My Best Friend From Childhood

Chapter Seven

“Did you have fun yesterday? You were home pretty late last night” Mrs. Anderson said as she took a seat on the couch next to me.

It was around 7 A.M. on a Sunday. I was seated in the empty Livingroom with Netflix on in the background while I was doing my algebra homework. It was a usual Sunday, where Mrs. Anderson and I would wake up early in the morning to get work done, while Kyle sleeps in till we all have to get ready to go to the grocery store and buy Korean take-outs from the Korean restaurant next to the grocery store.

“Sorry” I gave her a slight smile “We lost track of time”

“What did you guys end up doing?” she asked as she placed her laptop on the table as it powered up, then started sipping on her coffee.

“We went to his house for his best friend’s birthday party” I said “His friends and their parents were there, his sister and his parents. It was nice to see all of their families come together to celebrate Rio’s birthday. I mean even though they just met me, everyone was treating me like family”

She gave me a small smile then reached out to tuck my hair behind my ear “I know you miss them, Kim, and it’s not like the situation you’re living in right now is any better since my Mr. Anderson is here as well so even my family is scattered around and incomplete” she sighed then gave me a small smile “But you know I am here for you, right? I might have not given birth to you, but I sure as hell raised you so that makes as much mine as your mother’s”

I leaned closer to her and rested my head on her shoulder “This is enough for me though. It’s not perfect but it’s great. If there’s one thing I know is that I am better off here with you raising me than constantly moving from country to another” I said “I am really lucky to have both you and Kyle, and just being here with you in general. You two have been nothing but great to me”

He planted a kiss on the side of my head “And I am grateful that your parents allowed you to stay here with me” she said “And you know you can always talk to me about boy problems, right?”

I chuckled and moved away “I think I’m good” I chuckled.

She picked up her laptop and smiled at me “If you say so” she said.

“I know so” I smiled before going back to my studies.

Around two hours later, I was up in my room with music on in the background as I got dressed for our trip to the grocery store. It was a short trip to the grocery store, so I ended up dressed in a white t-shirt tucked into my light washed jeans, white sneakers, and my hair falling loosely falling down my back.

“I’m coming” I called when I heard a knock on the door.

“Kim” I heard Kyle call then knocked on the door again.

“I said I’m coming” I called again.

“Can I come in? I want to talk to you about something” he said.

“Kyle, I’ll be down in a minute. We can talk then” I told him.

“Sure, we can just talk about his in front of my mum” he said loudly “We can tell her all about how we made o…”

In a flash, I flew across the room, flung the door open before pulling him in and covering his mouth with my hand as I pulled him in.

“What the f**k are you doing? Are you crazy or something?” I said angrily “So what now? It’s either I talk to you or you’re going to air our dirty laundry?”

I pulled his arms away from my mouth “What the f**k else am I supposed to do? You wouldn’t talk to me otherwise” he said.

I moved away to the window and sat on the window seat “Have you thought that I maybe I don’t want to talk to you about it?” I said.

“Well we have to talk about it eventually, otherwise we’re going to stay like this and avoid each other” he said.

“Fine” I said “Whatever, Kyle, let’s talk to get this over with”

He looked around the room as he took in every small detail of my room.

“I haven’t been in here for years” he said then he chuckled “I like what you did with this place”

“Well don’t get used to it” I said awkwardly “It’s still of limits to you. My only space in the house, remember?”

“Funny, because I swore I saw Luke in here the other day” he said “So you let in a stranger into your room that is off-limits and mostly into my house, but this room in MY house is off-limits to me?”

“Wow, way to make me feel like this my home too” I said “See, this is exactly why we can’t talk. You keep throwing tangram like a child once you don’t get your way. And I never let a stranger into your house, I know Luke and I trust him”

He looked at me with a blank expression “So you’re dating that lame-ass now?” he asked.

I folded my arms over my chest “I guess so” I told him “He asked me out on a date, and I said yes”

He chuckled sarcastically “What the hell? Are you blind or something? He’s clearly using you to get back at me”

I rolled my eyes “Here we go again. Everyone is out to get you because you are Mr. Popular, and everyone wants to be you or get with you” I said.

“I’m being serious here, and a part of you knows that” he said “Why else would he ask you out?”

I looked at him offended “Woah, so now the only reason why someone would date me is that they want to get back at me?” I said hurt “Is there something wrong with me? Is it so hard for you to believe that someone would actually like me for me?”

“I didn’t mean that” he sighed.

