How Cliche (Narry Storan)

How Cliche (Narry Storan) Part 5

I don't think I've ever seen get someone so dressed up for a movie as Chelsea.

Apparently to her, a movie date-even with your boyfriend's best friend tagging along-is something to get all dolled up for. She wore a dress. I wish I was joking about that. Her makeup was caked on, like always, but it seemed extra sparkly tonight. Her nails and hair were done expertly.

All throughout the movie, she kept whispering to Harry questions about lines she didn't understand or how gorgeous Colin Farrell was in a particular scene. On more than one occasion, I was one high pitched whisper away from getting up and walking home. But I stayed sitting because Harry was my ride home and home was far too long of a distance to walk, especially at night.

I found, after two hours, Chelsea could still talk a mile a minute. She talked all the way out of the theatre about random Colin Farrell facts and when we were dropping her off at her house, she talked about her analytical point of view of the movie's synopsis and how it wasn't nearly as bad as everyone said it was. Except she used words fit for a third grader. She talked to Harry all the way up her driveway while he walked her to her door and I climbed in the front of the car. She didn't even say goodbye because she was so busy chattering about something else.

Harry didn't seem fazed, though, and we drove out of her neighborhood in blissful silence. It stayed that way while we were on the highway. I snuck glances at him out of the corner of my eye, trying to scrutinize the slight smile still remaining on his face and the way his hands were so relaxed on the wheel. He looked fully focused on the road ahead of him but I knew his mind was still on Chelsea.

"Can we talk?" he suddenly asked, his gaze still forward.

I turned completely to him and stared for a couple seconds, admiring the way his face lit up each time we passed a streetlight. "Haz," I finally whined. "It's not going to be one of those heart-to-heart talks, is it?"

Harry smiled but continued facing forward. "Not quite," he answered. "I just want to let you know that whatever happens between Chelsea and I is not going to change anything between us. Okay? I won't let it. We're always going to be friends, no matter what."

I ignored the last part, however sentimental it may have been, and focused on the beginning. "What do you mean, 'whatever happens between Chelsea and I'?" I questioned, turning my attention to him once again.

He kept staring straight ahead, almost keeping the good driver thing too well and tightened his grip on the steering well. He shrugged. "I don't know, things are getting kind of serious between us. I think she may be the one," he said quietly.

She: aim...

May be: click...

The one: bang.

"Th-the one?" I repeated just as quietly. "You're in high school, Haz," I reminded him. "Are you absolutely positively sure?"

Harry shrugged again, now grinning. "Hey, there've been people who have stuck with their boyfriends or girlfriends from high school." I bit my lip and looked towards the window. "Like my second cousin," he started when I didn't reply.

"Your second cousin is divorced," I pointed out coldly. "Twice."

"Okay, so that wasn't a good example..." he sighed. "The point I'm trying to make is that I really, really like Chelsea and I'm pretty sure she likes me too. No, I'm positive she likes me back. And I just want to make sure you know that I don't want to trade you in for her because you're my best friend, Niall, and I'm not going to lose that just because I have a girlfriend."

"Yeah, sure," I responded quietly, still staring out the window. I noticed the scenery start to change. We were no longer on the freeway but driving through town. We passed my house and then Harry's. "Where are we going?" I asked, not because it actually mattered but because I couldn't stand the silence any longer.

"It's obvious you don't believe me," he stated.

I didn't say anything; just let him drive because it was true. We passed the diner and the mall where every kid who thought they were better than us hung out. We passed the school and the grocery store with the adjoining pharmacy. He kept driving over the rickety bridge that they fixed once but never bothered to touch again. He kept driving over the train tracks but pulled into the space before the road turned back to tar from gravel.

He parked the car before a line of trees that hid the bridge from anyone's line of vision that would be driving on the road past the train tracks. Without saying anything, we both got out of the car. I didn't know what we were doing here, but we'd been here plenty of times before. If we weren't at the diner playing pinball, we were at the bridge, tossing rocks into the water below. We were safe there, considering hardly any cars drove by.

Harry leaned over the rusted green metal of the bridge and rested his chin on it. I stood beside him and let my arms hang suspended in the air. "I know this is going to be a stupid question," he started, straightening his posture a little. "But if I were to jump off this bridge, would you jump in as well to save me?"

"Of course," I answered immediately. "Do you even need to ask?"

I saw him smile when he leaned down to pick up a stone from the edge of the bridge. "You see," he began, coming back up and tossing the rock from hand to hand. "Sometimes I like to think you wouldn't. Sometimes I like to think you'd just stand here and watch me fall to my death."

"Hazza, I wouldn't-" I tried to interrupt, but he just kept going.

"Sometimes I like to think you don't care as much as I know you do. And don't take that the wrong way. You're my best friend and I love you. But...it all came kind of too easily, you know? We've been best friends for as long as I can remember and I didn't have to work for your friendship. I didn't have to gradually get to know you, I just remember us always being like this." He paused and tossed the stone into the rushing water below us.

"With Chelsea," he started again. "I had to work for it. And it felt gratifying once I finally had her. I didn't really tell you this, but I'd been talking to her for months before I...finally called you to come meet her...once we'd finally gotten together."

My heart sank. He really did like her as much as he said he did. I was holding onto that last bit of hope that maybe he was in denial over something but that last shred of optimism sank to the bottom of the river along with the stone that Harry had thrown. And now not only did my chest hurt from jealousy and the realization that I was wrong, but there was the added pain of the thought that Harry lied to me.

Harry sighed and patted the ledge of the bridge. "You ready to go home?"

I nodded and followed him back to the car. I had gotten so well at ignoring those pangs of jealousy but right now, it was hitting me at full force and I couldn't block it out no matter how hard I tried.