Love in the Friend Zone

by Molly E. Lee

  “Hey, boy,” I said, silently thanking him for his perfect timing. I didn’t know how to answer Katy’s question. Hell, I didn’t know how to talk to her. Not now, not after Braylen. Everything I’d worked for had led me to this moment with Katy, and now? I didn’t think I wanted it anymore. I wanted someone else—someone that excited me, soothed me, challenged me…knew me.

  “Ugh, eww, make him go,” she said, scooting farther back on the bed, killing my train of thought.

  I scratched behind Hendrix’s ears, glancing at her over my shoulder. “You’re more of a cat person, aren’t you?”

  She scrunched up her nose like she’d tasted something sour. “No.”

  Tilting my head, I patted Hendrix before he sniffed around the bed until he found a small, red pillow underneath it. Gently sinking his teeth into it, he bolted from the room, dragging the pillow along with him. I didn’t even want to know what he was about to do to it. I returned my attention to Katy. “But I saw you pull over during traffic and pick up a stray kitten—”

  “Oh,” she said, waving me off. “My dad made me. That cat is a demon.”

  “Uh, okay.” I felt a little confused. “Does he scratch and bite a ton?”

  “No.” She shook her head. “He’s constantly getting orange fur all over my entire wardrobe. It’s like Chanel is his own personal brand of catnip.”

  I chuckled darkly, shaking my head as I let it drop back into my hands. The moment I was sure I’d fallen for Katy—the day I’d witnessed her risk traffic to save a kitten—was completely and utterly wrong.

  I’m the biggest idiot in the world.

  I’d finally gotten what I wanted. Katy’s attention. Enough to pull me into a secluded room in Lennon’s epic lake house. And it was absolutely, epicly…wrong.

  Flashes of days and nights with Braylen filled my eyes as I dug my palms into them. Hours spent laughing, debating, or sitting in silence like it was the easiest thing in the world. Minutes where I’d smile as long as she did, and times where I’d be mad for her if she was upset. We were so in sync, so in tune to one another, it was shocking I’d had time to fantasize about Katy at all.

  Maybe that was the reason why I did it—why I built up this delusional dream image of the perfect girl just out of my reach—because I was in love with my best friend and didn’t want to admit it.

  I jolted upright.

  Holy shit. I am in love with Braylen.

  The truth soared through me like the sweetest high, only to be shot down by the darkest weight. I was in love with my best friend, who was in love with me, who helped set me up with Katy—because I’d asked her…practically begged her to—and she’d heard me shoot down Katy’s accusations about me having feelings for her.

  Fuck, how could I?

  I’d been so thrown by Braylen’s kiss that when Katy asked me the question, I was still sorting it all out in my own head. I had said there wasn’t anything between us, and that was true, but I’d been more talking only about the past—admitting out loud in a slow realization that I did want there to be something between us into the future. Hell, I’d demanded she come to this party because I couldn’t do it without her.

  I couldn’t do anything without her.

  “Anyway,” Katy said, shifting on the bed until she was on all fours. She nuzzled my cheek with the tip of her nose, the smell of vodka strong on her breath. I turned to put my hands on her shoulders.

  “Katy,” I said, gently pushing her away. “We can’t do this.”

  She tilted her head before grinning. In a blink she was on top of me, forcing me down on the bed, pinning me with her knees on either side of me. “Aw, this is too perfect,” she continued as if I hadn’t said anything. “I noticed when we were playing never have I ever that you’re a virgin.” She stroked my cheek, her touch as sloppy as her words. The more she drank, the less boundaries she had like at the beginning of the night. “I’ll be gentle, I promise. You’ll love it. I’ll be the best you’ll ever have.” Leaning over me, she jutted out her tongue in a long lap that I cringed away from.

  “No—”

  “Fuck this!” Someone shouted from the hallway, cutting off my protest. “Get your hands off my woman, you piece of shit!”

  Katy leaped off me. “Don?”

