Drunk Best Friend

Performance

We watch Adym's cousin kneeling down before his fiancée and proposing her in front of everyone. These kind of scenes never made me emotional, but I didn't know if tonight had anything to do with the deep sigh that escaped me when they kissed. It made Adym turn quickly at my direction.
"What?", he asked, searching for any sign of discomfort on my face.
"Nothing", I replied. If only guys understood the meaning behind girls' sighs and 'nothing's.

.

Sheila walks at us, wrapped up in a blanket. "Hey Sheila, how are you feeling now?", I ask her.
She has a bad flu, and therefore, has been resting inside in her parents' room.
Adym puts his hand on her forehead for checking temperature. "Nope", he says. "Go inside. You're not well enough to be out here."
"But I don't want to be laying all day and night when y'all are partying out here", she says to her brother.

"I heard that you're performing.", I say.
"Yes, I am." She smiles.
"No way", Adym tells his sister. "You're sick"
"Please Langie", Sheila cries. "Tell him to let me stay for my performance only."
I look at Adym's content face. "Yes Adym, let her stay."
"Only for your performance.", he says. Advancing to the middle of the yard, Adym announces, "Listen up, everyone" He waits. "Make some room for me, yea thank you."

Everyone moves a little giving Adym space. "Can you guys make a bigger space please, because my little sister is here to perform now. Ya dig!", he shouts.
Everyone claps, making cheerful noise. Sheila walks there shyly and signals the guys to change the music.
Adym stands beside me and looks at his sister's dancing performance proudly. We clap when she finishes.

Faith and her friends come up next with a rock song. People call Adym for singing a song after their performance. "No, they don't understand it. I'm a music artist, not a singer.", he tells his mom.
His mom insists. "But they wants to hear you sing."
I lower my voice to tell him, "Go Adym, it's your chance to promote your new song."

👅👅👅

Adym scratches the back of his head. He can't reject the idea, but I know how uncomfortable he feels while singing, especially before people.
He finally takes the guitar from a girl and goes to the center.
Adym starts to play the sweet music of his unreleased song 'I'm not numb I feel emotions'. This is one of my most favourite songs that he made.

He is not a bad vocalist either. I like this song in his voice, like this. I clap and cheer him while he sings. Adym keeps staring at me deeply at times, while singing it. I look around to see if people are staring at me or not. The way he's looking at me is suspicious. People might get wrong idea from that.
I hide myself behind a hanging net in order to avoid gazes. I can still see him clearly though. His eyes are searching everywhere for me. Why Adym? Why do you need to look at me while singing a song like that?

After that we enjoy some other performances. We did talk a little and tried to act normal, but something was definitely missing. I can't feel the same bestfriends vibes we always had.
I remember long ago, when we pranked each other about our feelings for YouTube videos. Before that we had some attraction for each other. But after those pranks, it feels like we drew boundaries and forced ourselves to remain inside the friendzone.

Our friendship was never mere friendship though. I have always liked him and I know that he was attracted to me too. But did he ever love me? I don't know. We always avoid this topic, despite of our inevitable attraction for each other. We did flirt here and there, but never tried to cross our boundary of friendship.

Looks like tonight's incident has restricted the boundary even more. Now we are talking more cautiously, not giving any feelings in our words. Now we're not touching each other like we used to do. Now that we know the spark of our touch, I don't think we can make further skin contact without feeling anything.

A food truck comes by, probably due to someone's call. Everyone is having snacks from there.
"You hungry?", he asks.
"Yes, can you bring some fries and coke for me?", I try to say a longer sentence.

Maybe the ice will take time to break, but I'll try. Which friend do I have except this stupid friend of mine? I can't lose him for the whole world. I'll always try to be with him, his company, his friendship, his warmth, and the memories we made tonight, I'll always treasure them and never be apart from him.

👅👅👅

I wait for his return, but he doesn't. I go to check on him and find him talking to Chelsea, the girl who requested me earlier about talking to Adym.
My fist gets closed tightly, but I hold myself back.
Will he not have a girlfriend ever again? What shall I do then, if I can't even take any girl talking to him? 'No, Langie. Calm down', I tell myself. 'You should start practicing how to tolerate girls with your bestfriend. Bestfriend, huh? Keep it in mind. Bestfriend, not boyfrined.'

I take a deep breath. I am cool Langie now, I can take these all in. So.. she's holding his hand? I don't care. Why are they laughing so much? Relax, Langie. It's all good, all fine.
What did she whisper into his ear, and why did he smile like that? Keep it cool, Langie... No. I won't. He can't just kiss me and then spend alone time here with another girl. He's mine!

I go and stand literally in between them. They stop talking when they see me. Adym looks at me, question in his eyes.
"I forgot to tell you. I want coke, not fanta." I say, although I am pretty sure that I told him exactly to bring coke.
"Oh", he says with wonder. "I'm sorry for being late. I am getting the food now."

I wait till he reaches the food truck, then cast a 'don't you dare' look at Chelsea.
"So, you and him, right?", she says. "I mean, I kinda figured."
"What do you mean?" I wonder if Adym told her about our kiss or not. If he does, he is so dead.
"I know, you guys like each other. Even though you guys don't admit it.. I just feel like you do."
"Why? Did he tell you anything about me?"
"No", she says sincerely.
Adym weaves at me with food in his hands, calling me to go there.
"I SHIP", I hear Chelsea shouting at me while advancing to Adym. I blush and bite my bottom lip for hiding my smile.