Fell In Love With My Best Friend.

1 week left....

This week was the first week of Christmas vacation, and also, this was Liam's last week with Erica and everyone he grew comfortable with. Next week, he would be in California which was sort of like across the country because they lived on the right side of the country, but now he would be on the left side of the country. Liam and Erica couldn't ignore the fact that he was leaving. All they could do is hope that they could hold themselves all together after he leaves. They were walking into the mall, and it was the most awkward walk they have ever had.
"Erica. This doesn't have to be awkward. I know I'm leaving this Sunday, but that doesn't mean we should go about the situation like I'm dying."
"I wasn't. I was just..."
"Shhh. I know Erica. Let's just enjoy this week like we enjoyed these last couple months," Liam said before they walked through a different section on the mall. Erica just nodded him and followed him, looking around for clothes.

*****

Erica couldn't concentrate at all. All she could think about was her boyfriend/best friend was leaving her. She wished that she didn't have to focus on this so much, but she couldn't help herself. She just wished that he didn't have to go. Why couldn't they settle somewhere in, at least, a different town only a hour away? She didn't know, but she had a feeling that video chat wasn't going to work.
Erica was on her way to a section in the mall where they sold food when she was stopped by someone she didn't know. She turned around and saw a boy about an inch taller than her holding his hand out to her.
"Who are you?" she asked as nicely as possible.
"You don't know me? I thought we knew each other ever since 7th grade when we had to sit by each other in Science."
Erica just looked at him.
"Oh, I know," he said, snapping his fingers. "I was the shy guy that you always tried to talk to..."
Erica's eyes grew wide. "Luke?"
He smiled and nodded. "It's me."
"Oh my... You...You're not the shy boy anymore?"
"Nope. My brother has taught me this past year how to be more... Talkative," Luke said, smiling a little bit.
"Wow. Well, I'll catch up with you later. I have to meet Liam here for lunch," Erica said, turning and walking straight for the lunchroom before her mind exploded. Luke actually talks.
Erica laughed at herself for thinking that, but it's funny that someone who was so shy walks up to you and talks to you like a whole different person. Erica made it to the lunchroom and saw her lovely boyfriend... The guy she was going to miss so much.
"Hey Liam," Erica said, walking up to him.
"Hey, how was your day shopping?"
"Boring, where have you been?" Good, keep having a good attitude like he was never leaving.
"Oh, you know...Here."
Erica laughed and tapped her foot as she waited for one of the ladies in front of her to move up in the line.
Liam looked over and noticed that she was smiling, staring into space. "Hey Erica."
She turned to him. "Yes?"
"What's on your mind? You're staring off into space."
"Oh, nothing. It's just..." Erica trailed off, laughing a little bit. "Remember Luke?"
"Luke?"
"You know? The shy guy that sat by me in Science? Ted's brother?"
"Oh! Yeah, what about him?" he asked as the ladies moved up.
"Well, he came up to me before I came here---"
"He came up to you? Like... Against his own will?"
"Liam, he actually started a conversation with me!" Erica smiled at him. "How 'bout that?"
"You're lying!"
She shook her head. "No, I'm serious. I didn't even recognize him at first because he got a haircut."
"That's crazy."
"Tell me about it."
"Hey Erica?"
"Yes Liam?"
"Can you move up?"
She turned around and saw that the ladies were gone. The line was almost empty. "Oops." She moved up and turned to Liam. "Happy?"
"Very."
She shook her head and shoved him, playfully.

******

"Can you tell me the answer for number 5 on the math paper?" Adam asked AJ.
"Figure it out yourself. I'm not just going to give you the answer."
"Can you help me figure it out, then?"
"Sometimes you annoy me."
"You love me anyways."
"Hey. We've only been dating for 2 months. We're not up to the 'love' stage."
"We will be."
"Whatever you say, Adam."
"AJ, I hate winter."
"Everyone does."
"We should go to Florida. It's always warm there."
"When you have our plane tickets, I'll go."
"Really?"
AJ looked at him and rolled her eyes. "You're an idiot, just do your homework."
"Yes, Mom."
"Watch yourself."
"You definitely sound like her."
"So....You're dating your mom?"
"What? That didn't even make sense."
"Nevermind."
Adam laughed and managed to finish his homework before AJ. Whenever she finished before him, she would always eat his favorite snacks in front of him until it drove him crazy, and he couldn't do that right now since he didn't eat lunch.
"Ha! Finished before you!"
"Wow! Wanna cookie for that accomplishment?" AJ said, bouncing up and down on the bed.
"Look at who's being the jerk now?" he said, rolling his eyes.
"You better not eat in front of me."
Snapping his fingers as a lightbulb went off, he said, "Great idea! You're so smart!" He ran out of the room with AJ yelling after him.
********
The next couple days went by too fast for Erica nor Liam to count. It was already Thursday, and they started to get worried on their time they had together. It was getting to the point that Erica wanted to stop the Earth from rotating. That isn't possible, but she just wanted the time to slow down.

