𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐁𝐄𝐋𝐎𝐍𝐆 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐌𝐄 ( 𝐂𝐇𝐑𝐈𝐒 𝐒𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐎𝐋𝐎 )

𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘 𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐄

- BRIELLE

i always wondered what happened between ross and i. our moms were those best friends who wanted to have a kid at the same time so they could be best friends. they got their wish when ross and i were born exactly a week apart. i was the older out of the two of us.

from the moment we were born, ross and i were inseparable. we had so many plans of things we were going to do together through high school and even college. all of my earliest memories include him. hell, we were those friends who said we'd get married if we weren't by 40. 

later down the line, we met delilah in first grade and we were three peas in a pod. you never saw one of us without someone from our group. ross and i were always closer though. until we weren't.

it wasn't that he did anything bad that made us stop being friends. he just slowly stopped talking to delilah and i little by little. by december of freshman year, we talked through comments on instagram.

i'd never admit this to anyone but i still have the high school checklist we made in 8th grade. i remember it like it was yesterday

★・・・・・・★ FLASHBACK ★・・・・・・★

"i always hear things about friends not being friends anymore when high school starts. i don't want that to be us," ross said as he was going through his backpack.

i flopped onto his bed and sighed. it was a long day of standardized state tests at school. "that would never be us. our moms wouldn't allow it anyway." ross laughed and pulled a folder, piece of paper, and a pen out of his bag.

"i know, i know. but i was thinking more along the lines of a checklist. a whole bunch of things to do so our friendship always stays as fun." ross walked over to me sitting on his bed and clicked the pen. "any ideas?"

i sat up and hummed. "is this checklist for our friendship or is it to help you organize your quest to popularity?"

ross gave me a look and jokingly rolled his eyes. "you know i don't really care about that stuff. being popular would be a plus but it's not gonna matter at the end of high school."

"i know i'm just messing with you," i laughed and shook my head. "first order of business definitely has to be joining clubs and sports teams."

ross quickly wrote it down and drew a box next to it. "i'm gonna do football for sure but do you think i should try lacrosse?"

"yes! remember when we were playing it at dick's and you had perfect control and i couldn't even hold the ball?" i asked as i leaned over to look at the list.

"that's because you play a sport with your feet and have no hand-eye coordination." i looked at ross and shook my head. then, i snatched the list out of his hands.

"you have no hand-eye coordination," i gestured to his handwriting on the paper. "look at this chicken scratch!"

ross laughed and put his hands in the air. "sorry my handwriting isn't perfect like yours miss bender!"

i laughed too and started writing something else on the checklist. "my brother told me your sister was known for throwing the coolest parties. you should take over the throne since she's graduating this year."

"i like that idea but i'm not being cliche about it though. nothing like those guys in the movies you make me watch." ross shook his head and i giggled before drawing the box next to it.

"whatever you know you liked them!" ross opened his mouth up to deny but closed it again when i gave him a look. "what i thought. next order of business, we need to get our first kisses."

ross' jaw dropped. "we kissed before!" he placed a hand on his chest to look offended and i laughed. it was true. ross and i kissed just so we would know what to do if we had to do it with someone we actually liked. no romantic feelings. just friends helping each other out.

"ross, you know that it wasn't a real one," i said as a smile played on my lips. ross nodded and removed the hand from his chest.

"you can have your real first kiss with chris sturniolo," ross responded as he wiggled his fingers at me. i rolled my eyes. not this chris sturniolo talk again.

"he doesn't like me and he's said this multiple times in the lunch room. it's not gonna happen." i shook my head and flopped back on ross' bed.

"well he's lying but we can focus on that later. do you like him?" ross questioned as he leaned over me with a smirk on his face. i huffed and closed my eyes. 

"no ross. we don't even talk." ross grinned and moved from over me and picked up the piece of paper. "what are you writing?"

"you kissing chris sturniolo," ross replied with a shrug. i sat up and tried to take the paper from ross but he moved faster than me. i watched helplessly as he finished it off with the scribble of the square. "it's in ink now so you have to make it happen."

"i'm gonna kill you," i said as i brought my lips into a straight line. ross smiled at me and threw the pen at me.

"you'd never kill your best friend. besides, i'd kill you first." ross shrugged when he said the last statement and i knew he was trying to challenge me. i rolled my eyes and got up to tackle him. it was all fun though. he was my best friend and i never wanted to lose him.

★・・・・・・★・・・・・・★・・・・・・★

but i did that anyway. i lost him to reece evans before we even made it halfway through the year. it was fine though because i had plenty of other friends. i still missed him though. he understood me in a way that no one else really did.

that got me thinking. i need ot fix our friendship before the end of high school. we did go through most of the experience without one another, but we could finish it off strong. 

i needed to get him a birthday gift for that party. he didn't say it was a birthday party, but friday is his birthday. what kind of best friend would i be if i didn't? maybe this gift could start something other than our friendship again.

maybe all the girls are right.

VAL SPEAKS

little ross explanation. you guys are flaming ross but you guys low key might end up liking him you just have to see what i have in store for him.