Best Friend

Chapter One

One Year Ago

“Promise me that no matter what, you’ll go to prom with me if neither of us have dates by that time, okay?” I say, extending my pinky out to him.

Jeffrey looks at my pinky and smiles.

“I promise,” he says, shaking pinkies with me.

Present Day

I was sitting in a chair, watching Jeffrey try on tuxedos for prom.

“Are you sure you don’t want to go? I promised you that no matter what, we would go together,” Jeffrey says, while slipping on a jacket and looking at himself in the mirror.

I sigh and look at his reflection in the mirror.

“That was only if we didn’t have dates, and plus I can’t afford a ticket or a dress right now. Money is kind of tight,” I say, as I get up and help him put on his tie.

He looks at me through the mirror.

“I can pay for it! C’mon Mia, it’s our last year of high school, you have to go. I know it’s been one of your dreams to go to prom since you were a kid.”

I look at him and shake my head. “You can’t spot me this time, J. The ticket is like a hundred dollars and the dress will most likely be more. That’s too much to ask. And besides, reality happens. It’s just a dance. Sure, it might be the last one, and the most important, but I have other things to worry about right now. But thank you for offering.” I hug him, and step back to look at him. “I think this one fits you really well. You should rent this one,” I say, changing the subject. I hated talking about my monetary issues.

“Hey, that’s what best friends are for.” He turns around and looks in the mirror again. “Do you really like this one? You think Sarai will like it?” he asks.

Sarai was his date. They aren’t officially dating, but he has had a crush on her for a few months and asked her. She happened to say yes, and they hit it off pretty well. I don’t have a doubt in my mind that they are going to be official by the end of prom. Jeff is just that amazing.

I smile. “She’s gonna love it, I’m positive. What color is she wearing?” I ask.

“She is going to wear a really flowing, purple dress. It looks amazing on her. I won’t look half as good as she will,” he says with a smile.

He really does like her. Well, she moved into his neighborhood about 2 years ago, and they got pretty close this year. I remember when she first moved here. They were friends like we were, and just recently he told me that he had a crush on her. Now don’t get me wrong, she’s a very nice person, but I don’t like her that much. I’m almost positive she has something against me, like she thinks I’m a threat to their friendship. Oh please, I was friends with him first, and no one will know him better than me.

He was supposed to be mine.

Well I guess I forgot to mention that part, huh? Yeah. I fell for Jeffrey after knowing him for about 4 months. Now the very first time I met Jeffrey, I thought he looked like a kid, and he was not attractive at all to me. He looked like a stick, and was short. His physical features still aren’t his strong points. But you wanna know what his strong points are? It’s his personality and heart. They make up for everything. I’ll tell you the story of how I fell for him. (And how he still has no idea about it.)

It all started on a movie day. Jeffrey, our friend Jenny and I planned a weekend out to watch a bunch of Disney movies together at his place. We only ended up watching two movies together because we kept fooling around, and at some point we got hungry and ordered pizza and just talked for an hour. As we were finishing the second movie, Jenny had to leave, and it was just me and Jeffrey left.

Now Jeffrey is sort of insecure when it comes to his hair. When he goes to school, he always uses a clay to keep it up and sort of spiky on top. But when we went over to his house, he just got out of the shower, and his hair was completely flat on his head and he was in pajamas. Even though we’ve been friends for four months at the time, I have never seen him in such a simple state before. And you know what was crazy? I liked him so much better for just being his plain, old self.

I thought I was going crazy. How could I find this odd, funny goofball attractive? Anyway, after Jenny left, we went upstairs to his little entertainment room that had a couch and a smaller TV in it. We decided to watch our favorite animated show of all time, and I was so excited. He started playing it, and sat all the way at the end of the couch with his leg propped up on the armrest of the sofa. There was a big throw pillow that separated us, and I laid my head on it, and lay down on the couch while facing the TV. It felt like nothing, but then I realized something. For that little amount of time, I realized that we were so alike. As we watched, we would laugh at the show, and look at each other and smile, and we were just so comfortable with each other. I tried to imagine what it would be like to be with him, and I felt like nothing would change between us, except for maybe holding hands, and being more physically attached to each other.

I remember back when I first met Jeff I didn’t think of him romantically at all. I would gag just thinking about it because he seemed like strictly only best friend material. I had put him in the friend zone automatically, and that day at his house, he was pulled out of there. Eventually I had to leave, and our little hangout was over. Trust me, my emotions were everywhere, and I was beyond confused with myself.

I confronted Jenny immediately, and asked her to ask him if he liked me. He said that he didn’t like me that way and that he only ever saw me as a friend. That’s when I knew that it would be a horrible idea to have feelings for him because I knew that he would never see me in the same way. So I did what I had to do. I pushed all the feelings down that ever existed for him, and I pretended that it never happened. It was for the best.

And so now here we are, two years later, still best friends, but not prom dates. Do I still like him? Occasionally. I feel like I am more attracted to the thought of dating him, but not in reality. The only problem is that I get jealous, and it’s with Sarai. Sarai already has something against me, and is treating this like a competition. She thinks that I’m out to steal her guy, and I swear, I’m not. I gave up on Jeff a long time ago. Friendship was more valuable to me than dating him because I was afraid. I was a wuss. Days go by where I wonder if I had just confessed to him my feelings, where we would be today. But there’s no time to think like that anymore. Soon enough we will be graduating, and he’s gonna leave me. I’m going to stay here, and he is going to South Carolina for college. Don’t even get me started on that.