Totally Platonic

Chapter One: The Treehouse in the Woods

As I lay down, with Carter's arms brush against mine, my heart begins to flutter. Of course, I know better than to think we are anything more than friends, that would be absurd. Carter McCain has been my best friend since diapers. We have grown up together. Taken our first steps together, learned how to ride a bike together, and even made new friends together. Some may try to say he is like a brother to me, but I personally do not view him that way. 

Ever since I was young enough to understand what a crush was, I have liked Carter. Honestly, who wouldn't like him? He has dreamy blue eyes, somewhat like a pair shining of jewels on his face. And his smile, although it once was rather crooked, after two years of having braces, it was anything but. His once gapped teeth were now pulled together, making them perfectly aligned. Not to mention how naturally pearly-white they were. I know it all sounds so cliche, but it was true. everything about him was perfect, from his snoopy dark brown hair to his sun-kissed skin. Wow, this sounds like a cheesy romance novel. I swear, it's not.

The first time I really remember getting butterflies when I was around him was in eighth grade. I was a bit of a late bloomer, so it took me a while to fully understand what it was like to have a crush on someone. As soon as puberty hit, I all of the sudden started to develop these more complex feelings towards him. It was right after gym class, we were walking down the hall together and his brace-filled mouth smiled down at me. Suddenly, my stomach had dropped, and that's when it hit me. My crush on him was more than a grade-school crush, I really liked him. 

For a while, I hoped these feelings would drown out naturally as I met new guys, but none of them made me feel anything compared to how Carter made me feel. And thanks to my severe luck-deficit, Carter only got cuter as he grew out of his awkward phase.

"Harper, do you wanna go for a walk or something? We've been sitting here for awhile now," Carter asks, with an underlying tone of sincerity in his voice.

"Yeah, sure," I respond as I hesitantly pull my arm away from his. 

Carter grins at me, as he often does. However, I could tell he was concerned about something. I did not know what, but when you know someone for sixteen years, you start to pick up on their physical cues. Whenever he is nervous, he will typically fidget a lot with his hands, which I could see him doing right now.

Perhaps he is just nervous about his first day of junior year, as was I. Junior year is a big year for college applications, alongside generally being a hard year. Of course, I doubt it would be too hard considering we go to a small public school in Katy, Texas. We have barely any funding and none of our teachers give a crap, which I do not blame them for. I probably would not care either if I was as underpaid as our teachers are.

We start to walk the stairs of my house, which creak ever so slightly each step we take. At the very edge of the stairs, my oversized lay where I had thrown it down an hour or so prior. I pick it up and attempt to put it on, ultimately getting swallowed by the massive men's extra-large hoodie. Carter lets out a chuckle and grabs the sweatshirt and helps me by pulling it down over my head, still laughing at how incompetent I am at completing the simplest tasks. Finally, my head emerges from the gigantic sweatshirt, and I begin to laugh with him.

"You know, maybe if you weren't so tiny, you wouldn't suffocate yourself every time you try and put on clothes," Carter grins, making a jab at my tiny 5'2 figure. 

"Not everyone can be so freakishly tall, you know," I retort, now making a jab at his height, which was abnormally tall. He was roughly 6'4, maybe taller depending on his shoe choice that day.

The two of us walk out the front door and start to take the usual path we take on our weekly walks. First, we walk around the block once. After that, we like to venture off into the woods. In the back of the woods, there is a small, little treehouse we had gotten his dad to make when we were little. It was in surprisingly good condition considering it was about ten years old. Over the years a few pieces had fallen off, but we also had just gotten someone to nail the fallen piece off if needed.