"Just Friends?"

Chapter 9

DYLAN'S POV

**flashback**

I walk into the small kitchen of Brandi's house. Brandi is sitting on the counter, poking her finger in the birthday cake bringing it to her mouth and sucking on her finger.

"If you keep doing that, there will be no cake for the actual party." I smirk

She jumps a little then giggles when she sees it's me. She's sitting in a pink sundress with her hair curled and swinging her feet with white sandals strapped on. It's her 15th birthday and her mom insisted on throwing a big party, despite Brandi's protests.

"I can keep a secret." I wink

Kim, Brandi's other friend walks into the kitchen and gasps in surprise. "Brandi, you are wrinkling the dress!" She squeals as she pulls Brandi off the counter. She shoots me an irritated eye roll as Kim pulls her out into the backyard. I follow behind and watch as Brandi is swarmed by Kim, Anthony, Haley, Jake, Ben, Brian, Cathy, Jessica, Alex, and Brody. I end up hanging around waiting for Brandi to ditch her friends, but as soon as she does she's pulled back into the swarm. She loves her friends, but I can tell she's tired of taking pictures and gossiping about Martha from Geometry.

...

At around 11:30, about five long boring hours later Brandi begs her mom to kick out everyone. She comes to the living room and plops down on the couch next to me and lets out an exhausted sigh. She leans her head on my shoulder, and we sit in silence for a little bit.

"Longest birthday ever!" She sighs again.

"You could've ditched the cool kids and hung out with your even cooler best friend."

"I tried."

"I know." I sigh "you have one last present to open."

She looks up at me and smiles when I hand her a small box. When she opens it, her eyes widen with gleam and excitement. It's just a ring. Every time we walk by this store on fifth street, she stops and dramatically sighs as she looks at the ring. I decided as soon as I saw her pout about it, I would get it for her.

She slides the ring on her middle finger and smiles at it. I knew she would like it. I thought about the smile that would appear on her face when she finally opened it. Her smile now, is even better that I could have imagined. In your face Kim, I mentally pat myself on the back.

"I love it!" She's still staring at the ring.

She's so beautiful, I don't care how big I'm smiling at her smile. This is the exact moment when I started having feelings for my best friend. Feelings, I could never admit. She could never feel the same way, it's best to just act normal.