  “How could you?” He looked straight at Katy, his eyes glistening like he was about to cry. He pointed at me. “Why him? Why did you pick the camera-nerd? To humiliate me? Hurt me? Don’t you think you’ve done enough of that? Every time Donna has tried to help me get your attention tonight, you’ve blown me off.”

  I bolted upright, for once grateful for Don’s territorial claims. “It’s not what it looks like,” I said.

  “Bet your ass it isn’t.” Don grabbed ahold of my shirt, and I raised my hands innocently.

  “Seriously,” I said. “I’m in love with Braylen!” I hollered as he pulled a fist back.

  He stopped his motions, releasing my shirt as he laughed.

  “I knew it!” Katy snapped.

  I turned toward her, pressing my lips together in apology. “I am. I’m sorry.”

  Her shoulders dropped and she bit the bottom of her lip. “Don’t be.” The fight went out of her. “I get it.” She shrugged. “You can’t help who you love.” Her eyes trailed to Don.

  Hell, this was more dramatic a night than I’d ever had in my entire high school career. She was still in love with Don but had been ready to jump me? Is this what love does to people?

  “You’re in love with that annoying reporter nerd?” Don burst out laughing so hard he clutched his side. “Oh that is perfect! How’s that work, Fynn? She been giving it up to you all this time, and you thought you’d go for my girl tonight for a little variety?”

  Adrenaline surged through my veins and I saw red as his words sunk in. One second he was laughing, the next he was on the ground, grabbing his nose.

  “Ah,” he groaned. “My fucking nose!”

  Katy gasped and rushed to his side as I shook out my fist.

  “Never,” I said, sucking in a deep breath, “say anything bad about Braylen again, Don. I’m so beyond fucking sick of it.”

  Don moved his hands, staring at his fingers that were soaked in red from the blood gushing out of his nostrils. “Got it,” he said as Katy worried over him.

  I glanced down at her. “Sorry, Katy.”

  “Go get your girl, Fynn.” She flashed me a soft smile, her hands on Don’s chest.

  I didn’t need to be told twice, and ran out of the room like it was on fire.

  I took the stairs two at a time, nothing on my mind but finding Braylen and telling her how I felt. Telling her how sorry I was that it took me so long to figure it out. A stupid grin shaped my lips as I made it to the main floor, just the thought of Braylen as mine enough to make me higher than the group still toking up outside by the pool.

  Searching the rooms, I saw every familiar face except hers, and as I checked the kitchen for the second time, a sourness filled my gut. My thoughts cleared, reminding me of how I’d choked on my words after she’d opened her heart to me.

  Panicked, I continued a more frantic search, going so far as to shout Braylen at the top of my lungs in every room until sweat trickled down my neck. The entire senior class looked at me like the maniac I’d become.

  “Fynn, whoa, man.” Lennon grabbed my shoulder. “What’s up?”

  I fisted my hair for a second before taking a breath. “I’m an asshole.”

  “No.” Lennon shook his head, letting go of me. “You know who is an asshole? The asshole who did an upper decker in my fucking guest bathroom.” His dark eyes scanned the area around me, the killer gaze one I never wanted to be under, but didn’t mind backing up. “That wasn’t you, right?”

  “’Course not.”

  “Then, what makes you think you’re an asshole?” he motioned behind me toward the kitchen and I walked with him to get a drink.

  “I fucked up with Braylen.”

  “Ah, damn it, m
an.” Lennon said as he cracked open a bottle of water. “How you’d blow that one?”

  “Blindness.”

  “Shit,” he swiped at his brown hair. “Been trying to enlighten you for a year now, bro.”

  “I know.” I shook my head, taking the water he offered me. “How’d you know?”

  He stared at something over my shoulder. “I’ve got a sixth sense about relationships.”

  I followed his gaze until I found the source of amusement in his eyes. Jade Aaron stood in the hallway, her cheeks reddening before she turned on her heel and disappeared around the corner. I returned my focus to Lennon, cocking an eyebrow at him. “What was that?”

  “Next time.” Lennon waved me off. “Now talk. What’d you do to Braylen?”

  I pinched the bridge of my nose. “I may have asked her to help hook me up with Katy…among other things.”

