He Was a Friend

/3/ He's jealous as heck. /

Art pressed his car keys to lock it as he went out, and looked at his watch. It's 8:15AM, and he only had about three hours of sleep, directly coming from a one-hour flight from his concert.

He has gigs every other day and concerts every weekend – and they're currently making their 8th album so he's as busy as anyone can possibly be. He's basically just catching up on sleep mostly inside his car.

Lucky I still have my daily dose of... vitamins, his lips curled up into a smile as his eyes caught a glimpse of the familiar busy atmosphere inside Mood Cafe, a business he formed together with his college best friend, Louise.

His energy suddenly went up as soon as the girl popped into his head.

Where are you, my Vitamin C?

He felt his mood lifting up in a fast rate as he opened the door to get inside the place. His eyes met Robin's, the manager they assigned to oversee the cafe. Robin walked briskly towards him.

"She's in a race, together with Eric," Robin whispered, reading his mind. "The usual breakfast, is it?" he added.

His heartbeat went fast, and he let out a tired sigh.

"Yeah, the usual. Thanks, Rob," he patted the guy's shoulders, and walked towards his favorite spot – a spot where he can usually gaze over Louise working at the counter.

He pulled the chair and before he can even sit on it, his cellphone rang. He looked at the screen to check the caller and saw "RM" (short for Road Manager). He let out an even deeper sigh before answering the call.

"I arrived safely. I'll be in the studio tomorrow 8AM, as promised, don't worry," he told the caller, and after a few more exchanges, ended the call.

He heard a loud closing of a car door outside and his face brightened at the sight of the one who did. It was Louise. His face immediately darkened back when he saw another figure coming out of the same car.

Eric. AGAIN.

He took another deep breath. He needs to calm the hell down.

Yes, he is in love with his best friend, Louise. She had been a part of his life as early as Day 1 on their university days, being in the same Business Administration course, and same batch at that. They also joined the same org, and had been on the same classes most of the time. He had band practices and performances every now and then and she was always there to help him get by all the projects and assignments at the same time. She's also the one who pushed him to go with his "path as a rock star" - according to her words.

She's been her best friend since fifteen years ago, and he's been battling on whether he wants to pursue her as a lover since ten years back. And even with all the playboy, confident, sexy, appealing, handsome, whatever adjective they tie to his name being the vocalist of the Top 3 most famous bands in the country, not to mention Top 5 of the list of guys women would like to date according to some magazine he saw inside the airplane just a few hours back, he's just in the end, the king of cowards, for taking this much time before finally deciding to reserve a spot in her heart.

But now that I'm set on that, it will take the world to make me back down now, he said as he calmly stood up and opened the door to meet her.