Chapter 9 - Best friend

POV - AUSTIN

I was waiting for my best friend, Ella, to show up. She had a habit of being late, so I wasn’t worried about her not showing up yet even though the time we had decided to meet was well in the past now. 

My mood soured the minute I saw her car pulling up, though, as I saw she wasn’t in the driver’s seat, but instead in the passenger seat. Her douchebag of a boyfriend, Connor, was driving her luxury car and it looked like they were arguing, which wasn’t surprising, they always were. For some reason she just never gave up on him, no matter how horribly he treated her, and I had given up on criticizing him in front of her a long time ago as she got incredibly defensive anytime anyone did. She was the only one allowed to badmouth him and I had a feeling today would include one of those venting sessions. So much for a nice relaxing walk around the lake. 

As Connor stopped the car by the curb, I walked up to the passenger side and opened the car door for Ella, making sure to cover the car frame above her head with my hand so that she wouldn’t hit her head on it as she exited the car. I helped her get out, reaching for her hand with my free one, she looked as radiant as ever, beautiful even with her brows furrowed in frustration. She took my hand, it was soft and warm, and I wanted to hold it forever, to not let go. I was pulled from my thoughts by a throat clearing, it was Connor, he looked pointedly at his girlfriend’s hand in mine and rolled his eyes. I reluctantly let go. 

“This is exactly what I was talking about.” He muttered and gave Ella a dirty look. She looked tired and like she was about to respond, but decided not to at the last second. Instead she sighed. 

“So, where are you headed, can’t you just tell me?” Ella pleaded. 

“I already told you. I’m going to meet some friends.” Connor replied. Instead of looking at her, his focus was now on his phone. He was texting. 

“Yeah, but who and where?” Ella whined.

“Just some friends. You don’t know them. And we haven’t decided yet exactly where we are going. Damn, seriously, you sound like my mother. Relax, I won’t damage your car, if that’s what you’re worried about.” Connor answered, still busy with his phone. 

“Ugh! Of course I’m not worried about the car. Can’t a girlfriend be interested in where her man is going and with who? I feel like that’s just normal.” Ella stomped her feet in frustration, which I found unreasonably cute. She was cute even when she was irritated or angry. Connor was an idiot for taking her for granted. He should be looking at her instead of his damn phone. If I was him, I wouldn’t treat her like this. 

“Just close the door, I’ll text you later.” Connor said, glancing up from his phone. He met my eyes and must have sensed my disgust towards him, so his eyes found Ella’s instead. “Babe, I’ll let you know where and with whom I meet up when I get there. Now, come here.” Connor motioned her to lean into the car and she did. First he put his phone down, face down, I noticed as I watched them. As Ella leaned in, Connor grabbed her face and kissed her deeply, and I had to look away as the way Ella melted into his touch made me want to throw up or punch him in the face, maybe both. I gritted my teeth. 

After Connor drove away, Ella explained that she had slept over at his house and hadn’t had time to drop by her own place before our meetup, as she had promised Connor he could borrow her car to meet with his friends as long as he dropped her off first to meet with me. She had just been frustrated since he wouldn’t tell her who he was meeting and where and so they had argued a bit in the car. Connor also didn’t like her meeting with me. 

“Which is ridiculous, right? I mean, we are literally best friends! And he has a lot of friends that are women, too, so I don’t understand why me having a male best friend is such a big deal to him.” Ella ranted. “I mean, I don’t exactly love that he has a lot of friends that are women, but it’s different with us, you know? You and I have been friends forever, way before he and I even met. And Connor knows you! But I don’t know any of his friends, so it’s just frustrating, because, like, I don’t know what they are like. And maybe some of them like him! I trust him, but not them, you know?” She was on a roll, she didn’t need answers, she just needed to vent. Her words frustrated me, but instead I just hummed in agreement to whatever she said. 

We were strolling by the lake, it supposedly looked beautiful, but my eyes never left Ella. I couldn’t help it, like a magnet, I couldn’t pry them off her when we were together. Everytime I tried, my gaze somehow ended up glued to her again in no time. And she never noticed, because she never looked at me like I looked at her. 

