• CHAPTER TWO •
Exactly when I started to fall for my best friend, I couldn't tell you. Maybe it started that day we met, when I looked into those blue eyes. Maybe it was a year later, in year six, when we were paired up for a history project, and the two of us spent close to a month together, going over to each other's houses and doing a lot more fooling around than actual work. Maybe it was in year seven, when Luke got his first girlfriend.
But I can tell you exactly when I realized it. It was the summer before year nine, and I was at the beach with my best friend Maddie Reynolds.
The sun had heated the sand to a blistering temperature, and as I carefully tread the surface with my flip flops, I randomly wondered if this was like the coal-walking initiation process.
"Why did we come to the beach, again?" I complained as the scorching hot sands invaded my toes.
"Because it's hot," she answered, starting to set up our beach area.
I flinched as I walked over a particularly hot area. "Yeah, that doesn't answer my question," I said, opening an umbrella and stabbing it into the sand. "It's burning out here. Cooler options would've been, oh, I don't know, somewhere inside with air conditioning?"
"The water is cooler," Maddie said smoothly, unfolding a couple of beach chairs.
I stared at her. "Maddie," I said slowly. "You don't go into the water."
Remember how I said that in year five, I was an absolute klutz? Nothing changed by the time I (almost) was in year nine. If anything, my clumsiness had managed to get worse.
Maddie, on the other hand, was an absolute princess, or a socialite, or something prim and proper. She was tall and thin, with big brown eyes and long, straight blonde hair. She always dressed fashionably, as opposed to my hobo-esque outfits. Somehow, we managed to get along really well; Maddie's composure making up for my glaring lack of poise.
So the fact that Maddie Reynolds was suggesting that we come to the beach because the water was cool was absolutely jaw-dropping.
I hastened to snap my mouth shut as she answered, "Silly, I'm not going in. Large bodies of water tend to be cooler than the inland. Don't you pay attention in class at all?" she asked. Along with being gorgeous and classy, Maddie was also a genius. How I ever managed to be friends with her is still beyond me.
I was about to make a smart answer when I heard my name behind me.
"Providence!"
I turned to see Luke jogging across the sand with a couple of his friends, barefoot and bare chested. He and his buddies were only wearing their swimming trunks.
"Hey!" I said, waving and walking over to meet him, desperately hoping I hadn't left some embarrassing glob of sun block somewhere.
But of course I did. As soon as Luke came over, he was laughing.
"Oh, god, what did I miss?" I asked, checking my arms, and he grinned.
"Just some sun block," he answered with a grin, brushing his thumb across my jaw, slowly rubbing it in.
"Hey, stop flirting!" one of Luke's friends, Calum, shouted.
Luke just rolled his eyes. "Right, mate," he called back, and then looked back at me, blue eyes glittering. His hair was still damp and sticky from the seawater, and I reached up and ruffled it.
"Someone needs sun block," I said, tapping his red nose.
He wrinkled his nose in response. "Ugh, sun block, I can go with a burnt nose, honest. Anything is better than sun block."
"Let me go get it," I said, turning and going back to snag the tube.
Meanwhile, Luke came over and started to talk to Maddie. His other friend, Michael, was already laying on the towel we'd spread beside the beach chairs.
"Hey, Michael," I said, and he looked up, giving me a grin.
"Hey, Prov!" Michael he greeted, and then swore loudly when Calum poured a handful of blistering sand onto his lap.
Laughing, Calum leaped out of the way as his victim jumped to his feet and smiled at me. "Hi Prov!"
"You're an idiot," I told him, laughing, and he shrugged.
"Naw, Mikey deserved that one," he disagreed. "He was being a jerk."
"Was not!" Mikey shot back, indignant. "It was you!"
"Hardly," Calum scoffed.
While the two of them were bantering, I glanced over at Luke and Maddie. They were right beside us, but they were talking quietly enough that I couldn't make out what they were saying. Luke had taken Michael's seat, sitting and chatting with Maddie, smiling.
I'd been jealous of Maddie loads of times for loads of reasons. But I'd never felt anything as strong as I felt right then.
Envious.
I fought to retain what little composure I had and turned away from my two best friends. "How'd you boys get here?" I asked Calum and Michael.
Michael shrugged. "Luke's mum dropped us off. We finished our maths early, and it's a Saturday."
"Plus, she wants to try and break Mikey's X-Box addiction," Calum whispered, and I laughed.
The rest of the beach trip, I was hardly able to enjoy myself. I spent most if it with Calum and Michael, who were both complete idiots but also loads of fun.
But I kept on seeing Maddie and Luke together, and I kept on feeling worse and worse, my stomach twisting and my heart thumping unevenly.
As soon as we were in the car on the way back home, I blurted out, "I think I like Luke."
And then I instantly felt horrible.
What kind of best friend does that? Who sees their best friend, who is smart, gorgeous and amazing, flirt with their other best friend, who is also smart, gorgeous and amazing, and tells her that she likes him? Why did I-
Maddie interrupted my internal screaming. "Really, Prov? It took you this long to figure that out?" she asked, sounding slightly mortified, as though it embarrassed her that I'd just realized my feelings.
For the second time, my mouth fell open. "Uh, yeah?"
She smiled at me. "Luke's cute, don't get me wrong, but he's yours," she said. "Quite frankly, he never appealed to me in that way."
So begins year nine. Fourteen years old, realizing I was falling for my best friend of three years.
I had only one class with Luke, but luckily, it was maths, and gave us more reasons to hang out. I'd accepted the fact that I had a crush on my best friend, but I was determined not to show it. Luke Hemmings would not be allowed to know that I liked him.
But if I had to go back, I would've told him what he meant to me. That he was starting to become more than just my best friend. To me, Luke was one of the most important people in my life.
Maybe if he'd known that, he wouldn't have walked away.
A/N
Hi! Thank you so much for reading! <3
Votes and comments are appreciated ! :)
Love you!