“No, let face the facts, Kyle. The only reason why I haven’t dated or kissed anyone is because of you. Everyone is scared of talking to me because you give everyone such a tough time and scare them off”

“That’s not true” he defended “I never did that”

“Stop. f*****g. Lying, Kyle” I said beyond annoyed “I know that you warned off Zackery Wilson when he tried to ask me out. He told me because he knew what you were doing was not right”

“He was bad news” he tried to defend “He …”

“Was trying to use me to get back at you” I rolled my eyes again “For once in your life, be completely honest with me and stop f*****g lying to get yourself out of the hole you dug for yourself”

“Fine” he said loudly “You want the f*****g truth; I like you and I have for a long time. Do you know how I f*****g feel right now? I’m so head over heels for you to the point I want to throw myself in front of the bus because you won’t give us a chance. I like you, I really really really like you, Kim, and I know that we can make it work; I know what we have is endgame”

“And what if it’s not, Kyle, what happened to us then? have you thought of that, or are you stupid enough to only thinking on now rather than our future” I said “What happens when we break up? Do we forget each other and just have separate lives?”

“But we’re not going too” he said “I know you, and I know that we’re not ever going too. I know it in my heart”

I shook my head “You don’t know that”

“And you don’t know that we will break up” he said “We owe it to our friendship to at least try. You know you we have something”

“What we have is a 17 years old friendship that we will lose if you keep thinking with your d**k like this” I told him again.

He went quiet for a minute as he looked down at his hands “I’ve been running around my whole life, getting with different girls and dating a new girl every week in hopes that I could find that one persona that I’m supposed to be with. No one ever felt right, they were all missing something. Like they’re perfect, but they’re missing that one thing that I can’t look over. None of them was you”

“First of all, You’re 17 for f**k's sake, you’re not supposed to be running around in a goose hunt trying to find the one” I told “And second, don’t you dare put the blame on me for hurting the feelings of all those girls that like you. YOU chose to date them, YOU weren’t satisfied with them, and YOU knew why; so, don’t give me bullshit about how I’m the reason why no one ever felt right to you because of me”

“The f**k is wrong with you, Kim” he snapped “I’m here pouring my heart out for you and all you can think about is this? Are you stupid or something?”

“Are you?” I snapped back “Do you expect me to jump into your arms and be with you after this? All of this is a lot, Kyle. I finally met someone I like who asked me out, then you just dumped this bag of confusing emotions and secret feelings on me like its nothing. Of course, I don’t know how to feel and I’m reacting this way to this situation. What the f**k else am I supposed to do? I’ve known you for 17 years, and I’m scared of losing you”

“And I’m scared of losing you to him?” he said loudly “I am scared that you’re going to forget about me, and I will lose you to someone else”

“If you keep acting like this, you will lose me” I told him “I know this will hurt you, but I just don’t feel that way about you, Kyle. I can’t force myself to have that kind of feelings for you”

He looked to the side for a minute before he nodded and turned back to me “Fine, so be it. Whatever, Kim. Forget I said anything” he said.

“So, what now?” I asked.

“Now you do whatever the f**k you want. I don’t care” he said before he walked out of the room in anger.

I ran both my hands over my face frustrated at how most of the conversations we had always ended with one of us picking a fight; we never used to be like this. A part of me knew that we were both at fault, him for always being pity confessing his feelings for me, and I for being so angry and stubborn all the time at him. Ever since we had our first argument last summer, it felt like everything between us changed, like we don’t get along like we used to before. It was as if we seeing people started to ruin our friendship even when it was only him that did.

“Are you ready to go?” Mrs. Anderson asked as she leaned against the door.

I nodded before grabbing my bag off the bed and following her.

Kyle wasn’t behind me on the stairs when we went down, nor was he behind us when we got into the car. As I attempted to get into the back seat, Mrs. Anderson called out my name and pointed the front passenger seat.

“Come sit up front” She said “It gets lonely in the front”

I looked at her confused “Kyle usually likes to sit upfront because of his long legs” I said “I don’t want to cramp him in the back”

“Kyle isn’t coming” she explained “He has a stomachache or something”

“Or being a stubborn child” I mumbled under my breath as I got into the car.

“Definitely that” she chuckled.

Most of the car ride was consumed by the sound of the old school music coming from the radio.

“You’re really quiet today” Mrs. Anderson said.

I turned to her and gave her a small smile “Yeah, I guess I am” I said “I just have a few things on my mind”

“Want to talk about it?” she asked.

I shrugged “It’s not really that important, to be honest” I said “Just things with Kyle”

“He doesn’t like you dating Luke?”

“We’re not really dating anyways” I said “He asked me on a date, but I haven’t really heard from him all day”

“It’s still so early in the day, you still have time till the end of the day” she said “Plus, don’t think about the Kyle thing too much, he will get over it eventually if he still wants to be your best friend. Best friends support each other no matter what”

I gave her a nod then smiled “I hope so”