  His eyes widened. “You are an asshole!”

  “I didn’t realize!”

  He sucked his teeth. “Having the right girl lay groundwork for the wrong one? You are so fucked.”

  “Thanks.” I sighed. “You’re a big help.”

  Lennon pushed off the counter he leaned on and rubbed his hands together. “Nah, but I will be.” He looked upward, wheels spinning behind his eyes before he snapped his fingers together. “Oh, hell yeah. I will be. And you’ll owe me.”

  I tilted my head. “What do you have in mind?”

  “Depends.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “How far are you willing to go to fix this?”

  “To get Braylen back?” I asked, and he nodded. “I’ll do anything.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Braylen

  “You hiding from someone?” Jade asked as she walked toward me where I leaned against a tree at the back of Lennon’s property.

  I’d been staring at the lake, so wrapped up with my mind racing and heart breaking I hadn’t heard her approach. “Maybe.”

  That was a lie. I came out here for air after I’d filled Randy in on all the gory details. It was the least I could do after he’d tried to help me. He’d heard Katy and Fynn talking and burst into the room, knowing I had to be in there somewhere. The boy had officially won me over in the friends column. I’d always have his back.

  “Are you?” I asked as Jade stopped to lean next to me.

  “Oh yeah.” She pushed her glasses up her nose and laughed. “I’m always beating the guys away with a stick, you know. Hiding in the woods is the only way I can get a break.”

  I loved her sarcasm. “I don’t know why you’re so hard on yourself like that.”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “Uh huh.” I nudged her. “Did I hear you took Lennon somewhere?”

  She straightened against the tree, wringing her hands out. “Um, yeah.” She cleared her throat. “He needed to get another laptop from his dad’s house. For…music.”

  “That took half the night?”

  “My car.” She nodded quickly. “You know how old it is.”

  I tried to hold back a laugh. “You got stranded lover’s lane style with Lennon Pryor? How the hell was that?”

  Her cheeks flushed and she shook her head. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “Noted.” I thought about pressing for the story—I could tell there was something there—but I wasn’t too keen to share my night’s woes, either. I wasn’t about to pry into hers if she didn’t want me to.

  “Where’s Fynn?” she asked, glancing around the area like he should materialize by my side at any moment.

  I hated that I both wanted and didn’t want him to do just that.

  “Probably off worshipping the ground Katy’s five inch heels walk on.”

  “Fynn and Katy? No way!”

  I shrugged. “Stranger things.”

  “That doesn’t make sense. He’s nothing like Don.”

  “Maybe that’s the point?” I asked, not able to explain the situation, either.

  After the events of the night, I was lucky I wasn’t a puddle of pathetic on the hardwood floor in Lennon’s kitchen. I could’ve easily drank myself stupid and passed out in there, vulnerable to anyone who wanted to post my embarrassing misery on Snapchat.

  Hell, I’d been tempted to drink the pain away, there was no sense denying that. I’d chosen the high road instead of the drunk road, mainly because I didn’t want another ounce of pain inside my body, and a hangover plus a night’s worth of tears was a recipe for torture. And I’d had enough torture for one lifetime.

  “Opposites sometimes attract,” Jade said, but she was looking into the distance, her green eyes glowing in the lights of fireworks a group of guys shot off a few yards away from us. The lights made the lake glitter underneath the moon.

  “Maybe,” I said. “In this case I think it’s too forced to last long.” We both jumped as another firework popped, the sparkling white filling the night sky before its embers fell slowly to the water beneath it.

  Jade touched my shoulder. “Sorry.”

  I sighed. “Does everyone know?”

  “No,” she answered a little too quickly. “I’m sure no one at UCLA knows.” She cracked a grin and I face-palmed myself.

  Everyone but Fynn can see I’m in love with him.

  “You should tell him,” she said.

  I bit down on my lip. “I did.”

  She gasped. “And?”

  I tilted my head at her, gesturing to the tree. “I’m out here, watching the pre-show fireworks by myself.”

  Her shoulders sank and a frown shaped her pink glittery lips. “Guys suck.”