*******

Eleanor was sitting in her room, watching tv when her boyfriend called.
"Yes, Ryan?"
"Hey. Will you be at the pep assembly tomorrow?"
"You know how I feel about those things."
"Come on. I'm the top athlete on all the teams."
"Ryan."
"Please. You've always been supportive this past year."
"I know but..."
"Eleanor please. If you do this, I will take you out to dinner or anything. Please."
How can anyone deny that? "Okay, but I can't promise you that I'll be in the three first rows of the bleachers."
"I don't care. As long as I see you there."
"Okay, I'll be there."
"Thank you. Can you come over?"
"I'm doing homework."
"After?"
"I'll see."
"Okay."
They hung up and Eleanor sighed. She loved Ryan, but sometimes he was so needy. They have been together for about a year and Eleanor couldn't be happier. Yes, he was sometimes annoying, but she still felt very lucky to have him. It was Friday tomorrow and she would have to go to that stupid pep assembly for him, but he was worth it.
The next day, Eleanor took her time to get to the high school gym for the assembly. She really hated these things. All they did was do about 5 annoying cheers by the skimpy cheerleaders, announce everyone on the sports teams and sometimes they would talk about extra stuff that no one cares about. She had dreaded these things ever since 6th grade, but she had to force herself to go for Ryan. He needed her support even though it meant listening to the skimpy little cheerleaders.
Eleanor walked in and about half of the seats were filled, so Eleanor found a spot in the fourth row of the bleachers. She didn't want to be by all the preps, but she wanted to be able to see Ryan and to be seen. Soon, everyone was filling in all the seats and Eleanor was growing very annoyed. This thing really needs to start. She would be able to sit by Ryan, but they have all the sports team people in one section. Before she got a chance to look for him, all the teachers and coaches came out on the gym floor, so Eleanor gave up and sat back.
"Welcome everybody..." Eleanor tried to zone out from the teachers speaking until about 10 minutes into the assembly. Then, they got to the sports teams after they did a stupid cheer.
They had to get through 5 or more sports teams plus about 5 or more clubs that some people were into. This was new because they didn't do this at the last assembly in the fall, and the bad thing was that she was in 3 of the many clubs they had. She was in Student Council, Newspaper and Yearbook. She forgot that she had to actually go on the gym floor with the other students in the club when she joined. As the assembly went on, Eleanor watched Ryan go down with every sports team. He was on basketball, football, swimming and track. There was also volleyball, but they only let girls on that team.
She clapped every time which caused him to smile. She smiled too until she heard, "Everyone who's in Student Council, please come down." Eleanor suddenly felt herself get really scared, but she saw everyone else was going. She stood up and surprisingly got down on the floor without falling flat on her face. A decent group of people clapped, and of course Ryan had to make a big deal about it. He stood up and started clapping loud and whistled through his teeth and fingers. Eleanor just ignored them until they let them go sit back down. That wasn't the end of her misery though. Then, she had to go down there for the other two clubs.
"Man, someone likes being in clubs," the announcer said toward Eleanor.
She just shrugged and sat back down with a sigh of relief. Soon after that, they started wrapping everything up, and everyone was dismissed to go home. Eleanor shot up and rushed out the door, not caring who looked at her weirdly or not. She had to get out of there and get on the bus before she went crazy. Once she got on the bus, her phone started vibrating in her pocket, but she ignored until she sat in the nearest seat she could find. She grabbed her phone and checked the couple messages on her phone from Ryan.
Ry Ry: Hey, are you okay? You rushed out of the school pretty quick.
Eleanor didn't answer him because her hands were shaking way too badly right now for her to even grab her headphones. She tried to take deep breaths, but nothing was working. She was still shaking. Hurry up and start driving bus. She waited anxiously as she watched people out the window walk. She took a deep breath and rubbed her forehead as other kids started to get on the bus. She still had a couple of minutes before the busses would actually start pulling out, but it needed to start quick.
She never shook this bad before. Usually, she didn't have stage fright or anything in the nature, but on the other hand, she never got down in the middle of an assembly. Within' the next couple of minutes, the bus started up. Eleanor took a sigh of relief and a couple of deep breaths. By now, her shaking has decreased a little bit, so she messaged Ryan back as quickly as she could before the shaking started again.
Eleanor: Hey, don't worry about me. I'm fine.
She put down her phone and sighed.

Ryan so owes me.