It was near the end of the first quarter of the year. I was now in 10th grade. Brian was now a senior. We were still best friends. Luckily, all five of us got second lunch. It was the first time we were all together at school. I sat down beside Brian at our usual lunch table, everyone except Heather was already seated.
"Hear about Jen and Brian?" our other friend, Tracy, asked. I shook my head. "They're going out! Isn't that sweet! They are perfect for each other!"
"Man, Tracy! You have a big mouth! The whole school is gonna know by the end of the day at this rate!" Brian laughed. A wave of emotions went through me. How could he be going out with someone else?...Duh! He liked her, she liked him. He'd had girlfriends before, why was it bugging me now?
That afternoon I went to the mall with Nick, Brian, and Jen.
"Arcade the first stop, as usual?" I asked.
"Nah, I don't really like the arcade." Jen said. "Lets go to the Gap or something."
"I'll go to the Gap with her and you two can go to the arcade. We'll meet up with ya later." Brian said and left. I dazed into space and watched them walk away. He had always gone with me to the arcade before. We were always like the only high schoolers in there!
"Earth to Erin!" Nick waved his hand in front of my face. "You okay?"
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" I lied."Come on, lets go."
Over the next few weeks I hardly saw Brian at all. Him and Jen had become really close. One Friday i walked down the street to his house, to see if he wanted to hang out or anything. His older brother, Harold, answered the door, and of course, he wasn't home. He was out on a date with Jennifer.
"Man! Is he not home, i wanted to play some basketball!" Nick walked up.
"Nope, as usual!" I mumbled."Dude, he spends all his time with Jen!" I complained.
"Thats usually what couples do. Are you okay? You've been acting weird around them for weeks! Do you not like Jen or somin?"
"Of course not, she's one of my best friends!"
"You in love with Brian now that he's finally over you?"Nick joked.
"What? Over me? When was he ever under me?" I asked angrily. "I mean... well you know what i mean." slightly laughing at myself.
"I kept telling you he liked you."
"Well I didn't believe you...Whatever, well it doesn't matter now. He's happy with Jen, so promise me you won't tell him i like him, okay?" I asked.
"Okay, promise. I won't. But you should. I mean, we have a semester left. He's a senior, he's not gonna be around much longer before he goes to college."
"I know... well i gotta get home, I'll see ya later." I got out of the conversation.
Another few weeks went by. Nick kept his promise and hadn't told Brian. I was going for a walk after school and I saw Brian on his front porch sitting on his swing looking at the ground. I walked up.
"You okay?" I asked him.
"Yeah, i'll be fine, i guess." he said and paused for a minute. "Jennifer broke up with me." he said finally.
"Oh i'm sorry! How come?" I asked.
"We haven't been getting along for awhile...fighting over stupid things.. junk like that." he replied. I gave him a hug.
"You'll find someone else, don't worry! You can still be friends and everything!" I tried to cheer him up.
"Yeah I know. I wasn't in love with her or anything, I've only ever been in love with one person. I just liked Jen a lot, thats all. I'll be fine."
"Who was the one person you were in love with?"
"Oh...uh,just this girl." he answered. I didn't bug him for an answer.
"Wanna play basketball? Or anything? I hate it when your sad!" I said.
"Yeah, sure. I'll probably play pretty badly right now..."
"Nah, you'll be rocking the court dude!" I smiled.
"Not today i won't."
"You always play great. Your like... B-rok! Because you'll be rocking the courts!" I laughed, and we walked down the street to the b-ball courts.
Chapter 1
Chapter 3
As Time Goes
Frick's Fairytales