z a n d e r *
"Riley? Are you even listening?" Asks my best friend Riley's girlfriend, Sarah, while she's babbling on about something--maybe prom? I don't know, I wasn't really listening either--while we're sitting in the empty lunchroom after school.
I resist the urge to snort. "Yeah, yeah, sure, whatever," he says.
She scoffs. "Look at me when I'm talking to you!"
If you hadn't guessed, she possessive and I hate her. My best friend deserves so much better than her, but I don't think he has the nerve to drop her. I've offered to break up with her for him but he always says that won't end well, which, okay, maybe he has a point, but at least she'd be gone.
"Sorry," he mumbles. "Sarah, we need to talk."
Whoa. Is this actually happening now?
"Is everything okay?" Sarah asks, her demeanor changing immediately.
"Yes," he says to her. It's as if he forgets that I'm there.
"So, you know how we were supposed to go out tonight?" Riley asks her.
"Yeah?" Sarah asks. "Are we going shopping? Somewhere fancy for dinner?"
"You can, I'm not."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It's supposed to mean that I'm going over to Zander's house, so I can hang out with him because he's my best friend."
"When will our date be then?"
"You mean your date."
"I--I don't understand." Is she really that stupid? I think to myself, mentally facepalming and fighting the urge to laugh hysterically.
"Why? It's not that hard. It means I think it's time we move on."
"Move on from what? Going on dates?"
"Do I have to spell it out for you?" Riley asks and I can tell he secretly wants to laugh.
"Might help," I mutter.
Sarah whips around to me. "You can shut up!" she snarls at me.
"Don't talk to him like that!" Riley snarls at her.
"He insulted me!"
"Like it's hard?" Riley sasses and Sarah's mouth hangs open.
"Look at me, and read my lips," Riley says slowly. "This--me and you--is done. We are done. You are not my girlfriend, you are my ex-girlfriend. I am not your boyfriend or friend, I am your ex-boyfriend and I would like if you never talked to me again."
"WHAT?!" Sarah says, trying to fake cry. "What did I do?"
"What do you mean, 'what did I do'? Let's see, you harrassed my friends, you harassed me, you were overly possessive, to the point it was controlling, frankly, you're not a very likable person, and you never treated him nicely." Riley points at me when he says 'him'; why am I being dragged into this???
"What does he have to do with this?" Sarah snaps.
"He is my best friend, Sarah! I was always nice to your friends, and you treat mine, especially my best friend, like trash!"
"Well I'm not dating him, I'm dating you!"
"Correction: you were dating me, now you're not. And, you really don't get it, do you?"
He turns to me and pulls me to my feet, pressing his lips against mine softly. When he pulls away a few seconds, he turns to look at Sarah.
"Get that! We're done." He tells her and then walks out of the building. I stand there, rooted to my spot not knowing exactly what just happened. When I finally remember how to move my feet and go outside to find Riley, he's gone. I pull out my phone and text him.
me- where did you go???
Ry- I left
me- where did you go though?
Ry- 🤫
me- that's not fair haha
me- I wanted to talk to you
Ry- 'bout what?
me- well I didn't want to say it over text
Ry- just go home
Ry- I'll come over later, k?
me- okay
Feeling slightly put off by Riley's responses, I head to my car so I can drive home. When I pull in my driveway, there is a singular balloon tied to the mailbox. I look at them confusedly: did I forget one my sister's birthdays?? I check the date to find that neither of their birthdays is for at least another month. Feeling even weirder, I get my stuff and go inside my house.
"Mom? Why is there a balloon tied to the mailbox?" I ask once I've shut the front door.
"You'll see," Mom tells me simply. I look to my sisters, who are sitting at the kitchen table. My older sister, Paige, who is in college but still lives at home, shrugs, but my little sister, Hailee, smiles slyly.
"YOU!" I say pointing my finger at Hailee. "You know! What's going on?"
