When.

Chapter 1

"Come over." I say into my cell phone.

"Why?"

"Because I'm bored."

There's a pause on the other side of the line. Matt sighs.

"Okay."

I smile and hang up the phone.

I walk over to my window and open it as wide as it will go. I look to the house next door, Matt's house. His light is on, meaning he hasn't left yet.

I stand at the open window, letting the cool Texas night air blow into me, listening to the crickets chirp. But mostly waiting for Matt.

I don't think I appreciated it that much then. That had been my whole life, looking through a window and waiting. I was always waiting. It isn't even that waiting is bad, because it isn't, not in every aspect. It's good to be patient, it's just when you spend so much time waiting that you forget to appreciate what's happening to you right now.

What I mean is, I wasn't really feeling the warm air on my skin, or listening to the crickets. I wasn't watching the fireflies, or taking a moment to look up at the stars and think that out of every planet orbiting every star in every solar system in every galaxy in the entire universe, I am here, and I was somehow granted the miracle of being alive.

I wasn't thinking about that. I was waiting.

Matt shows up in my backyard a few minutes later. He climbs in through the window and falls onto my floor.

He gets up and brushes himself off. I'm sitting on my bed, leaning against the wall. He sits down at the end of my bed.

"You're bored?"

"Yes. I can't sleep. I have a headache."

"Of course." Matt says, shaking his head.

I was getting a lot of headaches. I didn't make much of it. It was stress, from school. It was my senior year, and I was trying to choose a school and get good grades and prepare for my future. I was stressed out. It made sense.

Matts leaves my room and comes back with some Advil and a glass of water. I smile and thank him.

This was how it had always been with Matt and I. We grew up together, and we had been best friends for as long as I could remember. We cared about each other, a lot, and we understood each other. It was nice. It was the kind of friendship that everyone needs, but most people never get the chance to have.

But it was more than just that; Matt was more than just a friend. I don't mean that we were romantically involved in any way, but I wouldn't say that he was just a friend, because he wasn't. He was so much more than that. Our friendship was personal, like a promise, a secret pact that we had with each other. Although, I didn't think about it that much then. And I guess, on some level, I didn't need to. It just came naturally. We never talked about it, we just let it happen. And we were so in tune with each other that it all fell perfectly into place.

"Are you going to the church thing on Saturday?" I ask.

"Probably not. Are you?"

"Of course." I say, shrugging my shoulders, "You should come. It'll be boring without you."

Matt takes a moment to think before answering.

"Fine, I'll come."

"Thank you."

My mom worked at the church, organizing events and stuff like that, which meant that I had to go to every single event there. I didn't really mind the actual events; I wanted to be there to support my mom, and it wasn't like they were terrible or anything, it was just better when Matt was there. Most things were better when Matt was there.