Girlfriend's Best Friend

Chapter 13

            “Guys, Brooke fell asleep on me,” I said to them ten minutes into the movie we started.

            Mattie and Jace subtly rolled their eyes at each other. “Guys, it’s not like I wanted her to.”

            “You’re so into her,” Mattie said.

            “That’s why I’ve been dating Kelli for four months…”

            “You flirt with her all the time, bro,” Graham said.

            “I flirt with everyone,” I said conceitedly, pulling Brooke in closer to me. “Just because it works doesn’t mean I like them.”

            “So you don’t mind leading Brooke on then?” Jace asked. I knew what else he was referring to.

            “I don’t lead her on. But it’s not like Brooke’s never led anyone on,” I said back, referring to how overly upset he got out of all the other guys when they found out she had hooked up with all of them.

            “Bro…” Carter looked at me, shaking his head to let me know I was wrong.

            “Let’s go get food,” Jace said quietly, getting up from the couch, the other guys following him. “Jace, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it,” I said to him.

            “It’s fine. We’ll bring you back something,” he said. I felt so bad being mean to Jace, because he was the nicest guy out of all of us. Brooke had really broken his heart and he cried to us about it. Even though he claims he’s over her, none of us believe him.

            I heard some soft cries and looked down, realizing it was Brooke, crying in her sleep. “Brooke,” I nudged her. “Brooke, you have to wake up.”

            She woke up and shot up immediately when she realized no one else was around, and that it was just the two of us cuddling. I explained that they went to get food and told her, “I woke you up because you were crying in your sleep, is everything alright?”

            “I was crying?” she avoided my question.

            “Brooke, what’s wrong?” I said sadly. I hated seeing her like this when I knew how happy she used to be.

            “Nothing,” she forced a smile on her face.

            “You’re not the same. You’re not that same bright and smiley girl that Carter and I called over four months ago. You used to laugh so loud and happily, and now it seems forced and fake. You used to be so carefree. Now it seems like you’re always watching out for something. You were always so happy, and it’s so obvious that you’re not anymore,” I said. “What happened to you?”

              She looked down sadly, contemplating if she wanted to tell me or not. The three inch scar on her jawline stood out clearly, and no matter how many times I’d tried to figure out how she got it, I just couldn’t piece it together.

            “Nothing happened,” she said after a moment. “I’ve always been this way. I guess I’ve just gotten tired of pretending to be okay.” I could see a thin layer of tears forming over her crystal blue eyes, but she was too proud to let them fall.

            “How were you able to act okay before?” I asked. I could tell she didn’t want to say this to me, but she truthfully told me that it was because of Kelli, but Kelli isn’t there for her anymore because she’s happy now, and that she felt like she was bringing Kelli down.

            “She’s supposed to be your best friend,” I was getting tired of the shit between them. “Regardless of if she’s happy or not, she’s supposed to be there for you. Is it my fault that she started acting like this?”

            She said it wasn’t, but ever since I started dating Kelli she’s been acting differently. Then, perfect, gorgeous, popular, everyone-wants-to-be-me Brooke, admitted something that no one would ever expect from her—she was lonely.

            “Brooke, you should never feel alone. You’ll always have us,” I tried to console her, pushing some hair out of her face.

            “Kelli said I’d always have her and look at us now. We barely talk,” she said.

            “The guys never shut up about you. Even when you messed up and lead them all on. Yeah they’ve moved on to other girls but if those girls knew what they still say about you, they’d ditch them in a second. It’s hard for Kelli. She knows that those guys aren’t as in to her as they are to you. You’re both beautiful, but guys take more of an interest in you. She’s getting tired of not being able to match up to you,” I tried to explain to her.

            “So that gives her the right to all of a sudden be a shitty friend?” she asked harshly.

            “No. But you have to understand where she’s coming from,” I tried to reason with her.

            “You’re right. Kelli’s the victim here. Poor Kelli, forget about Brooke, she’s pretty so she has no problems,” she started to get up. She was acting like a bitch and not listening to what I was saying—that’s not what I meant at all.

            “That’s not what I said! There’s a lot about Kelli that you don’t know,” I grabbed her arm and pulled her back down.

            “Kelli’s been my best friend since fourth grade, of course I know her,” she said. She was obviously annoyed, but I couldn’t help but notice how beautiful she was. Her eyes weren’t dull at the moment like how they’d been for a while. She wasn’t happy, but her anger provided some emotion. I’d made her feel something. I had to keep it going.

            “Then you’d know the reason she’s so jealous of you is because she found out I liked you before I liked her. Like, liked you.”