short stories

Are We Still Friends? - Tyler The Creator (Mark Estapa)

Best friends. That's what I was called my whole life. Always the best friend, never the lover.

     The night I kissed Mark was the biggest mistake of my life. We had gone out that Friday night like we normally do. This time it felt different though. He had told me to dress "fancy" whatever that meant. He picked me up, dressed in his cute little tux, waiting with a nice bouquet of flowers. Tulips. My favorite. He acted like a gentleman the whole night. After dinner we went to the playground right outside the school we had met at 12 years earlier.

"Hi," I say to the blonde-haired boy standing next to me in the aisle of the library.

"What do you want?" He replies.

"Can you reach this book for me? It's too high for me to reach."

"Ha no." He says as he walks away.

   Surprised at what he said, I just stood there contemplating my next move. I was so deep in thought I didn't realize someone was holding the book directly in front of me.

"Here." The brown haired boy in front of me says.

"Thank you so much." I say.

"I'm Mark by the way"

"Samantha or Sam whichever you want."

"Well, Sammie. I have to go but if you ever need anything up high you know who to call."

    Sat on the grass with his head in my lap, playing with his hair, we talked about anything and everything that came to our mind. The conversation started to fizzle out. After a bit, the conversation became one sided. I just kept talking and talking, not realizing that mark had stopped. Once I had realized, I turned my head down to look at him. He was looking at me. Studying me.

"What?" I say.

"I love you." Mark blurts out.

"I love you too mark." I say.

Being friends for as long as we have, we say I love you all the time.

"No... I mean I love you Sammie..... I'm in love with you. I have for the longest time."

"I-"

    My stupid brain couldn't think, so my heart did. I leaned in and kissed him. The kiss was long and passionate, both us not daring to pull apart too scared that it would be a lie.

"Be my girlfriend Sammie?"

I nod. Kissing him again and again.

       I was so naïve thinking that everything would work out. Our time as a couple was too good to be true. We both got accepted into our dream schools, Mark's being the University of Michigan, and mine being Notre Dame. I thought we could make it work, I was willing to fight for us and make it work. Mark not so much. At least that's what I thought. 3 months into our newly formed long distance relationship, Mark called it quits. He said that it was too hard. It broke my heart, but I agreed. Balancing sports, school and a relationship was too hard for us. We both needed each other's support, something the distance didn't allow us to do.

      We both agreed to still be friends. Can we be friends? Still needing each other in one another's life. We would spend countless nights talking and texting. Trying to keep this friendship alive. Weeks turned into months, the talking and texting became non-existent. Without even noticing, I had lost my best friend.... Forever.

Mark <3

Sammie: Are we still friends?

This text was not able to be sent.