  I nodded. “In the moment, I have to agree with you. Though, after some perspective, I’m sure I’ll see that it’s not Fynn’s fault he didn’t know, and it definitely isn’t his fault that when he found out he still wanted Katy more. That’s just…” I couldn’t finish the sentence because the truth of the statement caught up with my heart, squeezing it with an icy fist. I’d been out here, brooding and so furious with Fynn, but in reality, none of this was his fault.

  I’d laid down my cards clearer than a game of Kings, and he simply hadn’t wanted to pick them up.

  “You’re too good for him,” Jade said, bringing my attention back to her.

  “Not true.”

  “So true.” She shook her head. “You’re out here defending him even when his actions clearly hurt you. How can you do that?”

  I pressed my lips together to contain the small, sad smile I felt creeping up. “Because I love him.”

  “Whoa,” she said. “You like, really really love him.”

  “How could I not?” I sighed, thinking of all the times Fynn had made my heart soar since kindergarten. Like the time he’d stood outside Barnes & Noble with me for three hours as we waited in line for the midnight release of Breaking Dawn. He’d made Starbucks runs, bringing back steaming hot mochas and croissants, never once complaining or poking fun. Or the time I’d gotten my wisdom teeth removed sophomore year and he’d brought me my homework—which we ignored by watching the stack of Game of Thrones Blu-Rays he’d also brought over. My cheeks had been puffed up fatter than a chipmunk’s, and yet he hadn’t commented on it or teased me. He had simply been there.

  “I was a goner since the first day I met him.” The first day he’d been my prince charming, my hero.

  “I wish there was something I could do.” Jade squeezed my shoulder.

  I laughed, swiping at a few rogue tears that had escaped. “Well, if you could dig around in that genius brain of yours, build us a time machine, and transport us far enough back and make it where I don’t hear Fynn telling Katy how much he doesn’t think of me in that light, that would be fantastic.”

  Her mouth dropped open before she glared back at the house like it had taken out a personal vendetta against her.

  After a few more minutes of silence and watching the fireworks, she stomped her boot on the ground. “Screw him. Want to get out of here? We can go stuff ourselves with
Oreos and ice cream and watch Deadpool on repeat.”

  “Can we put his naked—pre-mutation—scene on a loop?” I smiled as she nodded.

  “Hell yeah we can!” She held her fist out for me to bump, which I did.

  “Awesome.” I laughed at her determination. “I want to go tell Randy I’m leaving, though,” I said as we pushed away from the tree and started walking back to the house.

  “Hey,” I said once I’d found him outside the game room. “I think I’m going to head out. I wanted to thank you for all your help tonight.”

  He gave me a soft smile. “Anytime, Braylen,” he said, reaching out to give me a quick hug. “I still have hope this night turns around for you.”

  I released him, arching an eyebrow. “Optimism.”

  He shrugged. “Someone has to have it.”

  I chuckled, and waved good-bye as Jade and I headed back toward the front door.

  A pair of voices talking in a too-loud tone as they went up the stairs had me changing course. “I can’t believe Zoey is taking it this far,” one girl said.

  “I know!” screeched another. “Total insanity.”

  “He absolutely deserves it though,” the first girl said and my brain had started to place their names as I caught up with them at the top of the stairs. “That speech he gave? Total humiliation. Poor Zoey. She had to do something.”

  “Yeah, but this? I don’t know. It seems like it’s going way too far…”

  I gave Jade a confused glance over my shoulder before clearing my throat behind Julie and Kennedy, who had plopped on the couch in the sitting area just off the landing of the stairs.

  “What is Zoey doing?” I asked, looking between the two of them.

  “Damn,” Julie snapped, pulling out her cell and typing a fast text. “I told you we should’ve checked the floor first before we started talking.”

  “What, Braylen knows.” Kennedy gestured to me. “You have to know, right?”

  I raised my eyebrows at her, indicating my complete obliviousness to whatever they were talking about.

  Kennedy gasped, her hands over her mouth. She glanced at Julie before returning her gaze to me. “Maybe Zoey didn’t tell her for a reason?”