My Savage Love for You

The Friend Zone

Jason

♪ SAVAGE LOVE ♪

"Who could that be?" I wondered. It was almost 8 PM and I wasn't expecting any guests. I got up from my sofa and went to answer the door.

I opened the front door and met eyes with Penn. My eyes widened at how bad I was at avoiding him. I quickly racked my brain for a way to avoid the man who was literally at my doorstep.

"Hey, Jason," Penn started. "I'm sorry to show up unannounced like this, but I just found out about how Sierra confronted you this morning. I'm really sorry that she did that to you, Jason. She was way out of line," he explained.

"It's no big deal, Penn. I know that what Sierra did was out of good intentions for her relationship with you. I think she was just trying to protect what she cared about most. Anyway, are you okay? Do you wanna come inside for a drink? We can talk about it if you want."

"Yeah, that'd be nice, actually," Penn said with a smile.

I let Penn in and led him to my kitchen to quench his thirst. "What would you like?" I asked.

"I'll take some coconut water, please."

I pulled a coconut out of nowhere, stabbed a metal straw through the shell, and handed it to Penn. "So how are you feeling? It must've been startling to find out what Sierra did behind your back," I said, trying to be empathetic.

Penn said, "Yeah, I really thought I could trust her. I've known her since high school, and although we lost touch for a few years, I always remembered how kind and trustworthy she was. I never thought that she would do something like this, you know?"

"Yeah, I get what you mean. I used to have a friend in college who was such a great guy. He always had my back, but after graduation, we just stopped talking. I ran into him a few years later at a grocery store and he was yelling at an employee over something trivial. He seemed drunk or high too. It was so weird to see him like that, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that everyone goes through their own experiences. We all face the consequences of the choices we make which shape us to become the people we are. So, even though I may have seen an old friend being out of line, I bet that he had something going on in his life that made him feel that what he was doing was justifiable."

"I've never thought of it like that," Penn responded. He looked into my eyes with such admiration.

His eyes compelled me as his undereye bags somehow made him seem even more attractive under the dim lighting of my kitchen.

Penn broke the silence by saying with a smile, "That's such a unique perspective, Jason. I wish I could see the world the way that you do."

I looked down at the kitchen counter and blushed. I tried to change the topic by asking, "Anyway, do you think you'll forgive Sierra soon?"

"No, I'm going to end things with her," Penn sighed. "We haven't even dated for a week and this already happened. Being with her seems too messy," he added.

For the rest of the evening, Penn continued to confide in me. He went on about his relationship with Sierra in high school and how things unfolded during the past few days. The longer I listened, the more I understood that I was in the friend zone. There was no way that Penn would be confiding to me about his ex if he had feelings for me. I could feel my heart breaking slowly throughout the rest of the night.