The Friendship Agreement

Chapter 3: In The Club

RINI’S POV:

Once we got in the car, a text popped up on my screen.

One new text message from Jamie:

-That didn’t go exactly as I planned. I hate to tell you this, but I do not approve of that asshat. Rini, he doesn’t even know your name. He already has two and a half strikes love. Hope he gets something right…soon.

I didn’t know what to say. Jamie is my best friend, one of the most important people in my life, but he is way too protective. We’ll have to have a talk soon, but not tonight. I just want to celebrate a day of me being me. Travis pulled his tie off and threw it to me.

“Put this over your eyes. I don’t want your surprise ruined.” I did what he asked quietly.

I’m not one for confrontation, I would just rather avoid it, if possible, and do something I may not necessarily like that will appease those around me. This usually meant I was walked all over, but I’m a people pleaser, I like to make others happy. Even though it’s my night, and I hate surprises, I’ll do this to please Travis. But, I wanted to make me happy too, so I had to ask.

“Is this something just for you and me, or can Jamie join us?”

“He’s already following us,” Travis snapped. I just smiled and sat back for the rest of the ride.

I felt the car come to a stop and Travis put it in park. I reached up to untie the tie, but Travis’s hand grabbed mine, so I stopped.

“Just a few more minutes please.” He said nicely. It felt a little fake, but I would take it.

He got out of the car and came and opened my door. As soon as I stepped out, I heard loud music that was muffled. I let him lead me to wherever we were going. Apparently, he wasn’t a good leader. A few steps into our journey, I tripped on a rock and started falling. Luckily, a pair of hands caught me around the waist and righted me.

“Careful now, don’t want to damage your pretty little face.”

“Jamie! Knock it off, I would have caught myself.”

“Yeah, that’s what you said when you broke your wrist in fourth grade.”

“Hey! That’s not fair. We were doing a crazy trust exercise and you failed.” I laughed at my flimsy excuse. “Let me go now.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. Apparently lover boy is working on strike three and letting you fall.” He whispered in my ear. “I’ll make sure you don’t fall again. But if you do, I’ll be here to catch you.”

I didn’t really have time to respond since we made it to wherever they were leading me. The tie was pulled roughly off my head. We were in a dark room, music blaring and lights flashing.

“SURPRISE!” Voices yelled out at me. I looked around and saw a bunch of my friends at our favorite club.

“See babe, I told you there was something special happening tonight. I’m just glad this guy didn’t ruin it for you.” Travis jerked his thumb toward Jamie.

I quickly hid my disappointment with a smile. He worked hard to do something special for me, I wasn’t going to ruin his gesture by being disappointed something we had never even talked about didn’t happen. Instead, I turned to him and gave a big hug and murmured a thank you to him.

“RINI! Who is that hottie with you?” Travis’s friend Vanessa asked. I already knew I was going to have to get some liquid courage to last through the night. Vanessa and I have a love hate relationship. She loves to flirt with my boyfriend in front of me, and I love to hate her for making me feel uncomfortable.