Dare You To Move

Chapter 6 - Lego House

Collyn's stare lingers on Parker before it goes back to his beer bottle. It's something Collyn's kept to himself for months. It never seemed important enough to tell Parker. Friends mind friends' feelings and that includes feelings towards other friends. Whether Parker likes Elli now or not, it still eats at Collyn because Parker liked her first. She's not property but, to Collyn, if anyone ever had a chance with her, it's Parker. And Collyn isn't gonna compete for her attention or be a second choice because Parker doesn't know what he's doing or because Elli believes she just likes Parker platonically.

"How long've you liked her?" Parker asks, his tone remaining surprised.

Collyn shrugs. "Uh, couple of months, maybe."

Parker nods, swishing the small bit of beer left in his bottle as he watches the top. "Gonna...do anything about it?" Parker glances up to Collyn and a tinge of jealousy coats his stomach like chard fabric.

Collyn shakes his head quickly before taking a drink of his own beer. "Nah," He chuckles softly. "She's not into me like that. We're friends."

Friends.

And suddenly it's like a spear with Parker's name carved on the handle is impaling his heart. Elli feels like a dirty little secret right now. Parker's lying to his best friend knowing that if he's doing what he's doing with Elli, Collyn never stands a chance to even find out if Elli does like him. Parker might hate the idea of losing what him and Elli are doing but that's not very fair for Collyn to be left out of the loop. But, then again, if Elli liked Collyn, she could call it all off with Parker. She has just as much control in the matter as he does and Parker hopes more than anything that if Elli had feelings for anyone, Collyn or some random guy from a bar, she would tell him. She always has before. So, Parker ignores the tinge of heat in his stomach and the stabbing pain in his chest.

"Yeah," Parker fakes a half-hearted smile. "Elli does have a habit of just saying how she feels, huh?"

Collyn scoffs, gaining an almost annoyed expression. "Yeah, guess." Collyn's brows rise and fall quickly while the neck of the beer bottle comes to his lips again. Parker's brows furrow as he opens his mouth to question Collyn's expression but Collyn beats him to speaking. "Anyway," Collyn sighs. "I've got that piece I'm workin' on and you said Elli should be home 'bout seven, ya?"

Parker flicks his wrist, the face of his watch lighting up as he checks the time. "Oh, yeah yeah. Leave ya to it then."

"Tomorow, right?" Collyn checks as Parker dumps the last bit of his beer down the sink and tosses the bottle.

"Yep, same time. Picking Elli up?"

"As usual." Collyn laughs, holding his bottle up to Parker as a goodbye.

"See you then." Parker heads for the door and heads back home.

The drive felt heavy, almost guilty. Parker knows that Collyn would never be mad about Parker and Elli's arrangement, not even now. It's just not Collyn and he'd probably just brush it off, assume Parker still liked Elli and that'd be it. But, from a best friend stance, it just makes Parker feel a little guilty. Not guilty enough to stop or even the type of guilt that lingers in the back of his throat, just the kind that's there for a little bit and eventually fades to nothing. And lucky for Parker, it only takes the drive with his favorite playlist and the sight of Elli struggling to get boxes out of her drunk for the guilt to fully fade.

"You're gonna hurt yourself." Parker chimes as he comes up from behind Elli, making her jump in surprise.

"You're gonna give me a fucking heart attack!" Elli whips around, glaring at Parker as her heart pounds.