Falling for Friendzone

Chapter 5

"So where should we go?" Lane asked me as I got into his car. He had a 2013 Range Rover; this car was my life. My hands slid across the leather seats and I took in the smell of the air freshener mixed with a bit of his cologne.

"My parents are home today so we can't stay here, but anywhere else should be fine really, a coffee shop, your house-"

"Can't go to my house," he interrupted, "my mom and sister are home." Lane's sister was the cutest little 8 year old ever, but she did have a problem of snooping about everything in Lane's life and telling their mom-making sure she remembered all the details.

"Ok then." I thought some more. We would need to go somewhere that was quiet, but I didn't want to be completely alone with him, because I didn't want things to get awkward at any point. "I got it! Let's go to that park we always went to when we were kids. It's usually never crowded and it's a beautiful day out!" He rolled his eyes at my excitement of going to the old park, but I didn't care, I loved that park!

"Yeah, sure, at least hardly anyone will be there to hear us." And on that note he pulled out of my driveway and headed for Grant Park.

"Hey Lane!" I shouted when we got to the park. "Remember when you fell off these swings!" I laughed at the memory until...

"Yeah, and remember when you fell off the merry-go-round?" He smirked at me because he thought he got the last word. Boy was he wrong!

"What about the time you were up in that tree over there with a girl," I said motioning to a bigger oak tree then I last remembered, "and you thought she liked you, so you tried to kiss her and she slapped you and you fell out of the tree!" Ha! I knew I got him on this one! He started blushing and turned around mumbling curse words. I started laughing so hard. It was so much fun messing with him! The thing about Lane though, is sometimes he takes things to seriously and gets mean...like now. He turned to me again with dark eyes.

"At least I can get some!" The grimace on his face told me he was trying to do a bit more then give me a comeback. He wanted to win this argument that started off as harmless fun.

I frowned, "whatever, let's just get down to buisness." I said, walking over to the swings and sitting down. One thing about Lane, he couldn't always tell when he went too far, some things are just a big joke to him.

"Wait! I wanna go on the sliiidddee!" He pouted like a little kid, this was obviously one of the times he hasn't realized he'd taken things too far. "Then go on the slide." I stated, still a bit pissed off. He smiled and went down the slide. It looks like his mood has changed back.

Gosh, he's got more mood changes than a girl on her period! His man-strating was going to be a problem.

After going down the slide two more times, he sat on the swing next to me and gently pushed himself back and forth. The air was silent, except for the light humming of Lane beside me.

I sighed. It was now or never and there was no way I could get out of this one now. "Okay, so...um, tell me about her?" It came out as more of a question then a demand.

"Well, where do I begin" the smile that always appears on his face when talking about her was back, "she has these eyes that just-wow."

"Yeah, yeah, they're green, cool." He looked at me with question in his eyes. Shit, what did I just say.

"How did you-"

"Lucky guess!" I quickly cut him off. I have to make it seem like I didn't know this girl, but if I keep acting like this I won't be very convincing. "Go on." I encouraged.

"She...she's always smiling," Yeah, a fake ass one. "and she has the softest hair-don't ask." He must have seen the rather creeped out look on my face at that comment. "I don't know, there's just something that draws me to her, but I dont think she feels exactly the same way. You know the feeling right?" I wanted to laugh at the irony but I just smiled and nodded for him to continue. How can one be so clueless while the other shows it in the most obvious of ways.

"Guess what else!" He didn't even wait for a guess before he answered himself. "She's and athlete too! Basketball, volleyball, and track! How cool is that?" My jaw tensed a bit, I don't think he realized those are all of the sports I do, but now was not the time to mention myself, my job is to listen to what he likes about her and her hobbies so they can get together. Fuck.

"What else does she like?" I find myself asking more about the person I know better than probably anyone.

"Well...I, I don't really know."

"You don't know?"

"I guess I never really asked?" He stated as more of a question.

"Well there's one reason she stopped calling you, you never bothered to show interest in her life!" Lane officially fell into the category of 'typical clueless guy.'

"Girls really care about stuff like that? Shit. I really messed up. Do you think I can still fix it?" He looked at me with hope in his eyes. I had never seen him get so worked up over something like this before, let alone a girl.

I started swinging back and forth. "Well, a first impression is hard to shake, especially if its a bad one, but you've only talked to her for a little over a week, so I'd say so!" The worried look on his face instantly transformed to the Lane Ryder smile I fell so hard for, and it made me smile too. I frowned as I thought of loosing him, even though he was never mine to begin with.

"Ellie? Is something wrong?" Lane asked and he stopped my swing and placed his hand reassuringly on my shoulder. His touch caused so many emotions and he didn't even know it.

"Uh, no, just day dreaming I guess!" I lied. It seemed to work though as the smile returned to his face.

"So any ideas on how to get her to talk to me again?" I've been thinking about this since we got to the park.

"Yeah actually." He looked surprised but I just smiled as I told him my plan. "Act like its the beginning." He gave me the 'I'm crazy stupid, help me' look so I explained. "Text her and ask her to go do something simple, like get coffee or go for a walk. Tell her that you want to get to know her better and spend more time together. She'll see that you're trying to get to know her and things will be better!" I finished my explanation feeling proud of my idea. It was good almost too good.

"Wow, that's good, I'm impressed!" Me too Lane, me too.

"Don't look at me like that! I may not seem like it, but I happen to be smarter then the average bear!" We laughed at my stupid quote and talked for a while longer before I suggested that we should leave, before it gets dark out. Just as I got up off the swing to head back to the car, he stopped me.

"Hey Ellie," I turned and looked at him. "You know you have to go down the slide before you leave right?." That was other thing about this park that I loved. Our parents would have to drag us out of the park because we would always tell them we were going down the slide 'one more time' which turned into ten more times. "Race you there!" For a second I stood there and thought about how good it felt to be this close of friends with Lane again, and how it could be like this, and even better, all the time if he was my boyfriend.

I quickly shook the thought and remembered the race as I ran after him laughing as he beat me to the slide. He threw his hands up into the air and spun in a circle, acting like he had just won the universe.

Just like old times.