Like a brother. Like a brother. Like a brother. Like a brother. Those three words echoed in his head like a broken record player. He felt like an inmate on death row in his final moments on earth; seeing flashes of everything that Julie and him had gone through. He had never felt this way about a girl before. Simon was grateful that he didn’t say the L word. At least with him in the friend zone, he could continue seeing her. After all, she was his best friend out here in Eastern Washington. He had a few friends that could be relied on, but Julie was the one that felt the most special to him. Glancing at his feet, he forgot how much of the beer he had drunk in the last forty five minutes or so; he was making his own mountain of cans like the one beside the car. Arising slowly, he surveyed the area to see if he could spot Julie. Almost making a complete 360, he noticed her over at the area with the farmer boy with the pong ball from earlier. It appeared that she was his beer pong partner for that round.
Simon could see the guy reach around her and pull her close. At that point, he couldn’t care less if she friend zoned him or not. Chugging the rest of his beer, he stomped over to the table and shoved himself in between them as hard as he could.
“Leave her alone.” Simon stared coldly at the farmer boy.
“Hey man, what are you doing? I’m not hurting her or anything.” Farmer Boy handed his hat to Julie, anticipating a fight.
“You don’t know her like I do. I said. Let. Her. Go.” At this point the alcohol started to fuel Simon’s anger and frustration at Farmer Boy and Julie.
Simon attempted to shove the bigger man back as hard as he could. Since Farmer Boy was ready for it, he barely moved an inch. He retaliated by unleashing his full body weight upon Simon, in which he tumbled to the ground fast. The cacophony of voices around them began to rise as everyone started to cheer them on. More people were rooting for Farmer Boy than they were for Simon. Simon guessed that they were his friends and he was just some drunk intruder. Figured.
Farmer Boy unleashed himself at Simon, barraging him with punch after punch. It didn’t help that Simon was on his back. He’d never been much of a fighter. The only fight he’d ever gotten into was in high school when a kid older than him tried to take his backpack away. Apparently the guy believed that there was something buried within the contents of the pack that he wanted to have. It was this experience that Simon learned to always protect your face. After the first skirmish, he ended up with a broken nose that gushed blood whenever he brought the ice pack away from it.
