and moved back to the couch. Phillip followed and handed David another beer. Philip was surprised how quickly he finished it and estimated that David had finished 6 beers, and halftime for the first game had just started. There was a lot of football left to watch and his friend was fixing to get very drunk.

David was intent on watching the games, glaring at the screen and then turning to his laptop to check deeper stats around the league. Phillip occupied himself by trying to talk to David, before deciding it was easier to talk to Liz. He tried to make his life sound a little more interesting than it really was. He hadn't done anything especially interesting and nothing special was going on at his job, but he didn't want to sound completely boring either.

So he made small talk with his views on a few movies he had seen lately (by himself) and talked about his progress in his part time photography classes. Liz, for her part anyway, sounded really interested. As if she didn't spend a whole lot of time getting to chat with another person that often.

While they were talking, Phillip made a sarcastic comment about the announcers of the game they were watching and Liz laughed out loud, heartily. She leaned forward, laughing and lightly pounding her first on her knee. Phillip couldn't help but notice in that moment that the V of her shirt was cut a little deeper than he'd noticed when he first came in. Now that she was leaning forward he could see far down her chest. Her heaving chest made her cleavage look especially alluring to him.

Feeling embarrassed as Liz came back up for air, Phillip let the conversation die out and focused back in on the game. He talked a little to David, who had finished off another three beers since an hour had passed since Halftime.

"Hey buddy," Phillip said, nudging David. "You OK. Have you had too many?"

"What? C'mon. I'm fine," David said.

Phillip glanced at Liz and saw her cringe. He decided to pick up all of their plates and glasses and bring them into the kitchen. Excusing himself by saying that he needed a break from the non-stop football, he started washing their few dishes. His mind drifted back to Liz's plunging neckline, and then he thought maybe he should go. Clearly something wasn't right in the house and it wasn't fair for him to be fantasizing about Liz's boobs while David was right there watching football.

Phillip heard a few beer bottles crash to the ground and then some whispering, followed immediately by David yelling, "I'm fine OK!?"

Liz retreated into the kitchen and started helping him with the dishes. "I'm sorry, I'm not sure what's wrong. He's just... not very happy lately."

Liz whispered to Phillip, making an excuse for David. "That's OK."

Liz stopped what she was doing as a tear formed in her eye. "Its not OK. He's like this more and more often. I feel like I can't even hardly talk around here anymore and..."

Liz glanced into the living room and saw that David had fallen asleep on the couch. Involuntarily she moved closer to Phillip, standing in front of him now, pressed against him lightly. "Its just that..."

Liz was breathing a little heavy now, with a few more tears running down her face. "Liz, what is it? What's wrong?" He leaned down so she could whisper if she wanted to.

Her face flushed and crying freely now Liz's face moved right next to his cheek, ready to tell him. Instead she took a deep breath and kissed him on the lips. Responding to the need in her kiss, Phillip put his arms around her and returned the kiss. After a few seconds he broke away and stepped away from Liz, looking down, feeling awful.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry Phillip, I'm sorry, its just, we haven't had sex in months. He doesn't even kiss me anymore." Liz frantically wiped the tears from her face and then quickly left the kitchen and went upstairs. Phillip took a minute to compose himself, wrote the passed out David a note, and left.

The next day he talked to David who apparently had no idea what went on while he passed out. David said he didn't wake up till 9 pm, had a couple more beers and then went to sleep for good. Trying to search for details, Phillip probed deeper.

"Yea, Liz seemed a little upset with you," Phillip said.

"It's OK. She's concerned. She thinks I have a drinking problem and that I'm stressing myself out. It's fine. I'll make it up to her."

Phillip decided that was enough information. Liz clearly hadn't said anything about the kiss and Phillip wasn't about to. As far as he was concerned, it never happened. Phillip liked Liz and in many ways she was gorgeous, but he had decided to put all of that out of his mind. It was a non-event, like a scene from a movie or something, it happened to somebody else.

Two weeks passed and Phillips plan of pretending like it never happened was working out nicely. He had almost forgotten about the whole thing. Right up until the moment when David invited him over to their house for a big BBQ. Then it all came crashing back. Her heaving chest, her full lips, and the kiss.

"A BBQ?" Phillip said, stalling for time and desperately trying to think of an excuse not to come.

"Yea, we're going to have a bunch of people over, play some music, heat up the hot tub. It'll be great. It's supposed to be 70 degrees this weekend."

Objectively it sounded great, but Phillip was now very concerned about being around Liz in swimwear. He wasn't sure at all that he could control his thoughts or his wandering eyes after what had happened. Of course, there'd be many other people there and maybe Liz and David had fixed whatever was going on with them.

"I don't know, it's kinda short notice," Phillip said.

"What? That's freaking bull crap, you know you don't have anything to do."

"Hey!" Phillip said.

"What? You know its true, now come on. Maybe you'll meet someone nice there anyway. We're going to have a lot of people there, some you've never met before, I think."

Phillip really was in no position to say no. He'd have to just do his best to keep away from Liz and mingle with anyone he didn't know. Maybe he could leave early or something. "OK."

A few days passed and Phillip thought he came up with an idea that will make sure he's not alone with Liz. He was going to play a part, like in a stage play, the part of "cool party guy". That's not normally something he would try to do, but he thought if he tried his absolute best to be outgoing and funny that several people at least would flock to him and he wouldn't be alone with Liz at all.

To execute this plan he dressed in a really loud shirt, a bright yellow button down combined with nice looking pants. He decided he wasn't going to bring a bathing suit, he wanted no part of getting into the hot tub, especially not if there was a chance that Liz would be around there too. He also decided to wear some blue wayfarer sunglasses.

