Seasons Change

20.

This next chapter is something a little different, and I hope you guys like it. It's not from Lilly's point of view. So let me know what you think!
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Chapter 20.

Dylan

Being in love with your best friend is the greatest thing in the world, unless she doesn't happen to love you back. Or she does, but not in that way. Then it just fucking sucks.

Lillian Faye was the girl I could never have. She was never meant to be mine. When I first met her, I had known she had a massive crush on my cousin, and that was fine. Kelsey and I had helped get Lilly and Luke together, and that was that. We were friends, and I had been content with that. She was a great girl, we had a good time together, and if there was a spark of romantic tension between us, she never seemed to notice.

But then, she and Luke had broken up, and I had started to wonder— why couldn't Lilly and I get together? We were good together. It made sense.

What they don't tell you, though, is the reason nice guys always finish last: when you're protective and kind without being romantic, you get relegated to a brother-like or completely asexual role, and are never considered romantically again. It took Lilly almost a full year to get over Luke, and during that time, I didn't make a move, because I didn't want to be her rebound guy, and I didn't want to hook up with my cousin's girl right after they broke up. I'm not a complete dick.

So, I had introduced her to Ben, my perfectly nice, if a little boring, teammate. I'd thought the relationship would be short-lived, and would help Lilly get back into the dating pool. That had pretty much blown up in my face when Lilly and Ben had dated for two years, even though it was painfully obvious there was no real chemistry there. And meanwhile, I was back in the friend zone. Again.

The past few months, though, had been the worst yet, because I had actually started to think that Lilly might have feelings for me that ran deeper than friendship. Or, at least, I had hoped. It wasn't that big of a stretch. Lilly had told Avery I was her boyfriend, and part of me had celebrated hearing those words come out of her mouth. But since she was dating another guy, I had given her a hard time about it, and come off sounding like a complete jerk. No wonder she wasn't interested.

What really bothered me, though, was that although Lilly had all but said she had no interest in dating me, and had reiterated that point time and time again, she didn't want me dating anyone else either. Honestly, that was pretty much my reasoning for dating Avery. She was pretty, Lilly hated her, and I was hoping to make Lilly jealous. It had been fucking stupid, I knew that now. It had almost cost me my friendship with Lilly, and even now, things were still strained between us.

The worst part of all was that while Lilly had been hurting because of my stupid actions, she'd turned to Luke of all people for comfort. Now he and Lilly were spending tons of time together, I was practically green with jealousy, and I had absolutely no right to say anything about it, because I had missed my chance. If Luke made Lilly happy, then I needed to just be happy for her. That's what a good guy would do.

That didn't mean, however, that I was entirely thrilled when Lilly insisted Luke and I spend the day together while she got ready for the dance. The dance that she was attending with Luke, and not me. Because I'd asked her too late.

I met Luke at the gym on campus, because I needed to stay in shape for football, and I figured Luke was probably in the same boat. Not to mention, Luke and I weren't really sit around the apartment chatting kind of guys. That was a girl thing. Our entire relationship revolved around competition, constantly trying to one up each other, the same way our fathers had when they were kids. My dad had won that, being drafted into the NFL while Luke's father peaked playing collegiate football. Our fathers were both pretty intense about keeping that rivalry going. Since Luke was a top-notch Division I quarterback with a great shot at being an early round draft pick once he graduated, Dad was pressuring me extra hard these days to up my game. Because somehow, even though I had been starting quarterback since halfway through my freshman year, that wasn't good enough.