Free Selling Satisfaction by Ashley Beale

"Never tried it before."
    "You live on the beach. How have you never tried fish before?"
    "It smells, and it's slimy, and it comes from nasty water. It has scales, and fins, and stuff. Just... Gross. No thanks."
    He chuckles, clearly amused by my disgust of the idea. "Have you ever gone fishing?"
    I think on it, because honestly I think I had gone with my dad when I was young, but I can't quite remember. I finally admit, "I don't know. Maybe."
    He cocks his head to the side, probably confused by my answer but doesn't say as much. "I love fishing. Haven't been in years though. As soon as I found out I was moving to a beach location, I knew I had to try deep sea fishing. Wanna go with me sometime?"
    With narrowed eyes, I make sure to tell him, "You're not doing this again."
    "What?"
    "Tricking me into another date."
    "Who is tricking who?"
    I did trick him by bringing him to this insanely expensive restaurant. "Yeah, oops... But seriously, no dates."
    "Then it won't be a date."
    "Maybe we should have some rules then."
    "Rules?" He chuckles. "For what?"
    I feel ridiculous the moment I mention having rules, but I do think it's a good idea. Smart idea at that. That way there isn't any line crossing. If we continue hanging out so carelessly and enjoying each other’s company, we're going to get too comfortable with one another, and lines will certainly become blurred. It's for my own protection- and his. He doesn't realize who I am, what I came from, what I've become. He won't be okay with what I do for a living. Most importantly, I do not want anything with him- more than companionship that is. We're good exactly where we are.
    "For this. For hanging out," I explain. "Like... no hanging out more than once a week. No swapping phone numbers, so we don't text. No social media stalking, so we're not tempted by anything. We see each other when we see each other, we don't ask too many questions about one another. We're simply... acquaintances that hang out no more than once a week. Deal?"
    The waitress brings us the receipt for Everett to sign along with the takeout boxes, interrupting everything happening. Everett pulls the receipt from the black folder, signing it quickly and leaving a tip larger than I had expected, then again our meal was over seventy dollars for the two of us. "Do you want half?" I ask, offering to pay at least part of my portion.
    He looks up at me, none too impressed that I offered. "Friend or not, I'm not allowing a woman to pay for dinner, especially when I'm the one that asked for her company. Call me old school or what have you, but you'll never be expected to pay for meals when we're hanging out."
    It almost makes me want to throw money at him, begging him to let me pay half so I don't feel like this is more than what it is, but I accept his generosity. "Well, then, thank you. For dinner."
    "Thank you for accepting," he adds in. "Now about these rules." We both scrape our plates into the boxes we're given while he speaks. "I don't have Facebook or Tinder, or any of that, so that part is simple enough. I don't enjoy texting either, so that works out as well. As for the hanging out, what if our schedules don't coincide and we're forced to hang out twice in a week? What kind of punishment does that entail?"
    I hear the mockery in his voice, which causes an eye roll from me. "Your punishment will be not seeing me for a whole entire month."
    "What will your punishment be?"
    I think on it for a moment. "Not having a friend to hang out with for an entire month."
    Everett chuckles, nodding along with agreement. "Deal. Our friendship will be one day a week and no more than that. It'll be a first for me. A friendship with guidelines and restrictions."
    "It's safe," I tell him. Hating that I opened my mouth the moment I do.
    His smile spreads. He knows this is harder than it should be for me. Damn him.
     
    When we get back to the complex, I don't want to move from his truck. I'm pretty sure I've never ate so much in