His secret weapon for being "cool party guy" was an old school instant camera. The camera was new, a Fuji Instax 200. But the effect was the same classic square of film ejecting from the camera and developing before everyones eyes in a few minutes. Phillip had brought it to a Christmas party last year and everyone loved it. People were begging to have their pictures taken all night with him and others and everyone smiled and laughed as the pictures slowly came out. Phillip was hoping the effect would be the same tonight.

He was positive all of this would work. He arrived 45 minutes late and planned on leaving after a couple of hours. Just enough time that David wouldn't be able to complain that he left early.

When he first arrived to their large house, he felt good. Someone opened the door for him who turned out to be a stranger named Mike. Apparently Liz and David were too busy dealing with all the guests and having fun. Good.

Within a few minutes he felt sure that his plan was working. A couple already slightly drunk people were drawn to his loud shirt and the ridiculously large camera that he had with him. At first no one said anything, but then a woman named Marie asked him what kind of camera it was. As a response, he lifted the camera to his eye, centered it on a couple standing near him and took a picture. As soon as the picture was pushed out of the camera people knew what it was and crowded around to see it develop. Soon everyone around wanted to try it out.

Everything was going just as according to plan. Until about 45 minutes after he got there, David finally greeted him. David who was clearly shitfaced drunk already.

"Heeeeeeeey Buddy, what's up? How long have yoooouuu been here," David slurred his words, big time. He stumbled towards Phillip and practically fell down. Phillip held him up and looked at him, eyes wide. It wasn't 9 pm yet and David was completely drunk.

"You OK David," Phillip asked. David composed himself and stood up.

"Yea, I'm fine. We're just having a party riiiight?" a few people cheered and David took a large sip of an unknown, dark, mixed drink. David walked away, presumably to get another drink. Phillip watched him go into the kitchen and lightly spank the butt of a woman he didn't recognize. Apparently David was pretty friendly with her though as her only response was to turn around, laugh, and exchange a few words with David.

Phillip caught sight of Liz and immediately regretted coming. She was looking deeply upset and trying desperately to hold things together because of the 25 people that were in her house at that moment. Phillip's mind started racing, trying to come up with a reason to leave before something got out of hand. Before he could do anything, Liz approached him and the group he was talking to.

Wearing a brave smile Liz moved into the group and said, "Wow, that's a cool camera Phillip." A few more pictures were taken and Phillip had to replace the film pack. Phillips blood pressure relaxed as he didn't see David anywhere and Liz seemed to be relaxing and having an OK time. He downed a few beers along with everyone else and tried to get back into the party spirit.

An hour later Phillip had just finished playing Cards Against Humanity with Liz and a few others. When they'd decided they had enough, Liz leaned over and whispered in his ear "David went upstairs to bed, he's had too much to drink."

Phillip shrugged his shoulders and tried to give Liz a look that said, "Well, what can you do?" Liz smiled at the group, a much warmer smile than the fake one she'd been putting on for show earlier and said, "Hey, a few of us are getting into the pool out back, ya'll should join us."

A few people answered in the affirmative and Phillip looked at his watch, thinking now would be a good time to leave.

"David can you help me with something for a minute?" Liz asked, walking away and motioning for him to follow. Phillip grimaced and followed her, unable to deny a friend asking for help. Liz led them to a spare bedroom on the first floor. "I want you to take my picture with your instant camera."

"OK sure, its been a big hit with everyone. Most people haven't seen one in a real long time." Liz disappeared into a walk in closet for a minute and came out wearing a bikini bathing suit. Phillip just barely contained a gasp. Liz looked stunning in the tiny bikini with black poke a dots. Calming himself he cooly said, "Nice bathing suit."

"Thank you." Liz turned on a table lamp and then stood in front of Phillip. After a minute she laughed and said, "Well?"

"Well what?" Phillip had been too distracted by Liz's body. Her chest was heaving and she really did look incredible.

"Take my picture dummy, that's what I called you in here for."

"Oh right, I'm sorry. I've had a lot to drink. On the count of three, OK? One... two..."

Before he got to three, Liz reached behind her and unsnapped her bikini top. Her breasts were revealed as the tiny top fell to the floor and the flash for the instant camera went off. Phillip was stunned. He froze as the print was ejected from the camera. He couldn't stop staring at Liz as he felt his penis get hard.

He guessed she had C cup breasts, but on her thin figure and short frame, they appeared huge. Liz bent down and casually picked up her top, then walked over to where Phillip was frozen. She took the print out of the camera. She placed it on the table as she put her top back on. Phillip was no longer frozen in place, but he was still keenly aware of Liz's body and had yet to say anything. He didn't know what to do.

"I think you should come hang out with us by the pool for a while OK? Grab a beer and come find me."

Phillip took a deep breath and said he would. By now, the picture had developed. The beauty of Liz's perfect breasts were immortalized in all their glory. Liz picked up the picture again and slid it into Phillips back pants pocket. Standing so close to him, she pressed her body against his and said, "You keep that, I don't have any pockets right now."

Liz stepped out and only then did Phillip realize he'd been partially holding his breath. He sat down on the bed and took several deep breaths, feeling his heart rate begin to slow down. He knew he should leave, now, this instant and possibly never come over to this house again. He should either tell David the truth of what had happened, or barring that, just stop being friends with David and Liz all together.

Instead he got another beer and did exactly what Liz asked him to, he went outside to the pool and found her lounging in the shallow end. Her body was now soaking wet and gently lit by the few lights they had outside. Phillips dick was still hard and he worried about how noticeable it might be as he walked over to Liz.

"Oh good, you decided to stay, I'm glad."