Falling for my Best Friend

Feelings

Gael

"Kil, I honestly don't know what you're talking about, she heard me, what?" I plead.

"Don't play dumb with me, you fool, she knows you took her as a pity date but what I don't understand is why, she would have been asked. Hell, I would have taken her, Declan probably too, but hearing that you felt bad for her was probably the lowest blow to her, you know she doesn't have a lot of confidence," he berates me like a big brother or a father.

I ponder his words for a moment and everything clicks. I felt bad for her, I did say that, but not about Wren. Fuck, how am I going to get myself out of this? Declan knows the truth and can back me up but he's not here now.

"I'm putting the pieces together and I think I know what happened and I promise this is a huge misunderstanding," I try to get him to listen to me by nodding my head emphatically.

"What I know is that my best friend left her senior Homecoming in tears, you didn't even know if she got home okay, even if it is a misunderstanding I'm upset with you for not taking care of her," he says disappointed.

This strikes a chord in me, call it jealousy, call it rage, call it tired after this drama filled day but I slam my hand down on the nearest table and yell, "Christ man, she's not your property, you don't own her, as far as I know she's not YOUR anything!" I turn to leave before he can say anything to me.

Before I know it, I'm almost running to the parking lot. I start my truck and head for the exit when my phone starts vibrating in my pocket. I sneak a quick glance and see Kilian's name on the screen and throw it into my back seat, I'm not dealing with this right now. My tires squeal and I head anywhere that is not here.

Wren

Gael never came back to class after he left with Kilian. Kilian just looked at me awkwardly when he came back to get his stuff. At lunch Gael is still MIA.

"Have you seen Gael," I ask Declan when he arrives with a plate piled high with french fries.

"Nah, not since cookie break, why?" he asks.

Kilian plops down beside me and grabs a fry off Declan's plate, "Because I was a jerk to him and I'm pretty sure he just went home," he says sarcastically.

"Gonna tell me what is going on now?" I say to Kilian.

"I'm going to go to his house after school and squash it, don't worry, I'll fill you in when I have all the info," he assures me.

Declan looks at me sympathetically and pushes his plate towards me, "Carbs make everything better," he says.

I can't help but to laugh at his goofy ass and we all sit and eat frenchfries until the warning bell sounds.  

Kilian

I know that if I'm going to figure out what actually happened last night I'll have to approach Gael as a friend, I can't go off half cocked, but that will be difficult considering I saw Wrenny in tears less than an hour ago. When the girls suggest we split up I spring into action and go to the library with Gael. He's not going to admit to anything in front of Wren anyway. The tension between us is palpable when we walk down the empty hallway. Yuck, feelings. I make the super mature decision and just punch him in the arm, not as hard as I wanted to though. Punches always break the ice right?

Bad decision, the conversation goes from bad to worse, apparently I'm not as good at masking my emotions as I thought and I'm left stunned standing in the library with everyone staring at me. He says this was all a misunderstanding, well then help me understand. He stomped out so quickly I couldn't say anything else to him. We've been friends for so long, for the life of me I can't figure why he is getting so aggro about this.

I try to call him to get him to talk to me but he's not answering. It's clear to me that there was a misunderstanding but I can't really explain it to Wren without more information. I got through the rest of my school day and decided to just ride my bike to Gael's house hoping he's there. I'm in luck because I see his truck in the driveway and head to the door to knock. He doesn't come for the first few minutes but I'm not giving up. So I send him a text.

[Kilian]: I'm sorry, let me in so we can talk

I keep knocking on the door hoping that I'll eventually annoy him into submission and eventually it works, he swings the door open and throws his arm out as if inviting me in. I go into the living room and sit on the couch hoping he'll follow me, he does but he is clearly pissed at me.

"Look, I came at you the wrong way, I'm sorry for that. I've been thinking and I think that the only way this is all going to get smoothed over is if we're both brutally honest with each other," I explain.

He looks up at me but just says, "Makes sense."

"Okay, do you want to tell me your side of events from last night?" I ask.

"I was having a great time with Wren, after you danced with her, she disappeared to the bathroom, Riley wanted to dance with me and I said yes because I felt bad for her, Wren must have heard me say that to Declan, it had nothing to do with Wren," he explains.

"I knew it was something like that, you might not believe me but I had your back when Wren first told me, I'm sorry that I let my emotions run away with me," I explain.

"Okay, do you want to tell me why you've been acting murderous about Wren all day?" he asks, accusingly.

Shit, my whole brutally honest idea is coming back to bite me. I take a deep breath and try to summon the courage to be honest. Gael is my friend, he has to understand and even if he hates me and kicks my ass well at least I can be done hiding and finally tell Wren how I feel. I take a deep breath before I start to talk.

"I'm going to answer you honestly," I take another deep breath, "but it's hard, this is the first time I'm going to say this out loud."

I look at him for his reaction because at this point I think it's clear what I'm going to say. His face doesn't change and he's just waiting for me to continue.

"I'm in love with Wren, I've got it bad, really bad," I finally say.

His eyes widen, "I know," he says.

"You know?" I ask, surprised.

"You're not exactly subtle. I was hoping you would just tell me to leave Wren alone but you didn't, I guess I let myself think that maybe I was wrong but then all the stuff happened with Wren last week and I knew it, but the train was already on the track," he explains.

I'm a little bit shocked but I guess he's right, ever since Wren got hurt I haven't been able to be away from her at all and I've been laying it on pretty thick. That's probably why Wren was pissed at me the night we had dinner at her house too because she can tell that I'm not being honest with her.