Best Friends Forever

25

I came back inside the party to find everyone ten times drunker than they were before I left for some air. The game of Truth or Dare must've gotten exceptionally scandalous if a whole group of teenagers were all but unconscious.

I found Lucas pulling up a slurring Addy. Even though I was too embarrassed about what I'd said to him outside to want to talk to him right now, it felt necessary.

"Lucas, you take Addy home. I'll make sure Jason gets home safe," I said quietly.

"Leila, you're drunk too. I'll take all of you home, don't worry about it."

"No, don't worry about me. I've sobered up. I'll call a cab and drop Jason off then I'll go home. Addy looks like she's about to puke, just make sure she's okay."

Though he seemed reluctant, he nodded. I headed over to Jason and pulled him away from whatever he was laughing about with his teammate.

"Leils!" he exclaimed. "Oh how I've missed you."

"Are you ready to go home?" I asked.

"If it's with you, hell yeah."

Rolling my eyes, I pulled out my phone and called a cab. We started on our trek down the stairs, closely following Lucas and Addy. Once we were inside, I gave the driver Jason's address and sank back into the seat, Jason all but draped over me.

"Where's Lucas?" he slurred.

"He's taking Addy home," I said.

"What a guy," Jason said. "Lucas deserves a medal for putting up with us."

"He does," I agreed, thinking of the way I tried to push his buttons earlier. That wasn't fair of me and I knew it. I didn't know what my tipsy brain was trying to achieve.

"I wish everyone had a Lucas in their life," Jason continued. "Having someone like him care about you... everyone deserves that. We don't know how lucky we are."

"What's with the love letter to Lucas all of a sudden?" I asked, though I completely agreed.

"I feel guilty."

"Why?" I pried.

"Because of all the ways I'm going to disappoint him in my life."

"Don't say that, Jason," I said. I was surprised at the serious tone this conversation had taken. "There isn't anything in the entire world you could do to make Lucas not love you the way he does."

Jason looked up at me and held my gaze for what seemed like hours. There was a saddness in his bright green eyes, a saddness that I'd never noticed before. The longer I looked at him, the deeper I saw it ran. His hand inched towards mine, and ever so softly, he took it in his own.

"There are some things, Leils," he said, his eyes glinting in the moonlight. "There are some things that I could do that would destroy him."

He held my hand for a moment longer, then looked away and let go. It was only then that I realized we had been parked in front of Jason's house for much longer than I thought. Jason pulled out some cash and gave it to the driver then we hastily got out of the cab.

I held him up and we stumbled to the door together. He fumbled around his pockets for the keys, and once we were finally inside, Jason immediately threw himself down on the couch.

"I'm so fucking drunk," he slurred.

"I can tell," I rolled my eyes as I headed to the kitchen to get him the biggest bottle of water I could find. Jason almost never got hangovers, but water always helped him sober up quickly.

When I returned, I handed him the bottle and he chugged it all in one go. He then proceeded to collapse back on the couch, and I had to laugh at the sight of him like that.

"Don't laugh at me," he said. "Laughing at people is rude."

"What are you going to do about it?"

"I'll fight you."

"You're so wasted, I could beat your sorry ass in seconds, J. Don't try me."

He sighed. "True. You're a bad bitch. No man is a match for you, my sweet strong Leils."

I laughed at his drunken words. "You know it. Now let's take you upstairs, you look like you're about to pass out."

"Just let me die here," he moaned. "I can't go up stairs right now."

"Any other day, I totally would've let you die. But I promised Lucas I would take care of you, and I am a woman of my word."

He sighed again. "Fine. For Lucas."

I helped him up off the couch. He draped his arm across my shoulders and leaned on me so much, I was shocked I was able to support his weight. Slowly, we made our way up to his room and to his bed. After helping him change into pyjamas, I went and changed into some clothes he gave me and then I was all ready for bed.

I was about to go back to the guest room I always used when I slept over here, but as I was about to leave Jason's voice stopped me.

"Leils?"

"Yeah?"

"Come sleep next to me tonight."

"Why?" I asked. There was nothing outright weird about his request, but in all our years of friendship, he had never asked that of me.

"So that I can wake up to your ugly face," he said.

I chuckled. "Goodnight, Jason," I said, then headed towards the guest room again.

"Wait!" he called out to me. "Please."

"Why?" I asked again.

"Because I want you to."

I pondered over that and decided it was as good an excuse as any. I came back and crawled into bed, and Jason flung his heavy arms around my waist the moment I was inside.

"Goodnight, Leils," he said. "Love you."

"Love you too, J."

"You're my best friend forever. I hope you know that."

"Ditto, you sappy loser," I laughed, then the room quieted down.

We laid in silence for who knows how long, with me wrapped in Jason's arms, his head in the crook of my shoulder. Slowly, my eyes got heavier and heavier. Right as I was about to fall asleep, Jason spoke again.

"Leils?"

"Hmm?"

"You know that question Tammy asked me in Truth or Dare?"

"Yes?" I said drowsily, barely able to keep my eyes open.

"I really wanted to kiss you."