BFF over BF?

Chapter 14

Jay

Throughout breakfast, I couldn’t stop myself from staring at Sophie while she’s on her phone. “Sophie?,” I say, drawing her attention. She puts her phone down and I get so close our noses are a hair's breadth away from touching. I narrow my eyes and stare into hers.

I trail my eyes down to her neck and I can’t help but notice the blush creeping up her neck. Could it be?. My eyes widen and I back away. “What?!,” she asks worriedly. “Is something wrong?”.

“No,” I say with a far off look. “Nothing”.

“Ok,” she says, avoiding my gaze.

I look away awkwardly, and continue eating.

She opens her mouth and closes her mouth a few times, like a fish. Eventually she furrows her brows and closes her lips tightly.

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We finish up breakfast and for some reason we still sit there in awkward silence. I miss the way things used to be, the times when we could sit in silence and just enjoy being together.

Sophie sits there clearly deep in thought, staring at the floor. Obviously I’m gonna stare at her. You probably know the drill by now. Eventually she opens her mouth and mumbles (so I have to strain to hear) “Maybe someday”.

Hm. Wonder what she’s talking about. I think I should snap her out of it so she doesn't say anything she might regret.

“Sophie.,” I say, lightly shaking her. “Man, we really gotta stop spacing out,” I say, shaking her.

“Ah,” she jumps, startled. I cover my mouth, attempting to stifle my laughs, but she looks at me and smacks my arm. It hurt a lot (and I’m not just saying that because I’m a baby).

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A week passes, and before I know it, I’m packing my bags for the car. Sophie stands in the doorway and says, “Well, I’m sure not looking forward to going back to school”.

I chuckle. “ Who would be?,” I ask, genuinely curious.

“No one I know”.

I laugh, picking up my bags and walking to the car. “You packing the car,” I ask my mom, with a confused expression.

“Of course. Did you think I’d let you pack them, with your injury,” she says, gesturing to my torso.

“I think it’s probably healed enough for me to pack the car,” I say with a small chuckle.

“You can never be too careful,” she says, shooing me back into the house.

On the way back in the house, I roll my eyes so hard that if my mom had seen, she probably would’ve slapped me into the middle of next week. All jokes aside… yeah, I can’t even try to be serious in my mind without dying.

Ok. but actually, what is wrong with Sophie?. She’s been acting really weird lately. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her act so awkward before…could it be that she doesn’t like me anymore, that she’s thinking of ending our life long friendship?. I know I like her romantically, even though she doesn’t see me that way, that doesn’t mean I want our friendship to end. Just the thought makes me wanna crawl into a hole and slowly die.

I walk up to Sophie and say, “ have you packed everything?.

“Yup,” she says, looking at me in a very odd way.

Well, I guess there’s still things I don’t know about Sophie.

“Is there anything you wanna tell me?,” I ask her. She tilts her head in thought, furrowing her brows, and for just a moment I admire how heavenly she looks.

“Nope!,” she says, walking away so fast, I can’t say anything back. “I won’t chase her,” I say, walking slowly with my head down in defeat, to the kitchen.

Sophie

“Is there anything you wanna tell me,” Jay asks, looking worried, like the world might end if I say. ‘Of course I have something to tell you. The problem is I don’t really know what it is, I just think that I should tell you. Because you're my Best Friend’, I think. Only one word comes out of my mouth. “Nope!,” I struggle out. I want to say more, but I don’t wanna look like a drowning fish, so I hurriedly make my escape. Before I know it, we’re in the car, on our way back home. ‘Man, this drive is gonna feel like days, maybe even weeks’, I think, crying on the inside.

I start watching a downloaded movie on my phone, and I eventually look over and notice that Jay is watching with me. He notices I’m looking, and looks into my eyes. I know I should break eye contact, but at this moment it feels like I shouldn’t. Jay and I inch closer, until our lips are almost touching.

“Where should we eat,” Jay’s mom says, snapping us out of it.

“Um… I don’t know,” Jay says, looking into my eyes again with a look I can’t quite place. Is it sorrow?. Why would he have a look of sorrow though. I must’ve seen wrong, because when I blink, he has a smile on his face, although it doesn’t really look happy, like it normally would.

Eventually we go through a drive thru and eat on the road. During the rest of the car ride (which is a long time) I avoid his gaze.

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Jay’s mom drops us off at our house, then they drive in the direction of their house.

When we get in our house, I run upstairs with my bags, and hop on my bed, happy to be home. I unpack my bags, then shower.

I throw my towel on the floor and flop on my bed, closing my eyes. I can’t wait until summer, when I can swim and not dress in like, a million layers. All other thoughts stop when I remember what happened in the car. No…There’s no way we almost kissed. I’m dating Luke. Do I still like Luke?. I think I do… don't I?.