The Kiss

he’d ever seen—he’d seen, touched, and had sex with a couple of women of much greater beauty—but she radiated something so pure, so real that he’d felt instantly drawn to her. Then Greg had told him she was the plat du jour , or rather of the month, and Nate had decided to forget he’d ever seen her.
    Until that evening. Greg had asked him to give Eliza a message, thus throwing him headfirst into the worst dilemma of his life.
    Nate had known how Greg treated girls and, to his shame, had never done anything to discourage it even though he never liked it. He’d tell himself that it served the chicks right if they fell for all the bullshit Greg fed them to get them into bed. Sometimes he’d even make sure his best friend’s overlapping dates weren’t discovered.
    That should have been the case that evening, too. Greg had asked him—not that there had been a question or a ‘please’ involved—to tell Eliza that he wouldn’t make it to their date, as the girl didn’t have a mobile phone. Nate had also been privy to the real reason why Greg would be a no-show. The jerk was meeting Suzie : petite, brunette, and expected to put out within the next couple of hours.
    Nate grimaced in disgust.
    Whether his disgust was for Easy-Suzie, who’d been so desperate to have her cherry popped that she’d told Greg she only wanted him for one night; for Greg, whose insecurities meant he only got his jollies by hurting others; or for himself for being stupidly loyal to him, it was what had helped him make his mind up.
    He wouldn’t have felt right betraying Greg by outright warning the girl. Still, he’d make her more wary of the next time she saw her boyfriend, and maybe that would save her the heartache he knew she was rapidly headed for.
    He’d been surprised when he’d caught himself briefly flirting with her. She hadn’t gone for that—not that he’d expected her to; he was sure she was the loyal kind. And it wasn’t like he’d ever flirt with her for real, he’d told himself later that night. Hitting on a friend’s girl, no matter how disposable that friend considered her, was unthinkable.
    Hearing Eliza talk about Greg as if he were the salt of the earth had enraged Nate. He’d wanted to grab her by the shoulders and yell that her boyfriend was an asshole who wouldn’t know a good thing if it hit him between the eyes. She was worth so much more than a serial user and abandoner. She deserved… him .
    Scare her away from Greg; that had been the plan. And what better way to do so than by showing her what a jerk her Greg hung out with?
    When Greg had called him at two in the morning a week later to tell him he’d gotten into her virginal panties, Nate had punched a wall so hard, he’d fractured two knuckles.
    The next time he’d seen her, she’d been fighting back tears at the way the man she loved had made fun of her for gifting him with something Nate would have held precious. His reaction seemed extremely stupid in retrospect, but at the time the only thing he’d felt he could do had been make her hate him more. In his warped reasoning, if he was the one insulting her, she’d focus on despising him instead of on the hurt Greg’s betrayal had caused her.
    It hadn’t worked quite as planned, so he’d eventually resorted to other… measures , but he secretly still reveled in the memory of the exact moment she got over Greg.
    That kick in the balls was a sight he’d never forget.
    ***
    Eliza took a long look in the mirror and wondered about the sanity of going on a date with someone who consorted with the devil’s minions—also known as Greg and Nate. To his defense, Bill seemed to have always liked her. She’d known him since high school, even before she and Greg had hooked up, and he appeared to have remained a genuinely nice guy. Krista vouched to that.
    Then again, neither she nor Krista had always been the best judges of character.

    Two Years earlier

    Eliza and Krista giggled all the way home from school. They had a secret—Eliza’s secret—and they were bursting with excitement. It was funny how, even though it was Eliza who should be jittery, her best friend was the one who kept saying that it would all be perfect.
    “And you have to tell me everything tomorrow. Well, not everything , but enough. And—and not tomorrow. Tonight. Call me tonight. When you get home.”Krista winked. “If you’re not too lightheaded by then.”
    “Kris!” Eliza did her best to sound