She was deep into her ramblings about Connor, how he was always working these days and how she still thought about that time he worked out in the middle of the night. She had told me about it quite a few times and she still couldn’t seem to let it go. Every time she did, I was more than happy to agree with her that it was strange, but I didn’t dare go further than that, because then she started defending him and coming up with reasons why it actually wasn’t that strange after all. It was a fine balance. I had to agree, but not too much or else she tried to convince me and herself of the opposite. 

She was talking, motioning wildly with her hands, not looking where she was going. I had her on the side more towards the lake, so I could shield her from any bikes or people walking by, it was a habit I had developed since we first met. I had perfected being able to observe our surroundings for any danger at the same time as my focus was solely on her. I didn’t know how I did it, but somehow I made it work. So, when she was about to walk into a streetlight or get hit by a bike, I could always pull her away in time. Now was no different, we were walking by a big puddle on the road, when a bike sped past unexpectedly. Fortunately, I managed to shield her with my body, so none of the water splashed on her. Ella let out a surprised yelp as I held her for maybe a moment too long, but she didn’t seem to notice, instead she yelled something after the cyclist and then looked at me with concern. 

“You okay?” Ella asked. 

“Yeah, no big deal.” I assured her, basking in her attention. 

“Did you get wet?” She asked, trying to get a look at my legs. 

“Not really, it wasn’t so bad. Let’s continue.” I tried to divert her gaze, so she wouldn’t see just how much had splashed on me. Thankfully, my trousers were dark so it wasn’t really noticeable how wet they had gotten. She believed me without a second thought and so we continued on. 

Even though the weather had been rainy lately, it wasn’t particularly cold outside. We stopped at a truck selling waffles and I bought us some. I didn’t really care for a lot of the toppings as I liked mine plain, but I had them add chocolate and whipped cream and all kinds of things for Ella’s waffles. I made sure that none of the toppings included nuts, as Ella was allergic, and then brought over our treats to where Ella was standing by a bench by the lake. She was taking pictures with her phone of the scenery. Her face lit up as she saw the waffles and she even snapped a few pictures of me holding them. I posed obediently as she ordered me and then put my scarf down on the bench so she could sit on it and not get wet as the bench was a bit damp. 

I used her taking pictures of me as an excuse to take pictures of her as well.

“Not when I’m eating, Austin!” Ella giggled as I took photo after photo, acting like her own personal paparazzi. “I look awful!”

“No, you don’t! You look cute!” I insisted. I hated when she said anything negative about herself. “Beautiful.” I mumbled more to myself than to her. 

“I really shouldn’t be eating this at all…Connor thinks I should lose weight. He’s right, I really eat too much…” Ella looked sad as she said it, wistfully looking at her half-eaten waffle. 

“What are you talking about? No, you don’t! What’s wrong with eating a lot anyway? Nothing! It’s so tasty and you make it look delicious the way you eat it! I would pay good money to just watch you eat, Ella. I bet a lot of people would.” I said, trying to convince her. I considered it a success as she laughed at me and continued eating. 

“I guess you owe me a few bucks then!” She giggled as she made a show of eating the rest and we both laughed. How I wished she could see herself the way I saw her. She was radiant, shining like the sun, and Connor was the one who dimmed that light, making her shrink into herself. I hated him. 

As we continued our walk, the topic changed from Connor to other things, which I was grateful for. It was much more enjoyable to talk about literally anything else than her boyfriend. I was taking a sip from my waterbottle, just about to screw on the cap, when Ella motioned that she wanted some too. I handed over the bottle as nonchalantly as I could. It was like slow motion. The bottle moved towards her lips. It touched them as she drank from it, and as she swallowed down the water I couldn’t tear my eyes off her. To her it was nothing. To me her lips touched what my lips had touched. My pulse accelerated. A flush spread, my ears turned red. It was too much, I had to look away, but almost didn’t manage to. I cleared my throat, suddenly dry, even though I had just drank from that bottle. She handed it back and my hand trembled as I brought it once again to my lips. She didn’t notice, but I think I blacked out for a second as I drank from the same bottle as her. An indirect kiss, that only I knew of. I was ridiculous. We had been best friends for years and years, this shouldn’t be affecting me like this. Everything she did shouldn’t affect me like this. It shouldn’t, but it did. It still did, after all these years. I was hopelessly in love with her and she would never know.