Best of Friends.

Best of Friends by Samuelx.

That's all they were.

A boy and a girl who had known
each other forever.

They played together in school. They lived through a lot.
Surviving grade school. The wonders of Junior High.
The bold, fast-faced and confusing world of High school.

The raging hormones and rampant emotions.

The crushes. The rejections. The disappointments. The broken hearts.

They were close. Like only best friends could be. Hanging out in each
other's basements. Playing basketball in their driveways. Eating Ice cream
at the Dairy Queen.

He watched her become a beautiful girl. He saw her date interesting young men.

He saw her feel joy, and bitter pain. Always he came to her. Trying to make her smile.

The ever-present friend. A faithful companion. All at once friend, counselor, goofball
and pal.

He was there for her at every turn. They kept no secrets from each other. They told
each other everything. Crushes. Secret desires. Pain. Shame. It was all so bare.

But he kept a secret from her.

He couldn't tell you when it happened, or how but he'd fallen in love with her. He wanted
to tell her. He so longed to be with her. But he couldn't. There were boundaries in this world.
Friends seldom become lovers. Those who did often regretted the crossing over. They were
never the same.

He wanted to love her. But he would not risk not having her in his life. Although he would
never admit it, his existence would be empty without her in it.
Every moment with her was magical. But he could not bare his feelings. There was something to gain.
Perhaps she would love him back......yeah, right. Nah, he kept his feelings locked deeper than
the Pit.

He could not risk her knowing that the sight of her made him tremble, that his heart thundered in his chest
when he saw her.

So, to her he remained the faithful friend. The laughing boy. The funny man who clowned around. Her
devoted best pal.

She had grown and he did too. She dated several men. Some were good to her, others were not. He
never interfered in her love life, for fear that his feelings would one day be exposed. Oh, he dated too.
Girls who whom most young men would have found.....pleasant. But he felt nothing for them. Oh, they
were interesting. But that was it.

Once, his Sweetheart told him the tale of how she lost her Virginity. He listened to it. She was so happy
and considered herself to be a woman from then on. He was happy for her, or did his best to appear so.
Outside, he was the good friend, congratulating her on her new status, asking her how she felt. I
Inside was a storm......a storm of pain and jealousy and intense torture that threatened to overwhelm him.

When she asked him about his "Status," he told her he was waiting to be with the Girl he loved.
She told him that was the way to go and the girl he waited for would feel lucky to have him.
If she only knew.......

He sometimes laughed at the irony of his life. There he was, a handsome and intelligent young man
with a whole world of people to chose from, and he was stuck on the one young woman he could not
have. The one his heart desired.

His Only One.

So Life went on.

The two best friends stuck together through it all. His ephemeral relationships faded. Hers did too.
He watched her grow more cynical, less trusting and a bit colder.
Sometimes, he envied her. Being with other people. At least for awhile, she got to be with the ones she
cherished....and be with them.....in the special way of men and women.

She told him how grateful she was to have him as a friend.

He was funny, decent and genuinely cared about her. He was neither selfish nor conceited. He was using her words exactly.
The young man so longed to tell her.

One day she came to him, crestfallen. She was distraught after her latest boyfriend ran off with another girl. She had been seeing this guy for several months. The relationship was getting serious. Then he left.
A stunning betrayal that left the young woman shell-shocked. He had been building up his courage to
tell her.....to tell her how he truly felt. He had psyched himself about it, told himself this was best and that he was ready to deal with the consequences. He had almost no qualms about it. She deserved to know.
What she wanted to do about it was up to her.

Until he saw her, standing there. She looked so frail. A beautiful young woman in tears. He just went to her and held her. She practically collapsed in his arms. She sobbingly told him what was happening in her life. He then understood how wrong a time this was to bare his feelings. She had enough to bear now.
He still told her he had something to tell her. She looked at him with moist eyes. He felt his courage desert him like a cowardly pilgrim in the Crusades.

He just held her and told her everything was going to be okay. He told her how dumb this last fella was to let go of a great girl like her. Then he took her home and looked after her. He tucked her in and sat on the couch, thinking of all that had happened.

Maybe, someday, he would have the courage to tell her how he felt. If there were such things as Miracles
she might feel the same way.

Maybe.

In spite of all the insane things he had seen men and women do to each other, he hoped so. Sincerely.

The End.