Alpha Mate, Human Lover

Jackson

Jackson's POV

I heard the door open and was surprised Callie had made it back before I left. She had walked to the bank and store earlier. It's not a long walk and she doesn't tend to buy a lot of groceries but it definitely should have taken longer. She usually makes a few stops around town, making a day out of running errands and just doing life at her own pace. It's one of the reasons I loved her so much.

Callie and I met in high school. Freshman year I was still chubby from middle school and the bullies had followed me into the new school year. Callie was the first to show me kindness and I'll be the first to admit, I didn't do the same.

The summer before sophomore year i lost weight, got active and became more social. I got to hang around some of the jocks and ended up dating a cheerleader named Sarah. When i look back on it, i was never made for that crowd. I knew that, Sarah knew that and so did Callie. When sophomore year started and Callie saw me the first thing she did was run up and hug me. My biggest supporter from the previous year and what did I do? I let her down. Sarah saw the interaction and immediately started s**t talking Callie. Callie was so confused and I saw the hurt in her eyes when I didn't stick up for her. From then on Sarah did everything she could to make sure Callie and I stayed away from each other. It reached a boiling point in Junior year when I found out Sarah had been with the entire soccer team and half the lacrosse team while she was with me. We broke up and like the shitty sucker I am, I went right back to Callie. She was friend and I knew I had f****d up. She welcomed me back with open arms but I knew things would never be the same. I knew she'd never trust me as fully as she once did.

After that though we never parted. We went to college together and partied together. I let her cry to me about her shitty boyfriends and she would have reality check conversations with me about my shitty girlfriends. We never once crossed the line of friendship. I can't say I never wanted to but I wasn't going to let her know that. I couldn't risk losing her again.

Now here we are, 25, graduated and doing nothing with it. We're both servers at the same restaurant and my apartment is opposite of hers. We spend most of our time riding together to work, working, or trying to untangle this mess called life. It's the best platonic relationship any could have but I can't help but hope maybe soon, it could be more.

I've had a change of heart recently. I don't know when it happened but it did. We were playing uno with some friends at my place. She was laughing, full on belly laughing and I realized I never wanted to go a day without hearing her laugh. I spent the rest of that night lying in bed with my thoughts. Has it been long enough? Has she forgiven me after all these years? For Christ's sake we were kids, I didn't know any better. She's definitely forgiven me by now…right?

My heart ached to know but my brain quickly reminded me of the other outcome. Of the possibility of ruining everything we have built just because I can't keep it in my pants. My heart ached deeper with this thought. And in that moment I swore to myself I'd only admire her from afar and if, and only if, it's ever brought up by her I'd tell her the truth. I'd pour my heart out to her and tell her how much I love her and for how long I've loved her. She just had to ask.

Since that night, she's never asked.

I see Callie on the sofa. She seems to be deep in thought. As I come around the corner she sees me and nearly jumps out her skin.

She's so cute when she's scared.

I ask her why she's home so early and she mentioned the store being packed. I've known her for too long. I know she's lying. But I don't know why she would lie about being home early so I drop it. I grab a shower and then head off to work. Usually we're both off on Mondays but I made the fatal mistake of agreeing to pick up a shift last week.

Working without Callie isn't my favorite but my coworkers are fun and it's a bartending shift anyway. It'll be easy money with the Monday Night Football crowd.