Short Love Stories

The Duet

"Best friends?"

"Forever!" the young bright-eyed girl exclaimed eagerly.

"You have to promise," the dark-haired youth told the girl in his most serious voice.

"Pinky swear!" the girl piped, and she stuck her pinky out to the boy. She could hardly contain her enthusiasm as they locked pinkies, sealing their promise. "Are we best friends now?" she asked in a whisper, looking up at the boy with wide, hopeful eyes.

"Yes, I think so," he replied after a few seconds of deliberation, and she quickly beamed, the excitement shown on her face. "But remember," the boy began solemnly, with narrowed eyes. "You promised, okay?"

She nodded vigorously and quickly scrambled to her feet when the boy began to stand. "Where are you going?" she asked, her voice betraying her uncertainty. Her brown eyes were round and dubious, watching him. The boy smiled at her and then he held out his hand.

"With you," he replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Best friend," he added, when she had taken his hand and stood beside him. They grinned at each other and then the two six year olds took off running and laughing together.

...

"Cookie?"

The dark-headed boy looked up from his homework to find a big chocolate chip cookie in his field of vision. He did not have to look further up to know that the cookie was sitting on the hand of his best friend; the purple bracelet on her wrist was obvious enough. He took the cookie and then gave her a grin before taking a bite out of it.

"Mmm," he said, as he chewed. A pleased smile appeared on her face, and her cheeks flushed lightly. "What a"—the boy glanced down at his homework paper—"scrumptious cookie. Very chewy. Thanks Lily."

The girl let out a small laugh and then aimed a playful jab at his arm. "Nerd," she told him teasingly. She peered at the papers sitting on his lap. "What is that, the spelling homework?" They were in middle school now, and their sixth grade Language Arts teacher still handed out spelling words for the class to write, define, and use in sentences.

"Yup," he responded, breaking off a piece of the cookie and stuffing it inside his mouth. "Almost done. What about you?"

"Already finished it," Lily replied smugly.

"Oh, look who the nerd is now." She stuck her tongue out at him and the pair laughed again.

"Do you need some help?" she asked, taking a seat beside him on the wooden floor of their tree house. Even though the tree sat in Lily's backyard, its gigantic mass of foliage towered over both sides of the fence, allowing the two to claim equal ownership. They even had their own entrance with a rope ladder on either side.

"Yes, please." He ate the last bit of his cookie before picking up his pencil. "I need help on the math."

"Oh, that was easy," she remarked. "What part did you not get?"

"Everything," he answered, and she gave him a funny look. "What? At least I tried to do some of it."

With a sigh, she took the homework from him. "Brian, how will you ever survive without me?"

"Does that mean you will help?"

"Unfortunately, yes. You need lots of it."

"Thank you, thank you!" he exclaimed happily. "You are the best."

"Whatever you say," she replied, the corners of her mouth twitching as she fought a smile. "Either way, you probably would have just ended up copying me, like usual."

He laughed lightly. "Hey, I do not always copy you," he said defensively. With a sheepish grin, he added, "At least, not all the time."

"Ha, right," she retorted. "Okay, how about we start with the fractions?"

"Is that what we were doing in math?"

"Do you ever pay attention?"

"Sometimes," he responded, picking at his shoelace. "Mostly I just doodle when I get bored."

"Which I see is often," she said, wrinkling her nose. Lily tucked a strand of her long dark red hair behind her ear. "Anyways, as I was saying, fractions."

He let out a half-hearted cheer that Lily ignored; instead, she began to talk about the method of converting decimals, percentages, and fractions while Brian vaguely listened. "Hey, have you seen that new show on Nickelodeon?" he suddenly interrupted, and she made a face.

"Really? In the middle of me helping you with your homework?"

"Okay, sorry, off topic," he quickly said. "Continue."

A slight frown appeared. "Fine, but you have to pay attention. I can leave, you know."

He nodded. "No, no," he hastily said. "I'll pay attention, sorry."

"Okay," she said, sounding slightly uneasy. She started her explanation again and this time Brian paid attention. Anytime Lily would look up and meet his green eyes, she would stumble over her words and have to focus on the wall just to regain concentration. If their arms brushed by each other, she would feel her cheeks warm and a bomb go off in her insides.

"So...do you get it a little better now?" she asked, later when she had finished explaining and he had completed his homework.

"Yes! Thanks a million," he said gratefully, and she smiled. Brian began to stow his things inside his gray backpack while Lily played with the bracelet on her wrist. It was frayed and knotted, and it had not left her wrist since he had tied it on a year ago. Brian stood up and offered her a hand. "You know, I am so lucky to have you," he told her once they were both standing. "Seriously. Thank you." Lily blushed deeply and felt her heart thump a little faster.

"Oh, it was nothing," she quickly dismissed, looking away from the boy she had had a crush on for the past four years. "That's what friends are for."