Free Cat Snips - a Short Story Collection by Cat Johnson by Cat Johnson

on
Jeff.”
    Meg had hoped it was simply
orgasm-induced euphoria and it would fade. But the next day, while
she sat opposite her girlfriend Vicki and poked at the salad in front
of her, it was still there, that feeling of unrest sitting smack over
her heart.
    Vicki glanced up from her Asian
Chicken Salad and shook her head. “I told you six months ago
when you started this friends with benefits thing that you can not
have sex with a guy on a regular basis and not develop deeper
feelings for him. It’s impossible. Mother Nature didn’t
build women to be able to do things like that. We were designed to be
monogamous and hold the family unit together.”
    Meg sighed. She considered
herself a feminist and didn’t like Vicki’s theory. Men
could fuck without falling for the woman, so why couldn’t
women? Then an idea struck her. She looked up hopefully. “Maybe
I don’t have feelings for him. Perhaps it’s just
jealousy. I didn’t think I liked him like that until I found out he’d slept with someone else.”
    Vicki put down her fork and
raised an eyebrow. “Jeff slept with someone else?”
    Somehow her friend’s
reaction did nothing to comfort Meg.
    “ Yeah, but it was an
accident. She was drunk and I was out of town.” Why she felt
the need to rationalize and defend Jeff to Vicki with his own lame
excuses, Meg couldn’t explain.
    Vicki didn’t comment, but
her expression did it for her. Vicki had something to say but wasn’t
saying it.
    “ What? You think he’s
tired of me don’t you?” Meg accused.
    “ No, I don’t. Men are
simply different than women when it comes to sex. That’s all.”
    This again. “So you’re
saying men are built to go around fucking a bunch of different women
and not get attached but women are not?”
    Vicki nodded. “Correct.
Basically they were designed to spread their seed.”
    “ Great. Thanks. That makes
me feel tons better.” The last thing Meg wanted to think about
was Jeff spreading his seed everywhere, particularly between the
nurse’s legs.
    “ Sorry. But I think the
more important issue here is not that Jeff went out and got laid, but
that you’re jealous about it.”
    “ Why?”
    “ It means you like him far
more than you thought you did. If you didn’t care, you wouldn’t
be jealous.”
    That made far too much sense for
her liking. Meg finally gave up and laid her fork on the table,
realizing she wasn’t at all hungry. She buried her face in her
hands. “What
the hell am I going to do?”
    “ Go on a date with him.
You’re already halfway into a relationship. You’re
friends, you sleep together, you just skipped the dating part. So
call and ask him to dinner or something.”
    Sure they’d eaten together,
tons of times, but they were meals, never dates. Suddenly in a panic
at the idea of asking Jeff out and being rejected by him, Meg stared
down at her cell phone. She’d left it lying on the table when
she’d arrived so she would hear it in case Jeff called. Damn
it. She had it bad. This sucked.
    “ What if I ask him out
tonight and he already has a date?” What if he was going out
with trampy barfly nurse?
    “ You won’t know until
you ask.”
    Panic gripped her. “I don’t
know if I can.”
    “ I’m telling you,
invite him over for a nice home cooked meal. Show him what a real
relationship with you can be like, one that involves more than booty
calls. And while you’re at it, you can gently feel him out
about his feelings toward you.”
    When Meg made no move, Vicki
picked up the phone, scrolled through Meg’s contact list. She
hit send and held it out to her. Meg remained frozen.
    “ Better take it. It’s
ringing.”
    Shit. Meg grabbed the phone and got it to her ear just in time to hear
Jeff’s voice say, “Hello.”
    “ Hey.”
    “ Hey, Meg. What’s
up?”
    She swallowed hard. “Um, do
you want to do something tonight?”
    Vicki scowled deeply at Meg’s
lame invitation.
    “ Sorry. I can’t. I
have plans. Rain check?”
    “