What I'd do for Love

Justin

The day everything went to shit was meant to be the happiest day of my life. After all, it's not every day that one of your best friends confesses their feelings to a close one. I still remember it as if it only recently happened. All of it is... fuzzy but clear. One of my closest friends Red (Nicknamed for his anger) had been holding his feelings in for quite a while, and he decided to tell his crush. Poor girl, never even saw it coming. Didn't even have a chance to run. I was extremely happy at the time, as my man had finally stepped up to move towards her. She was oblivious. Completely. Until he took her under the Tree and poured his heart out to her. I stood a while back, waiting, smiling, and I had a tear in my eye. This was something he really wanted after all. I saw him becoming serious, moving, telling, making sure she was listening, and trying to explain what his feelings were. She... she didn't look ecstatic, but she was slightly happy. He didn't seem to notice, still pouring out his heart to her. Only I started to notice that I wasn't the only one who was watching. Turns out, a couple of others were, and they were I suppose 'egging him on' as they say. I just hoped his attention was focused on her and not them. She started to smile a little wider. Lean in, become more absorbed. He stopped and just stared at her. They embraced, slightly awkward, and split.

Red came over to me, shaking but really happy.  "You finally did it!" I told him. "Yeah, I did, I just... I didn't think she'd be happy, she was always... such a good friend and I thought, I thought nothing would change, nothing would develop, it would just be the same as it was. Thank you, so much" He looked at me for a sec
"You saw all of that didn't you?"
"Yep" I said without even blinking. "Did you hear any of it?"
"No, of course not, that's why I'm here!"
"Ah, good. It got serious. She asked me all sorts of questions, and she was always looking directly at me, without even phasing"
"You were confessing something quite serious though"
"That's true. I suppose I wasn't as serious as I could've been"
"You've got a while to tell me before we split, c'mon" I said moving towards the front gate.
"Yeah, that's true" Red said before moving towards the gate with me.

Most of the people had left. Only a few straggling people remained, either alone or waiting for a friend in detention. Both were common at our school these days. We crossed out of the gate without a single problem, and stood by the side of the road, checking if everyone was still there, waiting like good friends. They'd gone.
"For gods sake..." Red murmured to me as I turned to leave
"It's alright, at least you still got what you wanted, eh?" I nudged him
"Hey! She said she'd think about it anyway, so leave!" He bugged me a bit harder, causing me to stumble slightly. The guy was smaller than me, but he did have some strength. Casual haircut, with a fair bit over his head and a fair bit on the very top. He wore the standard shirt, as everyone should, but his blazer hung over his shoulder. His tie was undone and tucked into his pocket. His trousers were muddy, as always. Being a rough kid does that. As I said, he does have a short fuse, but he's a great person to be around and can always make me laugh
"Your kidding yourself. She'd love to have you, anyone would!" I had to raise his self-confidence level. Clearly it was lower than my hopes for the future.
"I'm not too sure..." he stared back into the direction of The Tree, as if he wanted to go back, say a few more things, clear everything up. I wish he did. It was his only chance:
He wouldn't live to see another.

We finally made it all the way up the road, laughing and joking as usual. We were always that little bit closer to each other than everyone else. It was the only reason I found out about his feelings. He swore to me he'd kill me if he ever found out I told anyone. I'm not the type to spread rumours anyway. I was happy he thought about telling me, as I'm sure the whole situation would've cracked him if not.

At this point, I had to split from him, and diverge to my house. I'd meet him every morning and walk up to meet everyone else in our little group. I guess you could say we were the centre of it, not to brag. I really did care for him though, which was why I waited for him. I could've left him with the others, but I really cared how he was. What can I say, apart from I'm a good friend. At least I thought I was.
"I'll catch you same place, yeah?" Red said as he carried on straight.
"Yeah, of course. Call me if you need something, obviously!" I called back as I split to the left towards my house. Going into my pocket, I found my headphones, and put them in. Smart things, they register when they're in my  ears so they know when to start playing. Thinking back, 'Another one bites the dust' should've been my warning. I didn't take it, and I carried on walking, singing without a care in the world.