Guardians Of Peace

Guardians Of Peace: Chapter 2

••••Emile••••

I love walking through the woods with Patris. We've walked all over the woods, found a cave, a creek. We even made a fort out of fallen tree limbs and leaves. Whenever Pat would get in trouble for fighting she'd run away and come to our fort, and I'd be the only one who could ever find her. She gets in fights a lot. Sometimes she fights over me, and I hate when she fights but...It kinda makes me feel special too.

She always makes me feel special. She listens to what I have to say and makes me laugh. Whenever I'm down on myself she tells me that I'm beautiful. Maybe it's because she's just a good friend, maybe it's more than that.

As we're walking through the woods I am thinking about all of this and smiling to myself.

"What's goin on in that head of yours Emm?" Patris calls over to me. She has a laid back kind of personality, with the exception of her fighting habit, she's a pretty chill girl. She has light brown skin and faded green eyes. Her hair is a brown curly bush. The birth mark on her neck is lighter than her skin color but not by much. It's small but not small enough to go unnoticed.
She's absolutely gorgeous, I have no idea why a girl like her would be best friends with a loser like me, she could be the most popular girl in town but she chooses to hang back in the corner talking to me.

"I'm just thinking about how happy I am that I have you as a friend, Pat." We make it to the fort and duck in.

It's actually pretty spacious. Since we made it five years ago we've made adjustments. Like major adjustments, more like a renovation than adjustments. Patris got some wood planks to add a little stability to the fort and draped a camouflage tarp over it. I helped with interior design by picking up random items I think would look nice. So far our fort has a old blue rug, a fixed-with-duct-tape bean bag chair, cheap battery operated, christmas lights and a staticky radio that only picks up classical music out here in the woods. I even brought out a few of my books and magazines. The fort was more like a second home then a childhood hide out. We took good care of it.

"Isn't it beautiful?" I ask looking in awe of the shack Patris and I made.

"Oh yeah, it's like the friggin Mariot," Patris jabs as she plops down in the bean bag and turns on the radio. Soon the space is filled with a fuzzy orchestra playing Beethoven, or was it Bach?

"OHHHHH this my jam!!" Exclaims Patris jokingly and she grabs my arm and pulls be down onto her lap. I love it when she does this. I love it when she holds me. I feel so safe in her arms. I lean back and enjoy the moment. I breathe in the smell of her. She smells like clean clothes fresh out of the dryer with just a little bit of sweat from the walk through the woods. I love her. I know it's wrong because she's a girl and my best friend but I do, I love her. I have for a while. I'm thinking about bringing it up when I hear a loud rustling noise outside.

"Emile, stay here." Her voice hard a steel as she jumps up.

"Patris it's probably just a squirrel that fell out of a tree or something." She turns back before leaving the fort and gives me a strong "I mean it" look, and she's gone.

I don't know why she always over reacts like this. Oh well, I can use the time to think about how I can express my feelings for her out loud without sounding stupid. I always think that maybe the feelings will go away. I've known since 6th grade that I like girls, but I've never told anyone. How could I? How could I let myself be judged that way? But it's time for my best friend to know... No more hiding. Depending on how she reacts to that I might even tell her about my feelings for her. Who knows? I'm feeling pretty optimistic when I hear a screeching sound, Patris told me to stay but what if she needs help? I decide to get up and investigate.