Times running out (a Bret Von Dehl love story)

Chapter 7

Phoenix's Point Of View:
I lay in my bunk, thinking of my mixed up emotions.

When was the last time I felt this way?

Oh right. High school.

I remember it all so vividly, every minute of it.

His name was Kyler, and he was a senior. At the time I was a freshman, so naturally I was ecstatic when he said I was beautiful and that we should hang out sometime.

It was wonderful, we went out for the full school year. On the last day of school, one of my senior friends was throwing a graduation party at her house, and she invited me.

Kyler had no clue i'd be there, so when I walked in he was surprised, but not half as surprised as me. He was there with a girl, a girl that at the time I didn't know. Naomi.

I walked up to him and asked what the hell he was doing getting all fucking mushy with some random chick an Naomi gave him a horrified look.

"Kyler, who is she?" Naomi had asked.

"N-nobody!" he stammered.

"NOBODY?" I shrieked. "So I suppose you've been going out with nobody since October? You asshole." I dumped ranch dip down his shirt and left.

Naomi followed.

She ran after me through the streets and found me in the park by a big oak tree.

"HEY." She called out.

She ran up to me, panting.

"I'm Naomi."

Even though eyeliner was running down her pale face, she managed to smile lightly.

"Phoenix-Lynn." I said, I laughed a bit because of how odd her course of action had been. My laugh was lightly garbled on account of my own tears.

There was a brief silence.

"So this you know what this means, right?" she asked.

"No, what?"

"Well I figure now that stupid Kyler has run me over, the only person who'll get it is you." Naomi explained.
"You seem so great, I've seen you around school and you seem like a really cool person. You don't deserve not to have a friend right now."

So Naomi hugged me.

I needed a hug so bad, and of all people, it was a total stranger that had given me one. Not my friends, not my family, just someone who cared.

After that Naomi and I became so close.

We told each other everything, and we helped each other out.

After my first love had been massively fucked up, I opted not to date again for a while for fear of repetition, but Naomi's view was opposite.

She just had to have a boyfriend because otherwise she didn't feel safe, the problem was that she would rush into it constantly without taking the time to see if she liked them, and that resulted in so so many break ups.

That was life for us until senior year.

Naomi and I had just become roomies. We had the coolest apartment! I remember how everything went down.

It had been 2 weeks since we had moved in. I had yet to unpack my books, so they were still in a box in my corner.

I decided to be productive while Naomi was out and unpack so I began.

No sooner had I put "The Outsiders" on my shelf than I heard the door fly open and then crash closed.

"NIX! NIX!" Naomi screamed.

I ran in with a bible I was given as a gift from my parents (even though they know I'm an atheist) to smack whatever was potentially scaring Naomi.

"WHAT?!" I yelled back with panic.

"I JUST MET A DUDE!" She said emphatically.

I exhaled deeply and put the mammoth book on the coffee table.

"Oh." I replied.

"He's not an 'oh' guy, he's a 'HOLY MOTHER OF FUCK' guy." Said Naomi, flailing her arms with grand gestures while flopping on to the couch.

"So what's this 'HOLY MOTHER OF FUCK' guy's name?" I asked with a chuckle and a raised eyebrow.

"Bret!" she grinned. "He works at the hot topic at the mall!"

"I see, did you ask him out?" I laughed.

"Yessss... and he turned me down." she said.

I made a mock shocked face.

"But only because he said he didn't know the first thing about me!" she added. "So my plan is just to go back there until he knows all he wants to know!"

I sighed again. "Why are you so set on Bret-from-hottopic-guy?"

Naomi's mouth curled upwards lightly, which is what she does when she's really happy but also thinking really hard.

"I dunno Nix, it was something about how he didn't just say yes cos he felt like it or because he thought I was good looking. He actually wanted to know more about me than my name to go out with me."

I smiled lightly. "Go for it!"

She did go back there every day, and she got what she wanted.

Those two did start going out, and they started off happy, but all the time, more and more, it sounded like Naomi was starting to treat him like one of her 'I have you here cause I'm dependant' boyfriends, instead of treating him like he was different how she said in the beginning.

She started being clingy and had him buy her stuff and he never did come over to the house, and above all else she never discussed her friends, she didn't let him in her personal life like someone did when they really cared. But Dakota would tell me whatever Bret told her about their dates.

It was always that he was bored, or that he felt more like a babysitter than a boyfriend or that they had no common interests, but that he stayed because he knew she needed her.

Bret sounded a lot like me, and I was sad we never met, he sounded so so nice, and I really thought Naomi would change and start treating him like the amazing guy he was... but that wasn't the case.

It was 5 days before their 1 year anniversary, I heard her sobs as she slammed the door shut harder than I had ever heard.

"NAOMI!? Are you hurt!?" I ran in and looked at her. She looked just like she had that night Kyler hurt us, but this time she did not smile.

"Bret..." she whispered. That was all she had to say.

I sat her on the couch and wrapped a blanket over her shoulders.

I made her a mug of hot cocoa and switched on Family Guy, and we watched until 2a.m.,

"It's gonna be okay." I whispered to her.

"He was different... I don't think I'm going to get over it."

I snapped back to real life, torn from my memories, as Naomi walked in.

"Hey Phoenix! We're going to a party!' She smiled a warm smile.

Yes, I was probably going to fall in love with Bret Von Dehl and I knew I would be lying to myself if I said that he was just another ex... but I couldn't stop how I felt. I knew it'd hurt Naomi, but she was getting over it now!

She had so toned it down, right?

All that mattered for now was that Naomi was okay and so was I. We were friends. Whether or not boys came into our lives, we would stay that way, I knew it.

I knew, because she would get it. She knew love was love. If anybody would it was her, and she took pride in it.

THAT was why Naomi Stillwell was my best friend.