She puts a finger to her lips. "I can't say, I'm sworn to secrecy," she says and I scoff.
"That's not fair!"
"Just shut up and be surprised!" Mom shouts from down the hallway.
I take my stuff to my bedroom and then go back to the kitchen with my mom and sisters. At around 8:30 PM that evening, when it's dark, the doorbell rings. I'm confused, but mom and my sisters seem to know what's going on.
"I'll get it!" Mom says in an overly excited, sing-songy, kind of rehearsed voice. The kind of voice people use when they say 'I wonder who that could be' when they know perfectly well who that could be.
"Man, why's everyone acting so weird!" I say, throwing my arms up in the air and turning around to see the door. At that moment, Paige decides she has to get up and stands in the way. I give up on trying at this point. Riley walks into my living room and walks over to me, where I'm sitting on the couch.
"Come here," he tells me, grabbing my hands and pulling me to my feet. What is going on today, why is everyone acting so WEIRD? I let him lead me to the (closed) front door where he puts his hands over my eyes and tells me to trust him.
"Just trust me. I won't let you fall," he says. I raise an eyebrow. "Hey, I felt that!"
I snort. "What's go--" I begin, but get cut off.
"Just trust me, Z, trust me. I've got you."
We don't walk very far, and I know we're still in my driveway when he stops.
He takes his hands off of my eyes and runs around to stand in front of me.
There are even more balloons, but to be fair there was only one when I came home. The balloons are tied to foil-wrapped balloon weights that look to be blue, but I can't exactly tell because it's dark.
"Look down," Riley tells me. I do as I'm told and look down to see those battery-operated candles spelling out 'prom?' and a heart. Above the candles is a bouquet of blue roses. I look up to Riley.
"F-for me? Y-y-you're asking m-me?" I stammer.
He nods, a smile on his face. I can't find words to express how badly I want to say yes, so instead of trying, I step forward and close the gap between us, pressing my lips against his, pulling him closer to me. He stumbles a little, trying to get close to me. When I pull away, he looks at me with a smile on his face.
"Was that a yes?" he asks me.
I nod. "It was," I whisper. "Where did you find these?" I ask as I bend over and pick up the roses.
"That's why I left after I kissed you in front of Sarah...it wasn't easy to find them, but I found someone who had someone and met up with them so I could get them." he looks at me, a smile on his face.
After we take pictures, we take everything inside and then Riley and I go upstairs to my bedroom, where we sit on my bed.
"How long had you been planning that?" I ask him.
"A couple of weeks...and actually, I faked the break-up with Sarah, she knew it was coming, I broke up with her a few weeks ago," Riley admits.
"Wait, really??"
"Yeah, but it was based on our actual breakup."
"Did she actually take it like that?"
"She did, but that obviously wasn't exactly how it went, when I actually broke up with her I told her how I felt about you...she wasn't happy at first, that's for sure, but after a few days she came to me and apologized for how she'd acted and asked if we could still be friends, I told her we could and then I told her I wanted to ask you to prom, and we came up with the idea."
"That's insane!"
"What?"
"That you would do that for me!"
"Of course I would!"
He leans forward and kisses me softly, cupping my face. I smile against his lips, feeling him smile too, and kiss him back.
I'm laying in Riley's arms that night before we fall asleep, he's running his hands through my hair. I look up at him, smiling.
"What?" he asks, laughing a little.
"Nothing," I reply, smiling brightly.
I put a hand on his neck and pull him down to me, kissing his lips.
"I love you," I say when we pull away, and it's true: I do. I loved him as my best friend for a while, and I still do love him as my best friend, now I'm just adding some extra love.
"I love you too, Z," he says softly, leaning down and kissing me again. We stay awake for a little while longer, watching 'Love It or List It' on HGTV and then eventually falling asleep tangled up in each other's arms.
12/20/19
There's five days till Christmas and I've only bought 1, singular present...
