-TO FORGET A LOVE-

"I betcha won't."

We had known each other for ages. And just as we were when we were kids, we held each other's hand in the late afternoon sun, waiting for the next day to sweep us off of our feet.

Dacen was someone I knew since I was a kid. Though, as almost college students, we called each other different names. "Dac" was what he went by, because no one could pronounce his first name. And in return, he often referred to me as just "Jay". I hated my first name, and he respected it.

We grew up together, we went through puberty together, we struggled through middle school and high school. When his parents finally divorced in 8th grade, he came to me. And I did the same when I couldn't deal with the stressors of my siblings.  So much had glued us together, it was impossible to imagine us apart.

As a child, Dacen was shy, and not really a person who was outspoken. I, on the other hand, was a very curious and nosy child. I couldn't understand how he didnt find everything interesting.
His parents...weren't the best, and maybe that's why he was over at my house as often as he was.

I remember that for a while, he had followed me around like a lost puppy, clinging to my sleeve, tears in his eyes almost all the time. It was odd to see him like this, seeing as most kids strayed from my loud and outspoken personality.

But as we grew, I couldn't understand what this feeling was. This odd pounding in my chest everytime I saw him, the way my face heated when he smiled at me. We grew close regardless of our separate home lives.

He was much more talkative now, always biting back with a sarcastic response. I, on the other hand, was not the smartest when it came to...anything. My social awareness was ass, and no matter how many times a girl came up to me, a blushing mess and asking to hang out, I almost always turned them away. Dac always said I was heartless about it.

I didn't think so. I didn't know any of their names, so why would I want to hang out with any of them, much less go out with them.

There was this one time that Dac asked me to hang out. I think that was when I knew.

It was the middle of the night, and a storm ragged on outside. I was left at home alone with just my two older siblings, because none of us wanted to go to "Parleys Purple Palace" for the weekend, where my parents and two younger sisters were.

Instead we stayed at home, the house was ours until Sunday afternoon.

It was almost 12 am when a knock sounded on the door. Both my sibling and my brother were up in their own rooms, and I had gone downstairs for food. The knock sounded again, more hurried this time.

I walked cautiously over to the door, the rain still pounding onto the glass of the windows. Peering into the little peep hole, I flicked on the porch light to see Dacen, his form shaken, black hair stuck to his face in clumps, his pale arms wrapped around himself.

I quickly unlocked the door, then stood face to face with my best friend. His eyes were red, as if he was crying like he used to. His knuckles were busted and blushed, cuts littering his hands. His gaze averted mine, as if wishing not to meet it. His eye was black and bruised, as if someone had hit him.

"Hey, c-could we hang out?" He forced a smile, and looked up at me then. His eyes were the same hazel they had always been, but in that moment they were broken and scared. I didn't know what else to do besides hug him.

I rushed towards him and wrapped my arms around his heaving chest, pulling his frame into my own. He sobbed then. Heart wrenching sobs pulsing into my body. I pulled him out of the rain, his wet clothes dripping onto the carpet.

Behind me, my sibling stood on the stairs, Dac still held in my arms, his face pushed into the crook of my neck.

They winked and rushed back up to their room to gossip about it with my brother. I think they knew before I did.